I read that the humidity should not go above 55% and not below 35% for the engineered floors I bought so I am feeling that is for most engineered wood floors. In my humble opinion, I would feel a dehumidifier should be on and a hygrometer in all rooms to be sure the humidity stays in the preferred range.

I am no longer trusting most contractors since I too am having nothing but problems with their lies and not following directions. I am sure there are good ones out there but unfortunately they just do not do work for me since I do not know who they are that live in my area.

Although you say that you do do not have moisture problems with your concrete slab, how do you know that for sure? Was it tested prior to the installation to measure its moisture content?

If your floor is taking on moisture from the surrounding air, then the installation method used by the installer is partially at fault; the wood grows and lifts up at the weakest bonded area.

Allow the floor to settle back down some (if it does) and then look into a repair. The repair kit may work in your situation, but a professional floor contractor or consultant will be able to determine its likelihood.

Glue in a tube...

Really!

Sorry to laugh at your expense.

Yeah, I know. It could have been school paste for all the stick it has. The RH is now down to 60% in the room. I keep wondering if I am going to hear repeated "sproings" during our wet winter. I spent days with glue remover going over all the blotches of glue left on the floor.
Could it be that the humidity changed so quickly that the floor didn't have time to adjust and swell slowly?

Yes, your humidity spike, has caused your floor to swell and heave.

When you get above 55%rH, the wood isn't going to like it, unless there are gaps within the installation.

hello i feel for you. i am now getting an installation on a defective install. engineered hardwood it was. The installer did the same thing used lepage carpenter glue instead of a good bostic or mannington. So i have lost 75% of the floor. I had them come in and take it up. This was after a month of wrangling with the company. It was so i thought a reputable company. With my engineered flooring 6.2 wide they told me i did not need an expansion gap. The floor is installed (was installed) above ground with a brand new subflooring under it. IT only lifted by the fireplace -a new one not used- because of the glue. They used nails -NOT THE RIGHT SIZE- and foam - it was supposed to be a float in install. So i can sympathize. Too much of this cheating the homeowner is going on. But yes they will try and get away with anything. My place is near a salmon river and they even tried to tell me that being near a river would cause a moisture problem. I had their top installer come in. HE took his wagner to the floor to test for moisture.... NO MOISTURE PROBLEM AT ALL. HE told me not to read the flooring with a Delmhorst moisture reader because he said the prongs are not good. So his WAgner dectected NO moisture problem. They did not follow the instructions nope totally disregarden them. My flooring was only glued in two sections..so i had a combo job in the end. They did not even use seam tape. There was an area where no foam underlayment was used. They tried to even tell me that it was not nailed. ha my entire float in installation was nailed to incorect underlament and part of the floor was glued with carpenters glue!!! believe me after a month of this i feel for you. The cracks that the nails made riding on the foam was really all too much so i had my contractor take it up. Good bostik has more flex i am told. You need the flex in the glue. Sounds like you have a very DEFECTIVE INSTALLATION.

Thank you all for your responses.
I have lived in my townhouse for over 20 years and I can say unequivically that the criginal construction was crap. I am always finding things that don't meet spec everytime I do a reno. The trades in Victoria don't have a great reputation. Overpriced and underskilled in a lot of cases and it's hard to find a good one. This guy was supposed to know what he was doing. Had been doing it for 15 years. Showed me photos and gave references. I know better than to pick the cheapest price so I thought I was doing everthing right with this reno.
glennsft: No moisture test except for tenting was done. It was done in June 08 and showed no moisture accumulation.
Lorre - I know the install is defective. My floorguy and his company are long gone so there is no way for me to even ask for a repair, not that I would let him touch anything in my house again. I can't afford to re-do the whole floor

Floorguy: as Victoria is right on the water, the RH tends to be high. This sudden spike occured after a long hot summer. I have a number of question though,
1. Why didn't the floor lift during last winter right after it was laid? I was using baseboard heat and the house definitely felt damp Could it have been because the change was gradual and the floor had time to acclimate?
2. As the RH begins to normalize for winter, can I expect the lifted boards to settle?
3. Will using the propane fireplace speed up the drying process and help the floor to settle back down so it can be re-glued?
4. As there are four boards involved, might it be a good idea to take 1 up and use that space to access and fill the other voids with the repair kit glue then put a new piece in the space?
5. How wide should the gaps around the floor be? The mfg instructions say .5 in and it looks like that is already the case after removing the wall board. Should I widen them?
Thanks again for all your help
Bye for now
VIGirl

Inexperienced, poorly trained (if at all) installers has been the bane of the flooring industry for decades now. I have no idea how some retailers stay in business doing shoddy and defective work.

Yeah, I know, some consumers buy on the internet and then look for a low ball handyperson to install the product. They do get what they pay for in that kind of case.

glennsfc, some of the stores for my BR-111 product were so much higher for the product than on the Internet for the 5" wide board despite being able to come close to the 3.25" wide board price. But the installers from the store came to my home and did not even test for moisture and wanted to glue down the floor. Others wanted to seal the floor without testing also.

I did not choose the cheapest installer but chose one with 15 years of experience and knowledge of floating floors so I also was shocked at how some installers must teach themselves and just do it wrong for many years and others just do not know since they do not educate themselves like I did.

If I was going to go with another product that a store sold that was cheaper and glue it down, then I would have had the store do the installation and wood purchasing. I chose the Internet since my neighbor bought from True Hardwoods a Bruce Glencove product that amazingly had hardly any waste and she had a few boxes leftover with the Internet store taking back the unopened boxes and crediting here account.

Most of the stores did not even want to acclimate the product if they ordered the product and brought it to my home. So by ordering on the Internet from a reputable company that has a store and is a qualifying distributor for the BR-111 product, I was able to acclimate the wood as well as pull up the rug, seal the crack in the floor and clean the floor and under the removed trim (amazing cigarette butts from 20 years ago since I NEVER smoked and they must have been there during construction) and know that the floor was being installed on a clean surface on the floating pad I chose.

OK, I just got back from the Finishing Store - the guys I should have hired in the first place. He agrees that it is the spike in humidity plus the construction adhesive used.
Apparantly it dries hard as a rock and doesn't allow for movement like Bostick.
He says to let it dry for about a month and then use the repair kit to fix it up. He suggested an old sheet with something heavy piled on top to speed up the process.
What to you all think?

Hi vanislegirl09,

I know that this is an old post but we are running into the same issue with our engineered wood floor and I was wondering if this solution worked?

Did you put something heavy on the floor before or after you used the repair kit??

thanks!!