hardwood floor cupping in summer
Changes in weather conditions. The paper will curl up away from the water.
Cupping Hardwood Floors The Hull Truth Boating And Fishing Forum
The summer and the winter are the two seasons that are mainly responsible for the cupping of hardwood floors.
. Humidity plays a huge role in the upkeep of your hardwood floors. Cupping is a result of underlying water damage typically coming from beneath the floorboards. From what you describe sounds like the wood was installed wet.
There are multiple sources of moisture that can be the culprit in a cupped floor. The best wood is cut from the center of a tree. While width is not a major factor the quality of the wood is for a number of reasons.
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. During the hot humid days of summer we field calls from clients whose solid hardwood floors are cupping. Reichels Recommendations on how to reduce humidity inside a house.
High Relative Humidity Even the most carefully installed flooring can be subject to hardwood cupping especially during the humid summer months. During the summer even the most carefully installed wood floors tend to expand and sometimes cup or even buckle. By far this is the biggest potential problem during the summer and its one that definitely dont want to encounter.
These events occur because of woods relationship with moisture in the air. One of the most common causes of a cupped floor in our market is when a. Hardwood flooring must be given time to adjust to surrounding moisture levels by means of a process known as acclimating or conditioning before it is.
This can occur after water spills onto the floor and is absorbed by the wood. However usually high RH is the culprit. This means that in high humidity your wood floors will absorb more moisture causing them to expand and cup.
Cupping happens when the edges of a board are higher than its center due to moisture which causes the wood to expand. While both engineered and solid hardwoods can experience cupping they do so in different manners because the offending moisture creates distinct effects in each material. If the cupping is throughout your home humidity is likely the cause.
Using a dehumidifier during winter and summer can be a great way to address this issue. The wet subfloor wets the bottom of wood flooring which causes the bottom of the planks to swell causing cupping in summer said Mrs. Certain issues that can cause cupping include wet mopping the floor plumbing leaks a damp subfloor and the environment fluctuating outside of a range of relative humidity RH that is acceptable for the floor.
The questions mostly come twice a yearin the summer as humidity rises causing floors to expand and in the winter as humidity falls and floors shrink. Checks or cracks in the boards are also caused by loss of moisture. As noted previously moisture movement within wood can be slow.
Cupping occurs when hardwood planks bow inward creating a concave cup shape. Floors cup for one reason as a response to moisture. Seasonal Expansion and Shrinkage in Hardwood Floors If you have hardwood flooring youve probably noticed that cracks seem to appear in the winter and then disappear or fade away in the summer.
Just running a fan or dehumidifier. It is not hard to see the effect in wood flooring either. Expansion space should be left at the walls.
As the wood expands compression can result as the boards are crushed together deforming the boards at the edges. Wood floor cupping can occur with any width board though the cupped appearance will often be greater with a wide plank due to its wider width. In many instances the wood planks cup because excessive humidity in the air makes the wood expand closes the gaps between slats and in the presence of excess moisture forces the wood to cup.
The best prevention is to. The cupping of hardwood floors usually happens due to the change of humidity. In these two seasons the change of humidity is frequent and significant.
High relative humidity RH is. Once you find the source of the moisture and correct it verify that the floor straightens out within the next few weeks. High quality wood flooring is manufactured from mature trees.
Certain climates experience rather warm and humid summers and the season can result in elevated levels of moisture and with it the risk of cupping. Wood will try to match its internal moisture content to the moisture content of the air around it. Improper installation of flooring.
In many cases of slight to moderate wood floor cupping eliminating the source of the water and drying out the flooring can save the floor. Cupping is when the edges of a board are higher than its center due to moisture which causes the wood to expand. During the summer all wood floors tend to expand because wood reacts to moisture.
The floors are 38 Durawood Stained Brazilian Oak from LL. Cupping is caused by a rapid loss of moisture in the wood. Air with a high moisture content MC or high relative humidity RH.
Extreme moisture can cause cupping when the edges raise higher than the middle of the wood planks or even buckling. Keep your house warmer in summer by setting the air conditioner above the outside dew point. On the flip side low humidity will cause your floors to dry out and shrink.
Ad Well Take Care of Your To-Do List. Solid strip flooring does have a shrinkswell coefficient of 1 in the length and 4 in the width. The general effect is easy to demonstrate by putting a small strip of paper onto a small drop of water.
One Call Thats All in Greater LA. Air with a high moisture content MC or high relative humidity RH causes wood to gain moisture. Now that the summer is here and the humidity has gone up we are noticing a significant amount of cupping and in a few places the floors have started to buckle the floor has formed lumps and in two spots in the DR and LR the floor has actually popped up and is no longer attached.
This is not a sign of a problem with your flooring though as this shrinkage and expansion is quite normal.
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