wide plank flooring - cupping question
karenyang
16 years ago
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lyfia
16 years agobrickeyee
16 years agoRelated Discussions
Wide plank wood floor installation and humidity %
Comments (7)Spread it out. Out of the packaging. One board thick in the rooms it is intended for. It takes a long time for humidity to penetrate a pile of boards. See chapter 3. (sorry, the site used to have chapter by chapter links, but they are gone). Cupping is only one of the tings that can happen. Plain expansion and shrinkage occur, even if the wood holds it shape. See figure 3-3. 8 inch wood is going to have some decent size gaps between heating and cooling season. And if you really are in a low RH area, it is going to continue shrinking. Here is a link that might be useful: 'Wood Handbook' This post was edited by brickeyee on Mon, Apr 29, 13 at 14:24...See MoreHelp with wide plank flooring noise
Comments (10)I'm not an installer or wood professional. (had to get that out of the way first) Here's the deal - wood dries out during the winter and shrinks a bit when you have central heat on. (And I think gas heat tends to dry the air even more than electric heat.) Come summer and those warm humid months, even with the a/c on, your wood floors will regain moisture and swell. So you've been through 6 months now probably with heat on in your house. I would expect to see some gaps - not huge but it might just be enough to cause that movement you hear. It's not cupping but just the natural tendency for wood to gain/lose moisture during the cooling/heating season cycles. I've also heard that alot depends too on when you had your wood floors installed. If they are installed at the height of summer when the humidity is at it's highest, there is a bigger chance of having shrinkage and gapping come the winter months. I live in the south where alot of the older homes have heart pine flooring that is 100+ yrs old and yes it's definitly looser-feeling during these late winter/early spring months when you walk on it. I suppose you could face nail these planks but I would first call your installer back if he is reputable, and he will know what to do, if anything is needed. And from here I'll turn it over to the flooring experts on this board....See More8' wide plank pine flooring
Comments (5)This is probably not relevant, but anyway: I am looking at my actual flooring. The boards are 8" wide on average in this room. The floor probably dates from 1794 or 1795, and it seems to me I have been told it is chestnut. The boards are nailed down, one pair of nails roughly 19" from the next pair of nails along a board. Over the years there have appeared spaces between some of the boards, these spaces being 1/4" wide at their widest. I haven't gotten around to inquiring whether anything can be done about the spaces....See Moreneed opinions on using architectural nails on wide plank flooring
Comments (4)Google searching images will bring up some decent pictures: https://www.google.com/search?q=wood+floor+decorative+face+nail&biw=1280&bih=932&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwit4czu9uLRAhWLqlQKHXWVDrEQ_AUIBygC It's odd that Pine would cup with an oil finish so I would recommend a couple things before taking any drastic steps. Test the moisture in the top of the Pine, the bottom of the Pine and in the subfloor. If there's a huge discrepancy, determine whether steps can be taken to alleviate it. If there's a small discrepancy, consider waiting through a full year of seasonal changes to see if the issue works itself out. Consider that drilling holes near the ends of boards and installing nails or screws and plugs, may have negative consequences. I'd be concerned about splitting. Will the cupping be pulled down with fasteners? If you drill and bore for a plug, the portion of Pine pulled down by a screw will be rather thin. Would it pull down the thin portion of board, or go straight through it? Also, consider geometry in your equation. Draw an exaggerated diagram of what you're proposing, imagining a board that's very cupped. When a hole is drilled through the board and into the subfloor, do you drill perpendicular to the surface of the board or to the subfloor? Regardless of which you choose, as the fastener is installed, the angle will change and the holes will become misaligned, potentially sabotaging your intent....See Morethull
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