In about May of 2014 we finally got wood floors installed. The wood is Premium Engineered hardwood: 3 1/2" Parkview hardwood(Real Wood brand). It rained in June(what I think caused it) and the floor buckled in a section about 8 feet long by 2 boards wide(aprox. 9”).
My husband called the installers and they came back and drilled small holes and tried re-gluing those pieces down. They buckled again within 2 weeks. The installers checked the clearance around the perimeter and it was ok, about 3/4 inch on the side checked.
My husband was convinced that it was a combination of a leather loveseat we own and the floor guys not allowing that section of concrete to dry underneath. He thinks this because the edge of the long strip ran exactly along the strip under the back of the loveseat. He suspected the loveseat being so low and having a feltish material underneath prevented the wood from drying properly. He convinced the floor guy of that.
The flooring guys came back and ripped out the boards and ran moisture tests and found it to be at a 12. They will not come back and add new boards till we can figure out the issue and I agree with that.
I unlike my husband however suspect water from the outside as the issue. After the 2nd time it happened and they ripped the boards out I went outside and noticed a wet spot (not standing water) right where the step to the outside meets the foundation and the concrete slab porch. I also noticed that the area between the house foundation and the patio slab is chipped after 10 years of living in this house with cracks going downward.
I saw that there was a change in the buckling whereas previously it buckled starting 1 feet from the wall to the outside in a long strip it now after the 3rd rain was buckling against the wall. I stood with all my weight and bounced up and down. There was no movement of the boards. I waited 2 weeks after one more rain and did the same bounce, it had buckled more and now I was able to make the wood go up and down with my weight. Another change the quarter trim at the edge was now ripped upwards and off because of the buckle had gotten higher.
I am pretty sure I see a pattern because it seemed to me each time it buckles is after moderate/heavy rains.
So we get our insurance company to check it and they send a plumber. Plumber says he will only check so much (those things covered by homeowners insurance). He does an inspection and says there are no significant leaks in that area that could cause that. He adds in the notes he suspects groundwater.
Next I get a drainage/foundation expert out there and they look around and say they don’t think it is groundwater. Independently I had also taken a 4 foot level and laid it on the back slab porch and saw that the angle is good-the angle makes rainwater flow away from the house.
I was not at home when the foundation guy came and my husband handed the phone to me and I told him my theory. He sounded doubtful and said well it is supposed to rain soon so you will see. My husband said he did not try and make the guy sway towards his theory.
I bought a moisture tester for 40 dollars (the non-prong kind) and ran tests. It is measuring 12-35% moist on places all over the floor, areas with buckling and areas without.
Down one hall the furthest from the back of the house where I think the moisture is coming from is measuring the lowest for moisture 0-7%.
Friday 11-27 (rained heavily 6 days before) it buckled in a new area-by front door.
The floor installers are there today going to put down Bostick Green Force just under the buckled areas and put all new wood down. I meanwhile am going to put sand, a Backer Rod and Self-Leveling Caulk when I get home from work tween the foundation and the patio where I think the water is coming in. Rain is due in 4 days.

What do you think, is the whole floor gonna buckle in different spots in the future?
https://www.mediafire.com/folder/wr3b1c ... 38d/shared

Oh my I have to post the newer pics this floor has buckled at least 2 more inches since this was taken in September!

So they glued over a slab with no previous moisture testing? Roots coming up in cracks, red flags. They didn't do due diligence with slab moisture testing and probably didn't use an all in one moisture blocking adhesive or correct trowel. Its all on them unless they have documentation of the testing according to the wood and adhesive manufacturers prior to installation.

I'm curious to know what adhesive was used and why there is no residue of it on the slab..did they clean it out?

the meter you are using is most likely giving you false readings...specific meters are needed for slabs and calibrating for different species.

i would measure the face if the boards and see how much they have changed dimensionally..i would expect to see an increase in width ,which will make repairs very difficult.

Hi, they did moisture testing ahead of time. We were in a drought in this part of Texas. After the first buckling which was the first heavy rain since the install the moisture tests showed 12%.

Now it has rained 5-6 times heavy since then.

When they pulled the warped boards off the glue came with it mostly. I kept the boards-they are still in my garage.

