We bought a 1930’s ? Bungalow with hot water heat
Baseboard registers in each room and copper pipes that circulate the water
Oak floor in the dining room has buckled due to moisture
There is a copper pipe in the floor joist “bay” directly below the buckled floor
I believe excessive heat from the pipe caused the 2 1/4 oak floor to buckle
Agree?
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Replies
Disagree. I think heat would be more likely to cause the floor to contract, not expand. Moisture, not heat, is your problem.
I talked to someone the other day who said that wood will "cup" from moisture and you will get an upside down cup from drying outdon't know if that's true or not
I suspect that 79 years have caused the floor to buckle. Not at all that unusual, especially if there was a big table in the middle so foot traffic didn't keep the floor flat.
what about the heat coming from the 1" copper pipe?Is that just a coincidence?Why do many of these homes have pipes exposed in the ceiling of the basement (rather than placing them up in the cavity the way our is?I think they leave them exposed due to the excessive heatThese pipes get really hot Dan
Edited 11/13/2009 9:36 pm by mrfixitusa
Sorry, I mistakenly believed you were asking for others' opinions.
A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity. --Jimmy Carter
Sorry didn't mean to be unappreciativeOne of the things that might have happened is the floor got wet from on the surface.Maybe the toilet backed up or the bathtub overflowedThe floor got wetJust seems like it would have dried out and resumed it's previous dimensions.
Certainly the floor could have gotten wet, and HW flooring, once it warps from getting wet (which pulls the nails), rarely goes back flat again without some coercion.But, as I indicated, HW flooring kind of depends on traffic to keep it flat as well. Frequently you'll see the flooring in closets or in the corners of rooms has a bit more "character" than the stuff in the center.In any event, it's an old floor, and lots can happen over decades. Hire a GOOD HW floor guy to fix it up for you and don't worry about it.
A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity. --Jimmy Carter
good advice Dan - the house is a beat up old rentalit's been a rental for many yearsI wonder about things and wonder what is the initial source of the problemI would like to stop the problem from ever happening again.Something else that might have caused the floor to buckle is the renters turning the heat up to 90 degrees and then leaving for the weekend.Renters can do all kinds of things a normal person would never even think about.In the past I realized renters could destroy the carpet in a house in short order but I assumed even a lousy renter could not destroy oak but maybe I was wrong
I've never heard anything about walking on a floor to keep it flat.
Like I said, just observe some old floors closely.Even more true of vinyl tile floors.
A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity. --Jimmy Carter
I've worked in many 100+ year old houses, and from what I've seen, the floors in closets and out of the way areas seem to be in much better shape than the traffic areas.
Maybe that has something to do with the materials used back then.
I've generally observed that the hardwood flooring in closets, room corners, and other low traffic areas is not as smooth (in terms of edge meeting edge) as in the higher traffic areas. Not as bad as the situation described by the OP, but then the trim on the adjacent walls in a closet or corner pin the wood down pretty well.And it's not a difference that you'd notice unless you were looking for it (or just had the sort of warped mind that observes such things).
A strong nation, like a strong person, can afford to be gentle, firm, thoughtful, and restrained. It can afford to extend a helping hand to others. It's a weak nation, like a weak person, that must behave with bluster and boasting and rashness and other signs of insecurity. --Jimmy Carter
I talked to a master plumber today and he said it is perfectly acceptable to enclose the pipes in the bayI stand c0rrected
Mrfix, Yes, heat would make it shrink and not buckle, Pinhole maybe?
Yes, I think that's a possibilityWe'll have to investigate that furtherThanks !
no - moisture will make it buckle, heat more likely to shrink it
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heat doesn't cause bucking of wood moisture does!