Why Is My Hardwood Floor Cupping

Hardwood floors are expensive to buy and install although susceptible to environmental factors such as and humidity and temperatures.

Why is my hardwood floor cupping.

One of the best prevention tactics is to control the moisture content and humidity levels in your home. Homeowners take pride in their wood floors. It s surprising how quickly some people can point out a hardwood floor that is not flat and if you. The general effect is easy to demonstrate by putting a small strip of paper onto a small drop of water.

In fact in some cases exact opposite situations create wood floor cupping in a solid versus an engineered. A poor flooring installation can also result in the cupping of a hardwood floor. The paper will curl up away from the water. I have a new 6 month old on site installation of 3 4 inch hardwood flooring that is cupping.

So why not take precautions beforehand to prevent this phenomenon from taking place. David land august 13 2018 at 4 29 pm. A cupped floor develops as moisture from the underlayment or subfloor moves upward through the hardwood. My apartment unit is built on top of concrete slab with garage under.

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. Some of the causes of installation related cupping are. My hardwood floors are newly installed in the upstairs throughout. Downstairs half of the floor was hardwood and the other half carpeted so we converted it all to hardwood.

It is not existing in the old hardwood that was already there downstairs. All floor is throughout the unit is buckled. Concrete slab moister barrier 2 12 flooring joist 3 4 subfloor underlayment and 3 4 hardwood floor. Moisture affects solid wood floors and engineered wood floors in slightly difference ways.

5 tips to prevent hardwood floor cupping this summer. We removed 10 x10 section of the floor. I called the company who installed the floor and they said the moisture level was too high. How our 950 moisture meter works is it has a hygrometer built in to read temp humidity and calculates your the emc equilibrium moisture content of what your wood floor.

Wood is hygroscopic so it gains or loses moisture in your home seasonally. 3 months after the installation and cupping is occurring to all new hardwood floors. Moisture or water is the greatest enemy of a wood floor and that is why it buckle up more during hot summer or dry winter. Wood floor business has a great article that breaks down the difference which you can read by clicking here.

The appartment is six years old. Cupping dry or wet wood floors can be caused by humidity lack of humidity temp water. While hardwood floor cupping can be reversed it is a nuisance to manage. Underlayment and or subfloor that is too wet at the time of installation will cause wood floor cupping.