The meter I bought cost 40 dollars it is the prongless kind. When the flooring guy was here last 5 days ago we ran a test and my meter came out the same as his in one spot. His looks way more expensive. Mine has 4 settings, not for different types of species but does have settings for masonry, hard wood, etc.

I know those readings sound high but I think sadly that is how moist it is under there. Now I see and the floor guy pointed out that the faces of some boards have grey stains I guess from moisture.

I will try this thanks "i would measure the face if the boards and see how much they have changed dimensionally..i would expect to see an increase in width ,which will make repairs very difficult. - "

the readings still sound wrong..and if there was in fact a drought,12% is very high for a slab considering that..

concrete wouldn't read that way.

I also believe an inferior adhesive was used..more likely a waterbased adhesive. Bona makes a good one..most other adhesive companies all make urethane adhesives.

I would make query as to the adhesive used..pulling the boards wouldn't pull all the residue from the slab..that's impossible.that only proves lack of adhesion from the onset.

Hi so "Its all on them unless they have documentation of the testing according to the wood and adhesive manufacturers prior to installation."

I should ask them for their written test results from then?

Also when you say there should be residue after removing the damaged boards it is possible there was but they chipped it off. Their job that day was to come and remove the damaged wood and then run moisture tests.

I have no idea what the initial moisture tests were before they ever installed the whole floor in May 2014 I just know that once the issues happened in August/September they ran both meter and calcium chloride tests. Both showed 12% or so on the slab.

Oh I get what you are saying-I am saying the wood is reading moisture of 12% not the slab. I can't recall any recent slab results. I can set it to masonry right and run a test?

More recently- a week ago I set my meter to hardwood and I got readings of 0-30% depending on where I tested. I have this type meter.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/4in1-Digital-In ... 1509694321

Now it gets worse-my husband got ill from the fumes and/or dust last night and I got the floor guy to meet me at the house today and we put fans in the windows with hoses to the outside and a ton of dust came out. I have it running now. Going to leave it for 5 hours. We were unable to sleep in the house. My husband got better by leaving the house for about an hour and a half.

Then he went back in this morning for 5 minutes and got sick again and had to go to Emergency room. so we are not happy people. I wish he had not gone back in the house.

i wrote a log earlier-ok went w floor guy to put fans in windows w hoses to outside. i wore a mask almost the whole time.
he ran the fans outside first to remove extra dust before bringing them in the house and put on new hoses. when he turned it on a lot of dust came out. that shows me his installers did not follow protocol. he tried to cover (I think) even saying that the dust was just coming out the hoses. I saw him remove the hoses new from the packaging so that was not the case. Unless he meant something else like the dust was coming out of the unit but why would it-if he had run it outside?

He said he asked the installer techs and they swore they followed protocol and had fans running with hoses to the outside plastic on furniture, etc. My husband was gone for 3 hours after letting them in but did not see any of that in effect and they did not leave or open any windows or tell us to air out the place. I told him in the future we will always air out after having work done.

They used Bostick Green force for the 2nd install yesterday because they are now using an anti-moisture adhesive. Previously(first install) and a bit yesterday on one board too they also used Maypei 980.

My apologies laura but Im lost after your last replies..

I have no diea what you are referring to to with sickness, fans, hoses etc

Just because someone says they ran a CaCl test doesn't mean they performed it correctly. A reading of 12lbs/24hrs/1000sqft is extremely high as is a meter reading as in one like my Tramex CME which only goes to 6, this is specifically made for concrete. Another test which IMO is the best is a relative humidity test or insitu test, Wagner Rapid Rh leads the pack there. These insitu tests are placed into a drilled hole in the slab and readings run from 0-100%

Thanks you for helping with this issue.

I finally have some definite info from the flooring company which I will add here to ask what you think.

They wrote:"In reviewing our records, we installed the Parkview, 1/2” pre-finished engineered hardwood with an aluminum oxide clear finish. This Hickory natural was primarily installed in the living room. The material arrived and was stored in the home while preparation on the floor was completed. During the preparation phase (one day), it was discovered the slab had a vinyl tile under the carpet. With your permission via text, we removed tile and continued to prepare slab as needed with Mapei’s plani patch for a skim coat and patch.

