INSTALLED A WIDE T&G HARDWARE FLOOR ABOUT 5 YEARS AGO (MAPLE?) cUSTUMER CALLS YESTERDAY TO SAY ITS RAISED UP AN INCH ABOUT 8″ OFF WALL. jOB IS 3 HOURS AWAY AND I’D LIKE TO KNOW WHAT TO LOOK FOR WHEN I MAKE THE TRIP. ANY BODY HAVE ANY IDEAS? fLOOR WAS INSTALLED OVER 3/4 PLY WITH A FELT PAPER BARRIER.
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Water under it???
I've seen a leaking dishwasher buckle a floor 12' away. Felt paper did an excellent job keeping the back side of the floor immersed in water. When we ripped it up it's amazing how far the water went with no evidence on the surface at all....That is until it buckled up.
jag... if it's buckeled , it has swelled.. if it's swelled, it's from moisture.. either continuous moisture from a wet crawl space or basement..
or water from a leak..
the leak is either a plumbing leak or a roof/ wall leak
if it's from a wet crawl/ basement.. they have to solve that problem..
then ... a dehumidifier might remove enough moisture from the flooring so it will lay back down with some weighting... but it will probably never be right again.. it will remain cupped at best
lot's of floors move with the seasons... humid summers swell the floors.... dry winters shrink them..
you have to maintain a range of about 40% RH inside for the floors to reamain stable
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
you have to maintain a range of about 40% RH inside for the floors to reamain stable
Mike, actually any RH will do, just don't let it vary. 40% in much of the West would be all but impossible.PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
you are so correct, tom...
i forgot about regional differences in climate.. i think the poster is in the same climate /humidity zone as me.. so thus the 40% guide
Mike Smith Rhode Island : Design / Build / Repair / Restore
mike,
Thanks to you and all for the replys. The humidity angle has me wondering if this being the start of the cold season with turning on the heat and so forth if this could be playing a part. The job is in south central new jersey.
john
Five years of good service gets you off the hook I'd say. You could do them the benifit of trying to find the source of the moisture problem. but it seems like it's (financailly) their problem. good luck
It has swelled because of moisture and if it's behaved itself for 5 years I'd look for a leak as a source of the moisture.
In a lot of these cases the best thing to do is fix the source of the moisture and simply wait for the floor to dry out -- many times it'll settle back down after 6-8 weeks or so.
The quickest and safest way to speed up the drying out is a simple fan to blow air across the affected area of the floor -- don't use any heat at all.
IanDG
I would assume that it's buckled along an outside wall. If this is a fact and it's near a window then that might be the culprit. Windows are notorious for causing grief to hardwood floors. Water can migrate down from the window sill and then be wicked by the flooring. If there's a gap in the base plate and the cooler air infiltrates so will moisture. If you have curtains in the windows that extend down to the floor, condensation on the windows will form and drop down onto the floor as well. The curtains stop the airflow that would curtail the condensation from forming.
In other words take a real close look at the wall and it's construction. Installing a hardwood floor may include some responsibilities BUT only to the point of labor not what happens after it's installed.
Remember that this is a localized problem and will probably have a local answer.
Gabe