Hard Wood Floor Cupping!!
- Thread starter Husky
- Start date
-
Active since 1995, Hearth.com is THE place on the internet for free information and advice about wood stoves, pellet stoves and other energy saving equipment.
We strive to provide opinions, articles, discussions and history related to Hearth Products and in a more general sense, energy issues.
We promote the EFFICIENT, RESPONSIBLE, CLEAN and SAFE use of all fuels, whether renewable or fossil.
- Status
Stove to the right. Pellet Insert on mantel to the right. That is humidifier on left.
Hmm, the cupping appears to be in the vicinity of the humidifier. Have you moved it and looked under the carpet?
Humidifier is new, I just bought it this Sunday. The boards are cupping under the carpet. The total boards that are cupping are 6 wide and extend about 6 feet.
The only cupping I have seen with flooring has been due to moisture. That is confirmed by the article that johneh posted. Not sure the benefit of the humidifier here. Also, that does not look like any bamboo flooring I have ever seen. The grain pattern is wrong. It looks a bit more like a brazilian cherry.
Is the basement under the floor unusually moist or were there any leaks there this winter? Is it heated? Did any of the plants get over watered to the point of spilling?
Warm_in_NH
Minister of Fire
I'd bet moisture. Damp basement of ice dams or leaking pipe in wall. Floors generally shrink from the heat but buckle and warp from moisture.
Check the moisture readings of your sheet rock near the bottom of your walls in that area too.
I had my 5" wide hickory floor warp due to insanely high humidity in my stone floor basement. Never laid back down all the way, but it's natural hickory, it hides a lot.
Laminate floor I installed several years ago went bad the first summer it hit. Looked like an accordion, horrible. We did the install perfectly, taped vapor barrier, etc... Turned out his upper slider was leaking, there was no direct water contact to the floor but it was 87% humidity down there. Two weeks of aggressive dehumidifier work it looked like new. I was shocked it laid back down so well.
Check the moisture readings of your sheet rock near the bottom of your walls in that area too.
I had my 5" wide hickory floor warp due to insanely high humidity in my stone floor basement. Never laid back down all the way, but it's natural hickory, it hides a lot.
Laminate floor I installed several years ago went bad the first summer it hit. Looked like an accordion, horrible. We did the install perfectly, taped vapor barrier, etc... Turned out his upper slider was leaking, there was no direct water contact to the floor but it was 87% humidity down there. Two weeks of aggressive dehumidifier work it looked like new. I was shocked it laid back down so well.
Dune
Minister of Fire
Do you have pets?
Also, do you have a maid, children, a wife who like to water things a lot? Once a dog gets away with peeing somewhere, he will keep going back to the exact same spot.
Or a child may have spilled a drink. Or the maid over watered the plants. The plants are almost too much to be a coincidence.
Could meltwater be coming down your flue?
Again, it isn't a dryness problem. It is a moisture problem.
Also, do you have a maid, children, a wife who like to water things a lot? Once a dog gets away with peeing somewhere, he will keep going back to the exact same spot.
Or a child may have spilled a drink. Or the maid over watered the plants. The plants are almost too much to be a coincidence.
Could meltwater be coming down your flue?
Again, it isn't a dryness problem. It is a moisture problem.
I do have a very damp basement. Temps usually in basement are around 55 during the winter. I usually run 2 dehumidifiers in basement year around but I started this year running one on a timer that runs 12 hours and then off 12 hours. I was thinking that the winter months were dryer so I could cut back on usage to save on electric. This may have been a bad idea. Check RH in basement and it was 58%. With that RH and cold basement that could be my problem. The room above temp is usually 75 or more when we are home.
Warm_in_NH
Minister of Fire
58% isn't too bad, certainly not enough to do that. Maybe a pic of the hearth?
I'm guessing it's an exterior wall to the right in the picture? Is it an exterior chimney? Chimney with a box around it, maybe a cricket on the back side, ice dam melted?
You've got moisture coming from somewhere. Just take you MM and start checking everything. Establish you baseline by taking a few readings in an unaffected area of the wall and floor. Then start checking all over the place, when you get an elevated reading somewhere, try to follow it, like an invisible scent trail. Doesn't always work, but I've had success doing this in the past when there was no visible signs of a leak.
I'm guessing it's an exterior wall to the right in the picture? Is it an exterior chimney? Chimney with a box around it, maybe a cricket on the back side, ice dam melted?
You've got moisture coming from somewhere. Just take you MM and start checking everything. Establish you baseline by taking a few readings in an unaffected area of the wall and floor. Then start checking all over the place, when you get an elevated reading somewhere, try to follow it, like an invisible scent trail. Doesn't always work, but I've had success doing this in the past when there was no visible signs of a leak.
Is it more cupped further away from the hearth then right up next to it? Where is the blown air from the stove directed at?
