Two months ago I installed 5" wide 9/16" thick Brazillian Cherry in my home. Its is starting to get hairline cracks or checks in the middle of the boards. Any ideas on what is going on? Installed on wood subfloor over crawlspace with vapor barrier on the ground. Wood was stapled, and glued. It was also acclimated for a month prior to install.

What is the humidity now, inside your house, compared to what it was at the time it was acclimated and installed?


Are you running a heater?

Dont know the humidity, but yes am running heat pump now. Wheather has become colder here in Wa. state. Is my house to dry? Are these cracking boards damaged for good?

Once cracked, they are not going to grow back together.


Over drying wood below useful moisture content, promotes cracking.

Sounds like the floor is too dry which as Floorguy notes will cause stress cracks or checks along the surface of the board. Is the floor solid eng? You need to get a cheap lillte thermometer with a humidity reading on it and start running a humidifier asap. Try to keep it at 40 to 45% if possible.

Thanx for replys. This floor is enginered. I did as salesman told me, and left wood wraped in plastic until ready to install. I questioned this and ask about this on this forum back in September when I purchashed flooring. Floorguy said that sounded crazy, was I given totally wrong info by floor salesman, could this be part of the problem, that the floor really never acclimated properly. Ther are probably a dozen boards so far with cracks, sounds like a pain to fix

Kevin,I purchased a humidifier and it reads 60%. Dont know whats normal for WA state.. What about the acclimation question, could this be the problem?