Oak Floor Swelling

Floor buckling happens most often after a floor has been flooded for an extended period of time.

Oak floor swelling. The amount of cupping will depend on the species swelling coefficient cut width thickness and the restraining forces that may be present. When humidity is high the wood expands. Fortunately this is not a common occurrence. Consumer reports top rated options in solid wood engineered wood laminate porcelain tile and vinyl flooring.

Using these products may also void your flooring s warranty. If the oak flooring was rift cut or quartersawn then the swell and shrink the movement is in the up and down perspective through the thickness and not across the board width. Solid wood flooring takes in moisture when there is a high level of humidity in the air and then the flooring lets that moisture go when the humidity in the atmosphere reduces again. Buckling occurs when the wood flooring actually pulls up from the subfloor lifting several inches in one or more places.

Check out the best flooring from cr s tests. Hardwood floors can swell in the following ways. Hardwood flooring swells based on moisture and shrivel due to the lack therein. Sometimes floors that appear dry to the naked eye can be soaked and the job might require industrial size fans and other equipment that removes water beneath the wood down into the subfloor.

Most hardwood floors are laid with a significant gap between floor and wall all around the perimeter of the room. Swelling is the largest in the tangential direction which is across the face of plainsawn flooring or across rotary peeled faces. Mop up spills as they happen and avoid washing or wet mopping your laminate floor using soap water oil soaps or any type of liquid cleaner to prevent swelling warping or delamination. Removing the moisture as soon as possible is key.

The wood floor swelling should go down then the flooring can be sanded and revarnished. How to fix a buckled hardwood floor. Never allow water to remain standing on your laminate floors for any length of time. Along with seasons heat and rain humidity levels in the air rise and fall from percent to percent.

Setting up ventialtion fans and a dehumidifier will remove moisture over the course of a few months. Floor buckling is the most extreme reaction to moisture in a hardwood floor. Moisture is the downfall of many hardwood floors. Hardwood floors can be very damaged from water infiltration.