Hello, hoping somebody has some ideas to help me and my hardwood floor.

We built our house last year, moved in early March 2017. The floor was installed in January 2017 on my first and second floors (about 1000 sq ft), and we're in Pennsylvania. We went with solid hickory, 3/4", and my contractor buys from an Amish manufacturer in our area.

Everything looked great last March, appeared to be a quality installation job, but as temps warmed up in June, we noticed a few areas starting to buckle. My first hunch was that the wood wasn't properly acclimated — but the manufacturer is telling me that can't be the problem. (If it were installed too wet, I would have seen gaps once it dried out, not the buckling that I'm experiencing.)

So the manufacturer, a.k.a. Nevin, came to investigate. His moisture meter was reading 15% on the bottom side of the planks. Top side was normal. He suspects an environmental issue, water leaking somewhere, damp basement, etc. So I took a reading in my basement at 60% humidity in late fall. He said that shouldn't cause the problem. Since winter has kicked in, my basement naturally dipped below 40% humidity, and the floorboards have definitely contracted some. There are no other leaks or water problems in my house that we could see.

The degree of buckling was pretty bad in two primary areas, with a few other noticeable spots throughout the house. The two areas with major buckling are both at the end of a long run. One in front of double doors to the backyard, and the other bad area in front of my fireplace (it's a little drafty there by nature).

So, as a result of all this, my new floor is EXTREMELY creaky in these areas. Currently, in winter, the buckling isn't horrible, but it's still very noticeable. It's driving us nuts to walk across our beautiful floor only to have it squeak and creak -- you can almost bounce up and down on the bad spots, as the wood has lifted from the subfloor.

Other notes: My basement ceiling is completely drywalled, so no easy access to subfloor above it. One theory from Nevin is that moisture is trapped inside the ceiling cavity between our basement and first floor (where the majority of our wood flooring is located). We plan to ventilate the ceiling, but the guys haven't been to the house yet to do that. I'm under warranty for two more months, but I really doubt my contractor is going to willingly rip up and reinstall the entire floor.

Any tricks of the trade, or solutions that don't involve reinstallation? Is there any way to reinforce the floor to the subfloor without removing it to access the tongue/groove? Will my floor magically go back to normal once the moisture problem is taken care of, or will it always be squeaky since it has pulled from the subfloor when it was in buckling mode?

Help!

You say the "damp" spots are at 15% ? What is the rest of the floor? Has there been a leak under the doors? Check with a hose. We check before laying the floor.

I don't know the exact readings, but as he went around the house, most places he checked were all coming up the same -- in the 12% to 15% range. Even the areas that were not blatantly buckled had high readings. When he checked the second floor, he said it was "slightly" high, but not as bad as the first floor. The problem is present to a lesser degree upstairs.

As for leaky doors, we've never had a problem. Can't check with a hose now as it's 4 degrees outside.

thanks

I take it the floor was nailed down, what was the subfloor, plywood, OSB or particle board?

Any documented moisture measurements on the subfloor and flooring prior to installation and what about acclimation period?

Yes, floor was nailed down, I watched him do a lot of the work. I would say he drive nails every 12 inches. As for the subfloor, I’m not sure what material it is. I remember during construction that it took on a lot of water in an area that had a leak before the roof was finished. Rain soaked it a half dozen times, and I was constantly trying to remove puddles and dry it out.

My contractor said not to worry, that the material he used is rated for “11 soakings”, which sounded odd to me, but I talked to some other guys who also told me similar, that plywood or whatever it is ok to get wet during construction.

Regarding pre-install readings, I know that he did not take moisture readings. He stored the initial delivery in my unheated garage for about 2 days, then moved it into the house for another day or so before starting. This was PA winter, but mild last year, so temps were prob in the 40’s. He kept the house around 60 while he worked.

Since moving in we keep it around 68-69 year round.

Thank you for engaging in my problem! I know my first goal is to eliminate the moisture problem, but what’s the prognosis for a floor that was formerly buckled — can they return to a normal state or should I expect a major project in my future?

OSB is the worst for soaking as it swells and does not go back to it's original size and density and that will lessen the chance of fasteners holding.

Never heard the 11 soakings story to tell the truth. The http://www.hpva.org/ says two maybe three 100% soakings is about it.

And besides, the substrate must be within 2% MC of the hardwood so if they didn't test and document who knows what it was. It could have dried out causing fasteners to loose grip.

Very interesting, no coincidence then that my original problem spot was the exact site of the roof leak. So would it make sense that the buckling there (due to subfloor swelling) could push about 20 feet away and cause buckling at the end of the run?

Also, any thoughts on actually fixing my problem? Assuming I'll need to rip up the original area, check subfloor and refasten. Can floorboards ever be salvaged when you need to pull them up, or does that usually require new material?

Thanks again

Hi. Based on what your contractor said, and the fact that it did not perform as he stated, talk your contractor about fixing the problem, first by showing you proof of material he used is rated for 11 soakings, then by replacing the materials he used that failed the soaking.

Once you get into the floor you can save planks by grinding the fastener off.