We just had the front porch rebuilt on our 100 year old home in Pennsylvania. We asked the builder to install fir tongue & groove decking to maintain the original look.
The builder framed the porch with pressure treated wood and then installed the T&G flooring. Within a few days, the florring buckled slightly in a 3 or 4 places. The builder face nailed/screwed some of the boards down but there is still a slight wave in areas on the floor.
Any ideas as to what happened and suggestions as to how to address this? Should we get a hardwood flooring person to sand the boards flat?
Replies
How did this happen?
More than likely the moisture content of the wood was lower than the area in which it was installed.
Was the wood sealed ALL sides and cuts prior to being put down? And then, was it finished sealed b/4 rain?
Is the area of the porch dry below the flooring?
Was it laid pretty darn tight?
How big is the porch-the accumulative expansion of 150 boards is quite a bit at even 1/32" per board.
And of course, laying it over usually wet pressure treated wood will concentrate the moisture transfer at each joist. It's possible to miss some joists with fasteners and the swelling might show up in those locations. Hopefully they used stainless steel cleats to fasten it. I'd be wary of dbl dipped galv. because of the gauge needed to not split the tongue.
Sanding might flatten it out if not too bad. You don't want to sand the top of the groove down too darn much.
Improper installation. He should have sealed the wood on all six sides prior to install so that it will no absorb moisture and swell.
Another important concern there is that without full sealing, it will rot out very fast.
I'm curious if this was installed perpendicular to the house so water can drain down away from the structure with the pitch too.
For that matter, he did frame it with dainage in mind, didn't he?