Did you leave space around the wall leaving the floor space to expand and contract?

Here is a link that might be useful: Just Your Floors

If your installer is still in business, then start there. Make a phone call.

Thanks for reply.

The wood is Santos Mahogany.

I called installer. He said it is caused by expansion. He said he left enough (1/2 inch?) gap around the wall. Before the installation, a instrument was used to measure moisture on the concrete floor. It is said concrete sealer is not needed.

I am concerned what caused such severe expansion. Even pieces close to the wall can be taken out and re-installed, if the root cause is not found and fixed, the problem will be back?

it doesn't really look like cupping. Lack of expansion room was my first guess. Flooring expands width wise so that would be my first solution, adding some additonal expansion room.

What brand of engineering Santos Mahogany floor did you use and what width? It looks beautiful. Maybe the installer can add another 1/4th to 1/2" to expand and add quarter rounds to hide the expansion? I would also call in independed professional in to ask them to look at the situation.

sorry, I meant independent... I am having major arm pain tonight and I guess this means I better go to bed. I was just waiting until more pain went away before I attempted bed. The wood is beautiful and I hope the problem can be remedied.

It is Johnson Santos Mahogany, 5".

The color is stable, I like it overall.

I called another floor installer. He took a look at the situation. He said no easy fix. The ultimate fix is to take out all of floor, add concrete sealer, and then re-install.

What am I going to do? :-(

This goes to show that moisture tests of concrete slabs can't always be relied upon as indicating a GO with a job or even that it is in any way insurance that a wood installation on or below grade will be fine for the life of the floor.

Conditions can change in the slab due to changes in ground water levels or the way it moves through the ground, changes in the grade of the land, even adding plantings close to a slab and altering above surface watering of those plantings all can have a negative effect.

We also have learned through experience that a slab can test fine and then not be suitable at all simply by adhering something to its top surface. There is a "suction" phenomenon that can sometimes occur that I don't fully understand.

Bottom line is that in my opinion all slabs should receive some kind of moisture membrane...that can be liquid applied or a sheeting format.

I hope your installer will take responsibility for your failed installation and make things right with you. It is his professional duty to do this. The only costs you should have here is the added cost to purchase the moisture vapor membrane and pay for the labor to have it installed.

If he can repair the floor, then that would be acceptable; doing nothing is not.

Best of luck.

Glenn
Sohm Flooring Consultants

Glenn, thanks for information.

Since the floor is engineering wood, and direct glue down, when wood pieces are taken out, can wood pieces be re-used (re-insalled on the top ofmoisture vapor membrane) ? If wood pieces can be re-used, that will great.

Glenn, Thanks for this information since I am now pretty sure I am going to order BR-111 Brazilian Cherry Flooring and I was going to just glue it to my concrete floor since a neighbor has done this and it turned out great but now I am worried about future problems and think I need to seal the floor. I wish I had someone that lived near by me to install the floor for me and help me out.

Just from the pictures, this looks like a humidity issue.
That is thick sawn wear layers for you. Acts just like a solid wood, not like the engineered, it is marketed and sold as. It is not stabler than solid.

Did you close the home up and go on vacation recently?

What is "sawn wear layers"? The wood is not engineering wood?

No, no vacation recently.

The whole 1st floor is this wood floor. The problem is only shown in living room, which is a high-ceiling room, with big windows to the South and the West. The room is hot during day time, cool at night.

Temperature in other rooms, e.g. family room, is stable. So far, no problem is shown in other rooms.

Are you sure that the instructions said ok to glue. I know HD carries a Santos Mahogany engineered wood. I have Gunstock engineered and it required an underlay padding. Specifically says no glue down or nail down. Will void the warranty. My installer realized this as I had bought a large container of glue, though I wanted to be environmentally friendly. Bamboo I wanted, not a good color.

Read the manufacturere's warranty if you can.

Good luck.

