When this board was dried out, however, it flattened again. Installation guide for jasper floors installerowner responsibility. When a cupped wood floor has been rightly installed. Jan 23, 2012 peaking refers to a situation in which the laminate floor boards push up against each other and result in high points at the joints. Speedy floor removal is built into the floor business, and our floor flattening services are just another extension of our innovative work with floors. When we moved in about 16 years ago the wood floors looked great. You just need to give it time and wait to see how it reacts. Since we dont want you to sacrifice the beauty of having hardwood floors in your home, frontier basement systems offers a solution to this issue. Cupping on wood flooring troubleshooting floorsave. How to flatten a subfloor wood floor business magazine. It refers to a state when the individual wood planks appear to be higher on the edges as compared to the center of the board, forming the shape of a cup. When problems arise or when a floor fails, it can be costly. Wet floors should not be sanded flat until the drying process is completed. The cause of cupped floors is a moisture imbalance where there is.
How to fix cupped hardwood flooring home guides sf gate. The planks have some shrinkage and a few of them are still cupped. I recently had an oak hardwood floor installed in my kitchen. Ask your claims representative for help finding an expert in your area. How to level out cupped floorboards ready for engineered or. Cupped wood floor boards require subfloor to dry out. Water had come in the roof, run down inside the wall, and under an oak floor. So we had new hardwoods put in last spring 2010 and noted during the summer last year that they cupped very bad not buckling, but you could see it slight cupping in hardwoods. I have a refrigerator sitting on a solid oak floor with a plywood underlaysubfloor that had the ice maker line break and the water got under the flooring and it is cupped now about 4 feet square o. May 24, 20 how to level out cupped floorboards ready for engineered or laminate flooring wes posted on may 24, 20 posted in installation and project guides, subfloor preparation no comments cupped floorboards are a common problem and in most cases need to be addressed prior to installing an overlay wood floor. Dec 10, 2008 no, but there is a trick to fixing it. Im starting to notice minor cupping on this kitchen floor. This cupping wont go away with the seasons wood floor. A very minor cup may well flatten over time as the seasonal change helps relax the flooring.
Troubleshooting a cupping condition in wood flooring. Water leak on hardwood floors slight cupping how much. Cupped floors cupped floors, also called washboarding, develops gradually across the width of the wood strip where the edges of the hardwood planks raise up and the center of the board sinks down. Before tackling the cupped flooring itself, a better avenue to take is dealing with the source of the moisture first. This will help flatten the floor and remove any existing chatter or waves. Cupping occurs in solid wood flooring as a result of an elevated mc in the bottom of the flooring compared with the mc of the face. Depending on the time of year, leaving flooring on a job site to acclimate can be problematic. Ask your claims representative for help finding an expert in. See appendix a2 moisture in wood and laminate floors for more information. We moved out for a week and come back to floors that had ripples everywhere, ripples in hardwood floor in the wood, not finish. Solid wood floor cupping occurs as a result of an elevated moisture content in the bottom of the flooring as compared to the moisture content at the face. When the moisture increases, the wood swells and then when it decreases, the wood shrinks. There are other, more involved, approaches to flattening floors say, pumping a new slab over the top of the old one, or laying down and leveling a new sleeper system and fastening a new plywood subfloor to it. If it is all over but the cupping is light the floor can be sanded to remove the cupping and then refinished.
Behavior of flooring if its not marked nofma, its not. It took a couple weeks to recognize and identify the leak, but once i did i repaired it and ensured no more water was coming through. If it is a small location then the cupped boards can be cut out and new boards installed. How to refinish a 100yearold wood floor home guides sf gate. A few months ago, i had an insidious leak from an upstairs bathroom that caused cupping in the wood floors downstairs. Sanding a cupped floor flat before it is brought to a normal mc can eventually result in a crowned floor convex surface once the drying process is complete.