The day after but before the hardwood was installed, it was determined by the installer, the slab was reading higher than normal moisture emissions (average reading of 5 per Tramex, CME4, Concrete Encounter meter). The Tramex acceptable reading is 4.5. The decision was made to use Mapei 995 wood adhesive (at no additional cost to client) with moisture control (up to 15#).
At the time of installation, the home’s temperature was 77f degrees and the relative humidity 53%, these are considered acceptable numbers per the industry. And the Hickory hardwood readings averaged 12% moisture (Min Ligno S/C Lignomat meter)."

Please tell me if you see any red flags here. The mold patches are now growing at a faster rate. We have about 27 "patches of mold" or what appears to be mold.
It is growing inside the wood not on top of it.

What I am doing is making a list and working down it one by one to exclude all possibilities. So we had a plumber do a pinpoint leak test and they determined that is not causing this, we had a groundwater expert come out-he said no, but I will be getting a 2nd opinion. Also am going to have the furnace checked for leaks. After that structural engineer and foundation inspections. After that I feel I can say that it must be the error of the flooring guys. Of course we will have spent over 1000 dollars cash at that point. I also am running mold swab tests and air tests for VOC's and formaldehyde to see what made my husband sick.

All this over Christmas break, has been surreal. Took some time out to celebrate and try and forget it all for a bit. The Christmas tree sits bare-no one decorated it.

How long was the acclimation period? From what I read it was maybe one or two days which is not enough. Plus pics of the underneath planks that buckled would be good.
Could be the patch didn't adhere and came off the slab with the glue. This is very common if slab prep is not to spec per adhesive manufacture ie; dusty slab, too slick of a surface - mirrored finish on slab not csp-2 or csp-3, light broomed or scarified surface.

should've left the vinyl tile down if it was in tact and securely bonded..would have been a great moisture barrier

ideal RH is around 35%-45% for a wooden floor even engineered , but regions vary..

i don't believe the materials were 12% and if they were its pretty high in my opinion considering start of an install...
if space is climate controlled, it should tread like that..most engineered flooring require to remain in the boxes until time if install..acclimation being non factor and actually problematic at times..

Hickory in itself is known for inherent issues, such as movement, checking etc if conditions not perfect..i think construction /,manufacture of materials may need to be examined as well..find manufacture guidelines for install and then you can begin to analyze..

lastly ..i cant find any info on this material..who is the manufacturer? did you supply it or the installation/contractor/retailer?

Hi Again, Here are some photos which show the wood that buckled the first time (it is still in my garage).
https://www.flickr.com/photos/15974061@ ... 724396727/
It was interesting for me to look at it because it is straight now! You can also see the glue puddles where they used adhesive to try and make it stick after it buckled the first time. They did a crappy job though-they drilled small holes and squirted the glue thru, hence the puddling. Now that I see it-it was doomed to fail probably.

I also have pics of how it looked when it was first layed(gorgeous).

The first time they did the flooring the wood acclimated at least 48 hours, may have been 3 - 4 full days. The 2nd time when they just came to do the repair I caught them being sloppy. They had to order the wood from a place and I asked/reminded him that it needed to acclimated in the house and he said "well it has acclimated at our store all weekend so it should be fine". I said well make sure they bring the wood today so it acclimated by Tuesday. So they brought it either 2 days before they used it or 3. I tend to be too nice so this was my first attempt to be a bit more firm as things got worse.

You asked if the tile they removed was intact here are the pics. I do see an odd white color along the edge where the window is above(can't see window in picture tho). As I have been getting various opinions and people out there to check things, the sidning guy siad if/wehn he replaces the siding he can see if the floor plate is rotted. My latest theory is the siding had a hole in it and the water might have come thru there. The siding it turns out is a cheap "cardboardish" substance.

The wood was manufactured by Real Wood, Parkview style. I have been looking at their guidelines and will look some more. They supplied it. I called to talk to the local rep and he was sort of helpful but I could tell from his voice he had spoken to the flooring co.

Here are a bunch of pics of the underneath planks that buckled. Also one pic showing how high the buckle got eventually from September thru Dec. 7. DSC04395

Pic's 4 - 5 clearly look like patch stuck to the back to me. Then further on it looks like patch is still intact. Bummer.

Does this signify something important?

Does it show that they maybe should not have done the job? I saw that some who worry about moisture do a glue down test first and wait then pull up the board and if the glue stays stuck to the board a hardwood glue down is not recomended.