Based on what I am reading on the Johnson sight, they want all engineered wood floors over concrete to be sealed before gluing it down.

"What is "sawn wear layers"? The wood is not engineering wood?"

The wear layer is the top of the constructed board.
Thick sawn refers to the thickness of the wear layer, compared to the thickness of the core plies.

It is not engineered as defined what they specify engineered wood to be.

Balance construction is one requirement.
All plies are to be of the same species and the same thickness. The direction of the bottom of the board is to be oriented in the same direction as the top wear layer. An odd number of plies, meet this criteria.

What is being constructed more and more, is a thick wear layer. it is bonded/laminated to thinner plies of differing species of wood, for cost, Some of the core plies are of very soft species of wood, with much different shrink and swell numbers.

The thick wear layer shrinks and swells just like a solid wood.

I see no cupping, which leads me to believe there is no moisture concern with the substrate. Substrate moisture would have taken less than a month to be noticed, and buckle the floor.
High humidity and the ability for the concrete to be below dew point temperature....

That is why I asked if you have taken a vacation recently, turning the HVAC so it won't waste electricity while your not there.

Floorguy, now I am worried since I was going to go with BR-111 Brazilian Cherry with 1/8th thickness of sawn wear layer on top of the plywood (approx. 3 MM). Would a 3.25" wide have less problems with the swelling than a 5" wide? I am now wondering if I should get the wider board due to the longer lengths or I am better off not going wider than the 3.25" width.

I also was going to consider the Johnson Wood since I love the 3.75" width but I was not sure if it was a sawn cut, not sure of the MM of the veneer on top and no idea how long the boards were since the sight did not say anything. I also have no idea if there is a microbevel or a bevel between the boards.

Would some brands have more of a chance of buckling up?

I keep my humidity around the same all year between 35% to 49% since I hate dryness and I hate too much humidity so maybe I am worrying about nothing?

I just found out more information on the Johnson Hardwood Engineered wood floor and it seems to be made very nice with a 3.5 MM wear layer on their 5" wide floors and 9/16th inch thick and also they have a Maple that is a Sunshine Stain as well as Brazilian Cherry. They also have a 3.75" wide engineered wood floor with 9/16th thickness in that Maple with the reddish stain and the Brazilian Cherry species.

Solution, despite your problem in the room with the big windows, do you find the finish on the floor to be scratch resistant? Do the boards go together tightly?

Floorguy and others, I am ready to order and will be ordering in a few days my floor but now I wonder if I should be considering Johnson flooring as well as the BR-111.

I had been thinking of going with the BR-111 Brazilian Cherry 3.25" wide floor and thinking of floating it. It seems to be very scratch resistant. But the Johnson floor seems to be around the same price online and is 9/16th thick instead of only 3/8th thick and is 3.75" wide instead of 3.25" wide. What is your opinion? I have another installer coming by tomorrow to show me the samples of the Maple with the reddish stain and then I must decide on Monday what I am to do.

Johnson floor has very nice finish compared with others. Boards go together tightly. There is no much scratch on the floor in past near one year.

Finally, original installer came in this morning, opened a few planks next to wall which are poped up. It seems like glue underneath is not completely dry. Is it moisture problem or humidity problem? When planks near the wall were take out, poped planks nearby are pressed down heavily (by several bags of sand?). It is interesting to see that these poped planks become flat.

Will the problem come back?

solution, Thank you for letting me know that the finish is very nice on the Johnson floor as well as the boards fitting together tightly. I really prefer the 3.75" width than the 3.25" width or the 5" width. Before I order my BR-111 tomorrow, I am going to find out the price of the Johnson engineered flooring and see if anyone has samples nearby.

Please keep us updated on your situation. Your floor is beautiful. I hope the issue is resolved soon.

I have decided to stay with the BR-111 based on the quality of my samples.

Solution, I wanted to know if your problem was fixed and to tell you I am sorry about the additional stress. I still love your floors.