Avoiding cupping of maple floor
I recently installed 6″ common grade maple plank flooring that I got cheap from a local mill. The guy at the mill said I could blind nail it ok but the guy who sanded the floor said the planks are too wide for blind nailing and it will probably cup and that I should have used glue and nails.
Is it likely these 6″ planks will cup? Should I face nail the planks before summer humidity and the next dry winter?
Replies
I would guess that a lot depends on what's underneath it.
happy?
slab, 2x4 sleepers, advantech subfloor, glued and nailed
Bill,
Others have said it, what's underneath?
Six inches is on the absolute edge of what can be edge nailed.
Did you leave room for expansion? Wood now is dry, and shrunk from winter heating. If the wood is jammed together now when moisture swells the wood in the summer it will be forced to cup..
If you have the time I'd suggest that you put the floor down in the summer during a high humidity period.. that way the wood can be jammed together as tight as possible and there will remain enough room for a tiny bit more of swelling without causing cupping..
I don't suggest that you glue it. I've walked on floors that were glued (and sooner or later all glue will fail). The resulting cracking and noise just screams with every step..
To clarify; the floor is installed and finished. Would face nailing it now prevent possible cupping in the future?
The subfloor is stable and the slab below it is insulated.
You haven't said what sort of vapour barrier you have under it. Tjhe slab should have VB, be sealed and the subfloor have tarpaper - or it should be glued and blind nailed both.But I don't know if I'd face nail it now. There are two other options.If you wait to see if it starts to cup, you can always face nail at anyu time in the future.orYou can sink screws and plug them before sanding and finishing.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!