I have never heard of someone installing hardwood floors in the summertime in an environment that was not temperature/humidity controlled. Maybe people do things differently in other areas?! I'd have the builder and the flooring installer immediately tell you what their proposed solution is for your issue. I don't know if there is anything special about walnut floors, but if there is...I hope someone chimes in b/c we're using walnut too! Are these site finished? If so, maybe when they're finished, these imperfections won't be so noticeable?

I would definitely think about hooking up a few dehumidifiers until the HVAC system is working. We are also planning on installing real American black walnut wide plank floors, and our builder said that he wouldn't do it until the the HVAC system is working and the house can be maintained at about 70-74 degrees during the install Right now the plan is to install the floors in September. I hope that you can fix your problem. Real walnut floors are indeed very expensive. Did you happen to go with a Tung Oil finish? If you have any pictures I'd be very happy to see them as we've been scouring the net trying to get an idea of what our floors will look like installed, but there isn't much out there that is real walnut.

I am interested to read others' replies, as we are having hardwood (maple) installed for the first time as I write this. In fact, it is being laid today. We do not yet have HVAC either, however, there are portable dehumidifiers in the house. My other concern is that while the plaster in the home has dried, our painter is in the house priming and painting. I think the wood acclimated for a few days prior to today's installation. It can get very humid here, so I hope we don't have any problems post-installation. The hardwood people seem to really know their stuff, as they have moisture meters, etc.

Jan

The floors have NOT been finished ... just installed. They will be site-finished as the very last thing done before moving in. I don't know how much site finishing will remedy cupping floors, but I wouldn't think that would be sufficient. Other thoughts?

Soonermagic,

Ours won't be finished for a while either. It is my understanding that the cupping is due to humidity factors, and conversely, gaps in the floor are caused by dryness. Hardwood floors do best in humidity levels between 35% and 65%. You could buy a digital humidity gauge to check what level your home is at now. If you can get the climate under control, even with portable dehumidifiers or something, the problem may correct itself within a few months. What do your professional installers have to say about it? It sounds like you have had extremely humid weather conditions, which may have contributed to the problem. Your installers hopefully checked the humidity levels at the time of installation, etc. I hope you can get the situation rectified.

Jan

I had a few thousand sq feet of engineered wood installed, and even that I acclimated inside the house with the a/c running for a few weeks. I think it's very unusual to install solid wood in a house that's not temperature/humidity controlled.

However, that said, it's wood and it will move with changes in humidity. If the wood isn't showing outright cracking (from the boards pressing against each other) then it may settle back down once the house is closed up and the a/c turned on. I wouldn't be surprised if your builder and flooring installer said they wanted to wait and see what happens at that point. Aggressive treatment now (i.e. sanding the wood flat) might result in excessive gapping once the humidity goes down.

Where is you HVAC unit going to be? Will it be on your patio or driveway? I understand that it easiest to use the concrete guy do all the additional work but the pad for the AC is generally just a 4x4 square. I think I'd frame something out and go ahead and mix a couple of bags of quickcrete. I know the weather is a factor but the pad for an AC doesn't have to be a engineering marvel and it might be suitable so set the A/C at least a bit sooner. If indeed that is what is holding up the AC.

We're also going with walnut and we were specifically told to not install the floor until the HVAC was running. In facr, the hardword company would not guarantee the floor unless HVAC was installed and running full swing before floor installation. I would most certainly ask your GC about his plans going forward. Dehumidifiers sound like a good solution at this point in time.

Good luck,

Teresa

I don't know anything about fixing your floor but just out of curiosity, are all the floor boards cupping or just the bigger 5" ones? I ask because our builder really steered us away from the wide planks for this very reason. I'm wondering if after everything settles down and if they still look this way, they can replace some of the boards? I hope they just straighten out themselves with the dehumidifers though! Good Luck...do you have photos?

Lindy

This type of cupping happened to our neighbors and was a humidity issue. They had several other flooring companies come in to assess the situation, and they all said not to sand the floor after cupping. I spoke with one of them about putting wood floors in our new house and asked him about that situation, he said that cupping forces the edges together and up, leaving a space beneath the cupped area. If you sand those edges down, the space will in part remain and the floor will pop and creak. He seemed to indicate the entire floor should be replaced. Soonermagic, your situation may be different, I don't know all the variables. It does sound very strange to me that anyone would install a wood floor without the hvac system in use. The company that is going to install my floors already told me they reserve the right to refuse installation on the agreed upon date if the humidity numbers aren't within the proper range. They have a moisture meter that they test the wood with, along with the subfloor (I know yours was on concrete and that is different).

We were trying to decide on the flooring in our basement for my husband's bar. He originally wanted wood, but in all of my lengthy research and interviews, not one company would install solid wood on a slab. They would begrudgingly agree to install engineered wood on a slab, but all refused to guarantee their work (remember, this was below grade in a basement, not a first floor slab). So we decided to tile the area. Good luck with this. I'm not so sure the cupping will resolve itself, but I will keep my fingers crossed for you.

Amy

Just thought I would follow up since we are also having our hardwood installed soon. We are getting maple, and it will be on the main level of the home. It was supposed to go in yesterday, but the installers have postponed installation due to the humidity of the subfloor being slightly too high, likely due to the fact that our painter was spraying primer in the house this past week. So they are waiting until next week. I didn't think our HVAC was up and operating, but it is. Even without wall switches, etc., it is still wired and operating. I think the humidity issues are very important. Our flooring will be the 4" plank width. I hope you are able to get the issue resolved. In any case, either your GC or the flooring people should be responsible.

Jan

First, let me be the first to empathize with you and say I certainly hope you can find someone to help you rectify this situation. The first installer ruined our Carlisle solid walnut floors because he refused to install per instructions.

I won't get into everything else he did, but it was tantamount to sabotage. The most beautiful walnut wound up in a bonfire because he used the wrong glue, didn't cut the ends and apparently applied a product to the finish to the floors other than the tung oil finish. They looked terrible and we later found out the shoody installation, contrary to the directions, would have caused problems and most definitely voided the warranty from Carlisle.

Because of these numerous faults, one week after moving into our home the hardwoods were ripped out and we lived on concrete floors and waited for another shipment to arrive. I had to fight the buidler, my DH and everyone else because I refused to accept the shoddy job, particularly when I had discussed in depth the way the floors should be installed with the builder and the installer.

Once we received the new shipment, we let the wood acclimate several weeks in the temperature controlled house, as we did the first time.

For your builder to only allow two days in a non temperature controlled environment explains why you are having the problems you are now having.

My advice to you is rip it up and start over like I did.
As much of a pain as it was to have sawdust in my HVAC and tear my house up for four months just after moving in, not a day goes by that I don't smile when I walk across that walnut.

Please don't settle--your builder messed up; anyone that knows anything about wood installing wouldn't have done that.