During some remodeling, the workmen flooded my finished oak hardwood flooring. After all was said and done, the boards cupped. The foreman stated that in time the boards will revert to their original condition. Can anyone confirm the forman’s opinion?
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I won't confirm it. Haven't seen it, but they may very well need to replace the floor they ruined.
Bill
Sure, I can confirm that. If they remove all of the flooring, take it outside, and put in on sawhorses with the bottom side facing the sun then maybe it'll cup the other way and be relatively flat. Short of that, it's never going to be the same again. The moisture is now trapped between the flooring and the felt underneath it, and is going to be there for a long time. I suppose as an experiment you could rent a large dehumidifier and run that for a couple of days, see what happens... but it might cause more problems than it solves.
Have heard various views from different flooring guys regarding felt under hardwood. What is your view on it's importance?
I have hired a fair number of hardwood installers over the years and they invariably lay down felt. Usually it is described as isolating the hardwood from the subfloor so that moisture in the subfloor is not transferred to the hardwood. A couple of guys have said they think it makes for fewer squeaks.
Bear in mind that this might be regional. Most jobs that I have done are over crawl space, almost never over basement or slab.
>>A couple of guys have said they think it makes for fewer squeaksI would think that it definately reduces sqeaks since wood to wood contact is isolated. As much as I prefer felt paper, on the east coast rosin paper is also very commonplace.
I've heard it just makes it easier to slide the boards around
I was always under the impression that the rosin paper (also East coast here) helped to eliminate sound in the floor cavity & possible wood/wood noise. My hardwood flooring guy says he never uses it and never has & he's by no means a hack or cheap installer. I've just always been familiar with the rosin paper and to me, for the few extra bucks for a few rolls is minimal if it is effective. Just wanted to get others opinions here
Edited 12/8/2005 8:52 am ET by VT.lab
This is from nofma.org (wood flooring association), it can be found on there FAQ link.Q. Can 15 lb. felt paper be used as a vapor barrier?
A. NOFMA does NOT consider 15 lb. felt a vapor barrier. This product is used to help prevent squeaks between subfloor and flooring — particularly in the winter when floors are shrinking and loosen somewhat. The felt also acts as a buffer and moisture retarder as the seasons change. As moisture migrates into, through, or out of the floor system, the felt helps prevent rapid changes and so helps prevent extremes. Felt can also insulate from over heating or drying above HVAC equipment. In addition, felt acts as a slip-sheet and aids during installation.In any event, the presence or absence of felt does not make a wood floor perform perfectly or fail. However, it enhances the performance of the floor.
We had a few floods and the hardwood floors never totally reverted back to preflood conditions. We replaced the flooring.
I did an addition to a house that had cupped floors. Another portion of the job was to seal up the basement - remove debris, thoroseal walls, epoxy floor paint, and ran a humidifier and a fan non-stop for 2 months. Floors flattened out fairly quickly and have remained flat for the past 8 years.
I read a story somewhere, possibly hardwoodinstaller.com forum, abiout a floor that was cupped and the HO had it sanded flat. A couiple of months later the floor looked like it was reverse cupped, cuz it flattened out and the edges that had been sanded thin were now below the plane of the floor.
Having said that, i would suspect that the boards would never return to the original flatness, but the cupping should lessen.
"When asked if you can do something, tell'em "Why certainly I can", then get busy and find a way to do it." T. Roosevelt
Worked on a job a few years ago where the 100+ y/o house was flooded by the fire dept., then by open roof thru the rain. Customer called and said he was told that the floors needed to be sanded because they were buckled and some doors also needed to be cut down because they were sticking. My dad looked and said put the doors away for a while, and let them and the floors dry out. It took a while, (maybe over a year?) but when the floors dried, we had to cut out the tongues on every third board and drive in wedges because they shrunk so much. Most of the doors were as good as new, except for the few that were cut before we got there - they were too small.
How long are you prepared to wait for it all to dry? I would suggest that you document the events and their liability in writing, now. maybe take some pictures too, in case you get impatient and want the floor done sooner rather than later.
Don K.
EJG Homes Renovations - New Construction - Rentals
Yes and no. It's very hard to tell exactly how it will turn out. Some dry out well and once refinished look as good as before the mishap. Other times the damage from swelling leaves the floor squeaky with significant loss in asthetics.
If there isn't room for the floor to expand during the wet conditions there may be compression damage or buckling, with various amounts of permanent damage.
Using a moisture meter is very important so the floor isn't refinished before it's dried out completely. Depending on conditions this can take a significant amount of time, often a few months.
Personally, I'd leave a fan blowing on the area to speed things up and see what you have when it's dry.
Best of luck,
Don
I used to work for a restoration company and we dealt with this sort of stuff all the time. It can be dried and restored IF gotten to in a fast enough time. We used this setup. Also we set an air mover (fan) blowing up at the subfloor if possible. We also contained the area and climate controlled the teperature to 80-90 degrees with a low grain dehu in the containment to have the dryest possible air.The warmer the air the more moisture it can hold the more the dehu can pull... but the dehu stops pulling at 90 degrees so thats the catch. Anyways it is possible.
http://www.injectidry.com/vpanel.htm
That's good advice. While what you've described is much more than what most contractors or flooring guys would do, it makes perfect sense and sounds like the ideal way to deal with the problem.
I'm wondering if there are any low cost dehumidifiers? Not being from a moist climate I can't remember ever even seeing a dehumidifier.
yeah its alot but for our company we have/had flooring guys who were restoration people they have a much better grasp of whats actually going on rather than just dry down procedures and techniquies. its alot cheaper to dry down a floor or structure than to demo it! we have special industrial 200 pint low grain(amount of moisture in air) dehus but i have actually found rather surprisingly that the 65 pint LG (brand name) works extremely well at pulling moisture for a considerable amount less for whatmost people would need it for.