Hi brickeyee, you wrote that "winter installed floors are not laid all that tight" Are you saying that professional installers (meaning installers worthy of the word "professional"), would know not to lay the boards tight in the winter and allow for summer expansion? I'm asking because my kitchen floor is experiencing cupping similar to the original poster's description. I'm in MA, and our kitchen wood floor (3/4" Somerset hardwood, tongue and groove) was installed at the end of January. The wood itself had been sitting in a room adjacent to the kitchen for a month prior to installation. The installers definitely put the boards in tight at that time (I could see that). Now in the summer, with weeks of humid weather, the floor boards are cupping. No buckling, but I am wondering about the long term consequences, as I simply have no knowledge of this area. The basement is humid at this time of year, but none of the 100 year old floor boards in the other rooms over the basement are cupping. Yes, they do have slight gaps between the boards--that is part of their character. But only the new flooring in the kitchen is cupping. Should the installers have known not to install the boards so tight together in January? They are local residents of MA, so they know it gets humid in the summer. And (of course) no one asked me whether I wanted the boards to go in tight, and would I have minded if there were gaps to allow for summertime expansion. Thanks! Lee

SR I have been doing pretty much what you're doing. So here's my process... I put together a scope of the work (done by room as a word document). I then used a quicky home design program (BH&G Home Designer 7.0 I think) to do some rough drawings based on pretty accurate measurements I took on the house. I showed what walls would be moved, where they would go, blah blah. I personally designed my kitchen and bathrooms (lots of moved electric and plumbing) but if your spaces for these rooms are defined (either as they are now or as they will be using a drawing program) you can have a KD or cabinet salesperson KD (who is likely to be free or cheap) work on those designs. Using my drawings, I then started talking to GC's. I did have some major structural work being done, so we hired a structural engineer on the side for the calculations on that (just a few hundred bucks and a bottle of wine) but a good GC will have one that they work with as well. Then the GC had a structural engineer draw up the final plans from mine to be submitted to the muni for approval. My cost for him was under $1000. (He did measurements, etc). I initially started with using an excel spreadsheet to do my drawings and those were enough for the final drawings, but I got so into it I purchased the higher end design program to play with. I just this week purchased a higher end program than that (Chief Architecht) which will do all of the calculations as well :) I don't think you need to spend the money on an Architecht as long as you use a good GC who has the connections for the permit drawings. You're not doing anything more, and infact it's less given the major structural work that was done on mine. The plumbing and electric can all be permitted by the contractors in those areas. You're going to want to show where what goes...but your KD can do that as part of their work flow. (Ie lighting plans etc).

New build....moisture problems "under" the house that required a DRAIN that the BUILDER has refused to pay for. Hmmmmm Builder says there are no "neutral third parties" out there for inspection-only purposes.....another HMMMMMMMM!!!!!! Builder says this is "normal cupping" and part of the charm of hardwood. Wow. Another HUMPH! DOUBLE HUMPH! So....NEW BUILD WITH MOISTURE ISSUES which builder chooses NOT to deal with! A good lawyer would rip him/her a new one just with that one issue alone! The resulting "failure to mitigate the moisture" has lead to hardwood floor cupping - and refuses to acknowledge the ENTIRE INDUSTRY of NWFA Certified Flooring Inspectors = lawyer again would have a field day. And just to call strike 3 on this guy...there is no such thing as "normal" or "acceptable" cupping. And to toss the guy from the game, you have seen other floors from his crew and feel they just don't look "right" = sounds like the start of a class action! I would say - no need to trust this guy = he's clueless or at least he's hoping to keep YOU clueless. Which he has for 2 years. So long as you have DOCUMENTATION as to the complaint after 6 months....his warranty stays in place because the COMPLAINT (which you documented in writing) came BEFORE the 1 year warranty. Excellent! Follow this link to find your "independent 3rd party": www.nwfa.org Search under "Certified Professionals - Find a Professional". There is your INDEPENDENT Neutral 3rd Party. That's what they are there for. And please dig up your documentation that you started the complaint BEFORE the 1 year warranty expired (emails with a date stamp are AWESOME!!!). Seek legal advice because there are BIGGER issues at stake here - the moisture mitigation that you had to pay for is numero uno!

Traditionally (ie. by a pro who is paid to do things well/properly) the damaged substrate is removed and replaced. Patching is possible if there are minor spots that just need 1-3mm of fill. If the whole thing has a shredded surface then it is probably easier/faster to remove and replace with the same thickness. As G&S suggests: photos please.