OK to re-use cupped hardwood flooring?

My question regards whether it is OK to re-use oak hardwood flooring that will have been stripped off of an existing floor (concrete slab beneath), then re-installed, and then sanded and re-finished.
Our home here in Atlanta is built on a concrete slab. The entire first floor is covered in 3/4″ hardwood. As we are not the original owners, we don’t yet know what if any sub-floor is beneath the hardwood. The house and its floor were built around 2001.
Our problem is that the hardwood is bulging upwards in some areas as much as 2″. There is no evidence of any water problem. It also appears that much if not all of the flooring appears to be cupped on its top surface.
Our plan is to strip off about half of the entire first floor where the damage is the worst, and then strip out whatever sub-floor may be in that area, and then install new sub-flooring, a new vapor barrier beneath the sub-flooring, and then re-install as much of the original hardwood flooring as is re-usable (fill in with new where needed). We then would sand the entire first floor to remove the cupping and get the finish color to match.
Is what we are planning to do OK or do we have to install all new hardwood flooring for this job to turn out right? Your input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks,
Peter
Replies
selftaught,
The problem is the tongue and groove.. sand too much to flatten the wood and the tongue and groove can be exposed and then the parties over..
Basically not worth your time! that badly cupped and you're best off fixing the moisture problem and putting it down with new wood..
bulging upwards in some areas as much as 2".
Are the individual boards cupped that much, or has the entire floor heaved? It could be that there was no room for expansion, and the floor absorbed enough moisture to cause it to expand and buckle. If that's the case, you could do what you propose, leaving proper gaps around the perimeter.
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My first question would be whether the center of the boards was raised, so that the cupping is upwards, or if the edges are raised. The side that has the most moisture will get bigger and become convex.
Knowing this would indicate whether moisture is coming up from under the floor, or whether there is excessive moisture in the air above the floor.
All wood will have a natural tendency to cup. I mentioned the above only because your cupping seems to be in excess of what I would expect.
Four years back, I sanded a soft pine floor (6" wide boards) to remove cupping. The floor has not recupped, so I assume that it was not a humidity problem, but a combination of the natural tendency to cup, possibly combined with inadequate expansion room.
He did say cupping, but good idea to question that for verification.
If it is cupped, the edges are up and the moisture has come from below.I disagree that all wood naturally will cup up. That depends more on grain orientation.
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>> I disagree that all wood naturally will cup up. That depends more on grain orientation. << Other factors are the source of the moisture and which side dries fastest.
"the hardwood is bulging upwards in some areas as much as 2". There is no evidence of any water problem. "
The cupping and bulging IS evidence of moisture problems.
you DO have a water problem! What more evidence do you think you need?
For re-using flooring materials - I find that we can only salvage about 60-70% at the best when trying hard to save it.
Then you encounter difficulties reinstalling it, where used takes longer than new.
And if it has not dried and restabilized, it will teturn to origiunal shapes.
and cupped flooring is a bit harder to refinish.
If you were paying my labour rates for all that, it would be far cheaper to just replace all new.
But we need to figure out why you have a water problem to begin with
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Hey piffin,
2" deflection on a hardwood floor means moisture? Well, you couldn't be more right.
Since I got home today, I've been continously urinating in the corner of my living room. My Golden Retriever joined me almost immediately, and we're both drinking massive amounts of iced tea. Our combined uric acid surely blasted the finish off within the first hour, so now the floor is just absorbing all of the liquid we can produce. This amount is somewhere between a soaker hose and a fire hose, depending on the dog's nap requirements, and my wife's willingness to provide bowls of iced tea for the both of us, which is waning by the hour. (Although I just lapped one up.)
With that liquid onslaught, my hardwood (floor) has a 1/4" deflection. So, I'm thinking, maybe moisture through the slab? For a really long time.
skipj
The opions and observations by all of you are much appreciated. We've suspected moisture and a lack of expansion gaps at the perimeter as the culprits from the start. I've flattened the bulges a couple of times, but without checking/changing the expansion space at the perimeter the bulges pop back-up in no time.
Given that the most visible damage is in 2 of 6 rooms, and given that there are some natural dividers (because of the house plan) between those 2 rooms and the rest of the house, our plan at the moment will be to replace both the sub-floor and the hardwood in the 2 worst rooms (after installing a vapor barrier). We'll then sand all the rooms to remove as much cupping as we can from the rooms whose floor isn't replaced. Hopefully the stain will reasonably match when we re-finish all the rooms.
There is a limit to time and money, otherwise we'd replace all the flooring and sub-floor.
This is the first time that I've posted on Breaktime. I'm really pleased with the number of responses. Also glad to see that there was pretty much a consensus as to what the problem seems to be. Thanks again to all of you for taking the time to reply.
I would remove the outer most board from each side and then while no one is looking I'd take a sledge hammer and pound the floor flat. Then I'd see if I wanted to live with the cupping and if yes I'd replace the two side boards after making them a half inch narrower so they wouldn't bulge again. If you can't live with the cupping you have to find out what is wrong with the moisture barrier and fix it. That'll require the removal of the floor and you'll realize that you are better off replacing it with new. Nothing wrong with relaying the old floor but you won't be able to think you earned much per hour by time you are through. Mesic
Go drive a nail or drill into the floor. How deep you hit the concrete will give you an indication as to how thick the subfloor is. I don't think you need to worry about damaging the floor :-). If it's heaved up to 2", you must already know how thick the flooring itself is. When you install the new floor don't forget to leave a gap all the way around the perimeter for expansion. The new base and shoe mold will cover this. Heck - you might even want to leave a gap around the new subfloor.
So, the existing is 3/4" HW?
Maybe if you are lucky the subfloor (which you are going to replace anyway) is partially deteriorated and the strip flooring will come up really easily.
The indication is that there is no vapor barrier under the concrete, but another possibility is a plumbing leak. If it were a leak it would seem like the damage would be more localized, but I've also learned the hard way that a plumbing leak can run under the HW and affect areas clear across the room. The floor didn't show any water damage - just the cupping.
Is there any possibility that water could be entering from the exterior of the home? Like maybe the exterior grade slopes toward the house and there is only a few inches between the bottom of the siding and the finish grade? Really though I don't know squat about building in Alaska, but I do know that you need to find the source of the moisture and fix it or a new floor may fail too.
Sounds like a real mess. I feel for you. Good luck.