WE installed a 3 1/4″ wide ash prefinished wood floor (3/4″ thick) approx 1 month ago in our new home. The wood is now cracking – about 30 different cracks in a 12X 16 area. Cracks appear randomly approx 1/2 ” along tongue side of board along grain lines. Installed on 3/4 T & G plywoood over basement. Supplier has never seen such a thing and is slow on getting back to us. any ideas?
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Is your house and location unusually dry? Are the boards glued together?
Our house is not unusually dry now. humidty @ 52%. flooring sat for 3 weeks in house before it was installed. sub floor was tested before installation - 7% . wood flooring at installation time - 5%. Supplier tested for us, said all was ok to install. humidty level is higher now than at time of installation. Boards was not cupping, just cracking.
I don't think it's possible to overdrive a 3/4 floor together but if the grooves are too shallow of narrow I suppose the tongue with swelling could put the stress on it. Does the crack follow the line of the inside of the groove?
A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
i thought he said the cracks were along the tongue side of the boards
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Well, looky there. You are correct sir. Best retract my answer to general Debbie.A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Debbie, any leftover pcs you can look closely at?
A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Is the floor in the basement or above it? Did you (or the installer) install the floor exactly per the installation instructions? Was a vapor barrier (rosin paper) used between the flooring and the subfloor?
Lots of possibilities here and one reason why I try to avoid flooring work - lol.
You said that it's cracking along the tongue side, right? So its towards the middle of the board from the observable joint?
We just refinished our floors (of unknown age) and we had a number of boards cracked along the groove side. The top half of the groove was cracking off because the nails weren't set into the tongue properly. It may not have shown at install, but a bit of walking etc may have caused them to crack.
Possible?
When you say "cracking" are you referring to the joints between individual boards or do you mean the boards themselves are splitting? Unless you have absolute control of temperature and humidity in your house, it's not unusual for there to be some opening at joints as the seasons change. It's wood and it will move. Many think that acclimating the product means piling the bundles up in a corner for a while. The packages must be opened and spread out and stickered in order to acclimate. Moisture meters have to used properly and not all are accurate. Regardless of the on site care given, eventually, the joints between the boards will open and close slightly with swings in humidity, especially wider stock. If the boards themselves are splitting, you have defective materials, poor installation or some severe moisture problems.
Beat it to fit / Paint it to match
There is a lot I don't know about your job, but 5% seems way TOO dry to me. Could be it was too dry and that is the cause for cracking.But there could be half a dozen other...
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There is a lot I don't know about your job, but 5% seems way TOO dry to me. Could be it was too dry and that is the cause for cracking.
That's pretty darn dry.
It is way too dry, but moisture meters aren't reliable down that low anyway, even the very good ones, or it may have been calculating for the wrong species or something. Oven-drying is the only thing that is accurate with very dry wood.
A flooring company I know got in a load of pitch pine from Costa Rica at 5%; when I saw it they had it in a shed and were trying to condition it back to a higher m.c. They wouldn't sell it at that m.c.
Cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
That was the only logical answer I could arrive at.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Yup, I was agreeing with you.Cabinetmaker/college woodworking instructor. Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
It almost sounds like the boards have gotten a lot more moisture and the outside perimiter of the board has expanded faster than the center, causing a crack toward the center.
Edited 7/20/2006 1:36 am by trout
Edited 7/20/2006 1:39 am by trout
If it is only in boards that were quarter sawn, it may be that the tree had a natural 'wind shake' defect from the git go. If it is mixed between flat sawn and rift sawn, I'd suspect the back relief may have some thing to do with it.
If it was at 5% on install, and the RH is now 50% or more, the wood will swell and cup sooner than shink and crack.
I'd say it is an inherent flaw from the log forward to you.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
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"I'd suspect the back relief may have some thing to do with it"I was thinking the same too. Maybe the back relief was milled in the wrong place, therefore walking pressure is stressing the boards and resulting in cracking. I guess the next question for the OP would be are the affected boards in the area of foot traffic.