My office carpeting bubbles up during the summer on the plywood seams.
It appears that the building shrinks when air conditioned. It is a two story wood frame building and the sub-floor is two layers with the carpet direct glued to the sub-floor.
The floor is mounted on hanging trusses.
We have cut and reglued and in the winter it improves, but the next summer it is back.
Does anybody have a solution to the above? The architects and contractors have no answers why it’s happening and what to do about it.
Replies
I have seen a similar symptom (no guarantees that it's the same problem). The plywood subfloor expands in the summer due to the humidity compared to the winter (they had heat, but no humidifier, in the winter). Because the carpet was glued to the plywood it bubbles up at the seams because the gap between each piece of plywood gets smaller as the sheet (or the joists, I was never clear on what was expanding) expands. Their solution was to float the carpet.
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Unionville, Ontario
Sounds like Phil has a likely explanation for your problem. However:
I have a carpet problem in my home. I have a long hall which runs straight into a large room. In addition, there are rooms off the hall. I get two bubbles in my hall which come and go. Since my carpet is not glued down, it must be the carpet which expanses and since the temperature in the house does not change all that much through the seasons I suspect change in moisture? You might think about the humidity.