my first post, sorry, but i am in desperate need of a second and third opinions. I am currently building a new house in MICH. We bought 2300 sq. ft of 3/4 " 4 inch wide liberty plains Bruce hardwood flooring. my installers started up stairs and got the first 2 bedrooms and short hallway over my foyer done. but the very next day, when you walk on it, it sounds like stepping on potato chips or cellophane. if you make a couple of passes on it, it goes away till the next day. We had a rep come out, and check the moisture content of the subfloor and flooring. the subfloor was at 16, flooring at 7-8, bruce recommends sub to be under 13. Humidity in the house was a 75% reading. Ok...so we rushed the furnace people along. and its been a week with the heat on and its not getting any better. the sub floor has readings from 16 down to 12 and the portable dehumidifier i have running all day is bone dry. we paid extra for the 25 yr. finish on this floor, it has micro-beveled edges, real tight and clean cut. Does anyone know what is going on and what i can do?? the wood floor is to go everywhere in the house except the bathrooms. oh,, sub floor is 3/4 " plywood, not osb ...over TGI's . thanks for your help

I've installed that floor before. Not my favorite product, being that it is made in China, but a lot of floor for the money. Bottom line, your home environment is out of whack. The relative humidity should be between 40 to 60 % with 45 to 50% ideal. Interior temperature needs to be between 65 and 75 degrees F. Subfloor moisture content at 16% is WAY TOO HIGH. With the flooring at 8%, that subfloor should be about 10% per NOFMA recommendations. The wood was brought into the house too soon before the house was brought into "normal" living conditions. All you can do at this point is STOP the installation and wait untill the MC and RH are under normal conditions. Double check to be sure the installers are not cracking or breaking the tongues of the flooring when installing it. That would cause the floors to make noise as well.

thanks for the reply. i would now have to agree it was brougt in too soon...but i was hoping to be in the house right now. The furnace is on and should i turn it up higher or open windows?? it seems like it shouldnt take that long to dry out, but you would know better.. the sub floor was never rained on during installation, and i didnt know that that was made in china..how nice.....my UAW bretheren would like that

just a quick side note, my installer asked if the rep said anything about putting down 15 lb. felt down first instead of the red rosin paper we are using know. he didnt, but do you have any thoughts on the subject..................thanks

Pillsbarry, in what area of MI.? I also am from MI. and I am a certified inspector if feel the need for one.

i live out in howell, were just trying to find out what is right to do. i have only had 2 bedrooms done..and my hope is that they will be ok after we get this straightened out. i just purchased another dehumdifier for the basement and i will place a couple of fans down there as well.

Just wait for the cupping of the installed portion, and then the buckling(maybe) then it will shrink coming to equilibrium and leave you with gaps.

They are some real winners building homes, and installing wood, you have there in your investment. How long of warranty oare you getting on this house???

floor guy, i am not sure what your are saying. i am the builder of this home. because the builders around here do only the bare minimum. the installers should have checked better but none of us had any reason to believe that there was a problem. the builders around here wouldnt have put in Anderson 400 series window, nor plywood on floor..strickly OSB around here. they would have charged extra for the tgi's or just just 2 x 10's,,they would have put in cheap hollow 6panel doors, cheap ass mouldings, cheap fixturess r-30 in the attic. we had r-51 blown in cellulose in the attice and garage at a reasonble rate. i will be able to complete this 2700 sq. ft house with brick, 4 bdr. big master suite..gr.room,,dining room , living room on 5 acres, with upgraded cabinets, moldings, fixtures. paint, no carpeting for around $235k....the house will appraise for over $425k easy.....in hindsight i needed to more research on the floor but we havent got that far yet, so we should be ok...

LOL! After reading it this morning, I'm not so sure what I was trying to say! It was past my bedtime!


OK, so your the builder. I'll have to let you slidr a little then. More so, then a company.


What I was trying to say is that portion of the floor was installed tightly, and is now 7%. It was installed on a wood subfloor with an MC of 16%, over felt paper, not asphalt impregnated felt even. Then add 75% humidity in the mix. The flooring is trying to gain moisture because it is hydroscopic, and it is trying to swell. There is were all you noise is coming from. As it tries to swell, It has no place to go, so it compresses the edges, leaving a cupped appearence. Then it continues to swell beyond the compression limit, and heaves up, as that is the only direction it can go. Now you have a cupped and buckled floor.

If you do save it from getting a cupped appearence, as the wood looses the moisture, it will be gapped.

floor guy..currently the house sits at 69 deg. and is at 46 % r.h. the 2 floors did have a bit of cupping. it has already started to recede. the levels in the sublfloor are moving down and we hope to resume the install in about 2 weeks. sorry for the rant, i work for big 3, and hourly worker and i have experienced alot of the crap builders do around here. i got my builders license to use on the other lots on this property and i feel way better with my ability to build a better house then these other guys. really, it hasnt been to bad, this is the only major problem i have come up against, all inspections passed first time, the rough inspection he hit me for the real minor stuff, had to find something. but i am pleased at how the house is turning out and we are still underbudget and on a good time schedule. rough framing startted june 1st. thanks for your help, i am glad that we started upstairs and not on main floor and its just 2 rooms....