Here is picture of Hearth. Air blows straight out and up. Wall behind stove is interior wall of garage. Chimney is interior through garage and up stairs bedroom. Cupping starts at wall on left and get worse as you get out past hearth and goes out about 6 feet on 6 boards. I don't have a moisture meter to check anything but will get one this weekend.
Check the wall on the left (as looking at the insert) for faint water staining running down the wall. Just saw it today in a house.
Warm_in_NH
Minister of Fire
Wish I was there. As much of a pain in the ass as they are, I enjoy tracking down a water leak, and I have an good portfolio.
Lot of good advice given here, I'd listen to it all, use the new moisture meter, and figure out what is going on.
I would however, kill the humidifier for now. It's a new variable that you don't need to introduce yet.
Keep us posted.
Lot of good advice given here, I'd listen to it all, use the new moisture meter, and figure out what is going on.
I would however, kill the humidifier for now. It's a new variable that you don't need to introduce yet.
Keep us posted.
semipro
Minister of Fire
The chimney or interface between it and the house may also be a conduit for water even if the flue is capped.
sportbikerider78
Minister of Fire
johneh
Minister of Fire
I have spent the last 25 years of my life as a wood worker . I have done every thing from Antique restoration
furniture design , custom furniture to milling and laying hard wood floors. The one and only thing that will
cause a hard wood floor to cup is moisture. It takes something as simple as a spilled bucket of water
when the floor was washed . It also may take weeks before the floor cups. If the moisture is removed
at a timely rate the floor should lay flat again. Do you use an air conditioner ? If so it should remove the
excess moisture this summer . But you must find where the moisture is coming from . the moisture is
between the hard wood and the sub floor. I suspect the Bay window is leaking.
Get rid of the humidifier as you are adding to your problem
furniture design , custom furniture to milling and laying hard wood floors. The one and only thing that will
cause a hard wood floor to cup is moisture. It takes something as simple as a spilled bucket of water
when the floor was washed . It also may take weeks before the floor cups. If the moisture is removed
at a timely rate the floor should lay flat again. Do you use an air conditioner ? If so it should remove the
excess moisture this summer . But you must find where the moisture is coming from . the moisture is
between the hard wood and the sub floor. I suspect the Bay window is leaking.
Get rid of the humidifier as you are adding to your problem
Thanks for input. I have come to the conclusion that it has to be moisture. I didn't see the floor start to cup until the thaw in the past 2 weeks. I have experienced quite a bit of ice damming this year for the first time since living here for the past 13 years. I put a second floor addition on my house in 2005 over the garage. At that time the new roof line of the garage addition is just below the existing roof. The snow this year accumulated very heavily on my roof covering the new roof up over the existing roof. I am guessing that I may have had some ice damming on my roof where the new roof meets the house, which is the wall that the fireplace is located. I will have to get up there this spring when things warm up and check the flashing between the house and new roof line. I also know that the flashing on the chimney was not imbedded into the chimney but just glued on with roofing cement. This has caused a few water leaks in my garage at base of chimney a few times over the years. I don't know why this didn't come to my thought process in the very beginning. I guess I just thought my new pellet stove was problem and it had to be dryness. It still baffles me that I can not find any signs of water stains any where. I will keep looking and will be moisture meter reading this weekend. Thanks again to everyone who has responded to me. It really helps hearing all the possible things that it could be from the community. This is why I love this web sight.
Warm_in_NH
Minister of Fire
I got my MM at Lowes, think it was like $20. That stove is helping dry things more than anything else, it's your friend right now, keep it cranking.
A lot of homes I've see are built with a vapor barrier on the inside of the studs (plastic staple up over unfaced insulation), combine that with a house wrap on the exterior, quite often a water leak from the roof won't show up until one or two stories below. Once it gets into the wall cavity, it's trapped in and travels down hill. I know when I see the finish nails on the baseboard trim rusting out that something isn't going to be quite right when we open up the wall.
We did a repair job where an entire 24' long wall was completely rotted out end to end, not a water stain to be seen, they only noticed because the wall board was bowing out and touching the back of their heater that was bolted to the wall with what was once a 2" gap. The wall compressed down so much the sheet rock bowed out cause it had no where to go.
Update on my floor. After many weeks of trying to find where the water came in I never found the culprit. My floor has completely laid back down flat. I have come to the conclusion that it had to be ice damming as the problem did not arise until the big thaw we had in the spring, after the long cold snap. This summer, I am going to reflash my chimney and the side of the house where roof meets the siding on that wall. Hopefully this will take care of the problem for future winters. I want to thank all that gave advise and suggestions while I was trying to figure this out.
Glad it repaired itself! Let us know what you find when doing the roof work.
Could the spot where the boards cupped be a low spot in the floor which acted like a puddle ?
When I re-shingled my roof 2 Summers ago the water problem in the basement dried up.
I'd have liked to have used the money spent on dry wells, grading and running a dehumidifier for something, anything else.
Hope your floor behaves.
- Status
Similar threads