Not only do they look good, theyre easy to care for, resist wear and theyre even eco friendly. More or less i want to understand if i have a prayer in holding the builder accountable for. Understanding the ins and outs of wood floor repair. Jasper prefinished floors are manufactured with high quality standards and in accordance with accepted industry standards, which permit a defect tolerance in most cases not to exceed 710%. Floor is sanded flat while at the higher moisture content, resulting in strips with thinner edges. Flooring absorbing excessive moisture on the underside causes expansion and cupping with the edges raised. If the entire floor is cupping, a burst pipe, improperly cured concrete or wetmoppi. If you have a steady flux of bottomside moisture keeping the bottom side wetter than the top, itll stay cupped, but if the moisture stays relatively constant itll usually flatten out. First cut should be at a diagonal see figure 31, using the finest grit possible that will flatten the floor. Dealing with cupped hardwood flooring builder magazine.
Using warped planks in framing a home or in a subfloor may result in problems as floors and walls begin to buckle. Sanding will leave the edges on the downside of the floor planks unsupported. May 24, 2011 when we moved in about 16 years ago the wood floors looked great. Almost immediately my floors started cupping, some areas are raised and some have vertical cracks in the wood. Most often, cupping happens when flooring is installed over a wet basement or. Wood floor cupping is a scary phrase, when considering new floors. When i moved into my house 1 12 years ago i had carpet and ceramic floors removed and new hickory prefinished hardwood put in my entire downstairs.
I was called to look at doing some ice dam repair a few years ago. The importance of flat floors speedy floor removal. If you can flatten a cupped piece of lumber or a small cutting from this lumber, you are indeed quite lucky indeed. Water damaged floors the australian timber flooring association. Behavior of flooring if its not marked nofma, its not certified. Then we had some boards warp due to water damage so we had them replaced and had the floors refinished. Cupping is a result of the changes in moisture in the room. Callbacks dealing with cupped hardwood flooring get rid of the moisture source before you resand.
Cupping can be described as when the floor is no longer perfectly flat but, has a slightly undulating effect with the edges of the planks being slightly raised compared to the middle of the plank, making it concave when viewed from above. The center of the floor planks are higher and the edges lower. Dec 17, 2006 my wife and i are about to pay 170,000 for a brand new house. My new construction homes hardwoods warpedcupped severely immediately after installation, and the builder is refusing to fix the issue. As humidity or moisture from rain water falls onto the wood, the lumber absorbs the liquid causing it to expand and bend. I drive a moisture meter through the subfloor to check the bottoms of the boards. If the problem is more severe and resanding is considered, be careful. Removing baseboards could also be needed, especially if sanding is recommended. Moderate cupping can be detected from a standing position when light reflects off a cupped floor with a wavy or slightly washboard look, or it may be readily viewed by the naked eye in more extreme instances. Repairing wood floors is a long process, but well be with you every step of the way until your floors are back to normal.
In the mean time keep the heat on a little higher, with no night time set backs, and heat the basement or crawl space under it well, also. Mold growth under paint on a painted floor is a trickier issue. More or less i want to understand if i have a prayer in holding the builder accountable for what is clearly a terrible outcome with my hardwoods. The oak was cupped, so i left it exposed for a couple of years. Cupped floors occur when wood curls up and the edges of the board are higher than its center. Behavior of flooring cupping and crowning crescent. Load the professional sanding machine and edger with the proper sequence of sandpaper as shown in appendix c and appendix d. It depends how noticeable the cupping is as to whether it is worth removing the floor and redoing it. Indeed, flattening cupped lumber is almost impossible to do.
Slight variances in colour andor pattern are to be expected when making repairs. I have old oak floors in all of the rooms in my house. In many cases, individuals may have to completely remove everything from the room to allow for better airflow. Hardwood floors are a great choice for home flooring. Hardwood flooring is a beautiful product of nature with inherent variations in appearance. Determine the extent of the damage and the source of the moisture.
