It's perpendicular to the joists. When the first hump appeared, I was convinced it was from a joist, but then it started happening all over so I wasn't sure. It's pretty inconsistent; there will be a stretch of about 8 boards with no tenting, then one, another couple boards, a tent, more boards, two tents in a row, etc. I agree that from what I have seen in pictures, it doesn't look horrible; I am a bit shocked that it's a problem though in our home considering the climate we live in; nobody here has issues with too much humidity, it's the opposite, considering we spend 1/2 our winters in -30 degrees Celsius. We all have humidifiers installed in our homes to keep our floors from gapping too bad in the winter! I talked with the builders site assistant today, and asked if he has seen this in any of the other houses in the neighborhood that were completed around the same time as ours, or since; and he said he hasn't. Will this kind of tenting damage the actual floor boards? Is the integrity of the finish and wood destroyed from the extra stress on the boards when they are tented and then walked on all day? This post was edited by CLJP on Fri, Jul 5, 13 at 2:11

Our upstairs washer overflowed and dripped down through our kitchen ceiling lights and onto a 4 foot long area of our hallway hardwoods. They were going to sand and refinish the entire hardwood area, including the powder room. We didn't have major cupping, so we just left it until the floors need refinishing (but they paid for the refinishing anyway). The upstairs is carpeted, and the water went a foot into two of the bedrooms. Their policy was to make everything look uniform, so they replaced all our carpeting. Are you just now opening the walls? We had a restoration company in here immediately because of the potential for mold. Sheetrock and insulation was torn out wherever their moisture meter showed moisture. We endured several days of noisy fans and dehumidifiers.

I bought a very expensive Therna Tru front door with frosted side windows and the finish started to disintegrate on the door. That is because the sun hits it in the mornings and the finish just did not hold up and began to disintegrate and come off. First contacted Lowe's who I bought the door through and Lowe's passed me off to Therma Tru. Contacted Therma Tru and it started to weasel out of any responsibility on its 10 year warranty and gave me a hard time. I assume Therma Tru has had other problems with its wood look finish disintegrating. i am going to keep posting wherever and whenever I can about how Therma Tru does not honor its 10-year warranty on its expensive front doors. I am a service-connected totally disabled homebound Marine Corps veteran who paid over $5,000 for the Therma Tru front door. Bought it along with Pella windows through Lowe's on North Shådeland Avenue In Indianapolis Indiana, Richard Bovey Indianapolis Indiana

Opinions vary on the "gawdawful" vinyl wood planks - obviously some people don't like it or at least don't like the brands and installs they have seen. We have it, we love it - very easy to clean, wears like iron and it actually looks quite real. Yes, we can tell it's not real wood but real wood in addition to not being a good choice for your home also would have cost us 10x more, since I was able to install the vinyl plank myself. It was so inexpensive that some day we could replace it with real hardwood if we get the budget and want to. Around here if you expected anyone to deduct off the price of a home because you didn't like the type of flooring you'd be laughed off the lot. I hate carpet far far more than our vinyl plank floors but we didn't get a price cut because our home was carpeted when we bought it. We just ripped it out and put in the vinyl. But any future buyer who doesn't like it doesn't even have to bother pulling it out and disposing of it, It would be easy to carpet over or lay another floor directly over, so resale is not an issue. It is quite waterproof when installed with tight joints, the vinyl planks squish up against eachother and form a tight seam. We've spilled puddles of water in the kitchen and had stray ice cubes escape the dispenser to melt off in corner and be found later - no damage. To ensure waterproofing in your case, you can apply an adhesive or clear silicone to the edges of the planks as they are installed. I am sorry your kitty is stressed with the situation and I am glad to hear that you are committed to her despite the issues. Since you're certain it is behavioral (and hopefully that means you are feeding exclusively wet food to avoid idiopathic urinary tract disease which is associated with dry foods) Is there any way you can separate the cats in your home? You can also provide retreats - there are cat flaps activated by each cat's microchip number which can be used in interior doors to selectively exclude cats for example from scaredy-cat's litter and/or food area, strategically placed cat towers, getaway routes etc. Litter boxes in every room - that may sound unappealing but they can be disguised inside furniture, and better that there is a litter box in the room than the cat using the floor as the litter box! Also another medication to consider is amitriptyline - usually more effective for cats than prozac, and can be formulated in a transdermal ear cream dispensed in a felt tip pen from Wedgewood Pet Pharmacy, since many cats won't eat these pills in a pill pocket etc and pilling a cat daily doesn't exactly help with the stress situation!