Why is my hardwood flooring Buckling?
The simple answer is
Moisture or Installation Error. Hardwood floor buckling MAY be very costly to
repair if not addressed early on. Let’s talk about the reasons why and
remedies.
Installation
Related:
The most common
reason for buckling is lack of an adequate expansion gap around the perimeter
of the floor. This can even mean small restrictions. For instance, if a floor
is laid with adequate expansion all the way round the room but in one or two
places it has no expansion gap, buckling can ensue.
A floating floor however, can
be a different matter and can be rectified if caught in time. This would be
carried out by cutting out the places where the floor is grounding (hitting a
solid surface). If there’s no visible damage to the boards like cupping,
crowning, lipping etc. and there’s simply a hump in the middle of your floor,
it’s time to get to work with a multi-tool and/or plunge
saw (One that the design allows the blade to go close to a wall)
It’s a simple
part of any installation, leave an adequate expansion gap! However, we come
across this problem more than we’d like, as fitters seem all too willing now a
days to cut corners in an attempt to increase profits. A common story. If you
have an installer in your home and want to check to see he knows what he is
doing, check for expansion gaps. This is one of the easiest and quick visual
checks.
The way
expansion works, is generally to a ratio, a large room will need more expansion
than a small room. In other words, when a wood floor is interlocked,
you have to remember that each plank will expand when the room humidity
increases. So, if you have 20 rows
of flooring and each row expands on the width by ¼ in , this would mean the
entire floor may expand by ¼ in (this is
just an example and is not exact as different floor types and
densities expand and contract at different rates. However, the ratio isn’t too
far of the mark for most
floors).
Moisture
Related:
Now expansion
rates will run in conjunction with air humidity and temperature. The
measurements above relate to an average of a balanced temperature (approx 20-C)
and an air humidity of between 45 – 55% being maintained. Occasionally you may
find these fluctuate outside of normal conditions, maybe caused by an
exceptionally heavy rain fall or leaky plumbing pipes etc. This will not always
cause the floor to expand excessively, as mentioned, different floors react
differently.
Fortunately,
buckling is an uncommon occurrence, usually happening only after excessive rain.
Buckling happens when the floor pulls away from the sub-floor, up to heights as
high as 4 inches. Don’t worry, even in such cases it is still possible for
hardwood flooring to be repaired rather than replaced. This moisture causes the wood to swell, crushing the
boards together and deforming them at the edges. In order to repair your damaged
hardwood flooring , the cause of the moisture needs to be controlled. To speed
up the drying process, use a fan and re-coat your hardwood flooring.
#woodflooring #woodfloorbuckling #remodeling
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