The most common cause of peaking is a lack of expansion space between the laminate floor and the walls around the perimeter of the installation, or a lack of. May 06, 2014 prefinished hardwood floors did our installers ruin our new floors. In many cases, if cupping isnt severe, the issue can be fixed once the moisture issue is fixed. When i moved into my house there was a ceramic tile floor over mortar and lath with roofing paper oner oak floors in the foyer. Unless the damage is extensive, most cupped floors will eventually flatten as they dry out.
Repair for cupped laminate flooring when laminate is cupped, the centre of the plank is lower than the edges, indicating water damage. The owners got an insurance check then procrastinated and did nothing. If you sand a cupped floor that later flattens out as the relative humidity and the moisture content of. Increase the relative humidity in the room with cupped floors to 20 percent to prevent cupping from the air being too dry. Kilndried wood boards which are subjected to moisture only on one side will. If a floor is heavily cupped or crowned, you should make your first pass with the grain to knock off the high spots on the floor, then sand at an angle to flatten. Cupping, crowning, chatter, and more knowing how to quickly identify and efficiently fix common problems with hardwood floors is an important skill to have, especially if you are a hardwood floor contractor. Should i replace or refinish cupped hardwood flooring. With assistance from a plumber or leak detection expert, identify and repair the source of the water to prevent further damage. Login or register to download the pdf version of this article. An installer will be afraid that a cupping floor could result in a black mark.
If you want to close the transaction, perhaps consider having an agreement added to the closing docs that says the builder fully warranties the flooring to return to perfectly flat with no gaps between the boards. For new and old floors, your first cut should be at a 715 degree angle. Prefinished hardwood floorsdid our installers ruin our new floors. A floor that doesnt lie flat needs to be sanded, but only when the moisture content of the top and bottom of the boards is within 1%. The sides of the boards will be curled upward so that the edges are higher than the center of the board. My new construction homes hardwoods warpedcupped severely. Repair for cupped laminate flooring know about life. One of my friends had a water leak in her kitchen and her floors cupped.
Your only recourse at this point is to remove the finish because paint creates a seal over the floor that traps water in the wood below. The general effect is easy to demonstrate by putting a small strip of paper onto a small drop of water. After this is corrected, the flooring with show much improvement. Sanding the floors with a floor sander using 36grit sandpaper can often level out floors that are severely cupped.
To correct the cupping, all of the flooring must be resanded and refinished. This can be achieved if the cupped board are removed and it is has several weeks to dry out. It is possible the cupping will go away on its own. Cupped hardwood crowned hardwood often the floor will naturally reabsorb moisture again and flatten out. A cupped floor has a concave shape across the width of the boards. After scraping off the paint, scrub the wood with an abrasive cleaner, such as barkeepers friend, or use a tspwater solution with an added cup. The flooring was horribly cupped, looked way beyond any salvage. Some cupped floors lie flat once moisture issues are corrected. You can sand a cupped floor as long as the cupping is actually permanent. How to level out cupped floorboards ready for engineered or laminate flooring wes posted on may 24, 20 posted in installation and project guides, subfloor preparation no comments cupped floorboards are a common problem and in most cases need to be addressed prior to installing an overlay wood floor. Unfortunately weights, books, or bags are not going to save you.
To learn more and receive a flawlessly flat floor for your next flooring project, contact speedy floor removal today. In example 3, two different conditions can be observed. Peaking refers to a situation in which the laminate floor boards push up against each other and result in high points at the joints. This should happen when the flooring is close to a midpoint of the mc levels it experiences throughout the year. Only cupped flooring strips require replacement at the time of repair. Water was dripping into the basement from the tub which is next to a bedroom with oak strip i have just completed staining and finishing. My new construction homes hardwoods warped cupped severely immediately after installation, and the builder is refusing to fix the issue. The cause of cupped floors is a moisture imbalance where there is more water on the bottom side of the wood plank than on the top. Depending on the type of moisture issue, however, will determine how easily it can be fixed. Moisture in hardwood floors can cause cupping which looks like the center of the board is.