We are in the process of remodeling our basement. We added a bathroom and just finished painting the walls. Now for the laying of the hardwood floors. The flooring was laid directly on our concrete floors. The hardwood is Hickory 3/4" tongue & groove. Needless to say, we glued these down. We started on a Monday and then Saturday morning we noticed cupping everywhere. We didn't know that we had to keep the room temp consistent throughout the process and it got quite humid a few days. We are sick to our stomachs over this. We never had a "wet" basement, it was carpeted before we started this. Before removing all of the flooring, will trying a dehumidifier help in any way? How about running a window air conditioner? We don't know what to do now.
Thank you for any info you can give us.
Tina

Oh brother, not again.

Tina PMed me and I have responded to her plea. The bottom line is this folks. Solid wood floors are NEVER to be installed on or below grade. They may fail immediately, as they did in Tina's case. Or eventually. But fail they will.

I'm a novice here. What did she do wrong and what should she have done?

The job is in a basement, which below grade, which means high humidity or at least, concrete with a high moisture content. Then, they used a SOLID wood floor of hickory ( which is an unstable species ) and glued it directly to the concrete, which is a no-no. Many wood floor cannot be successfully installed in a basement. But, if it is done correctly, an engineered floor may have a chance.

That makes sense Gary, thanks.

I understand installing harwood in a basement that is below grade, but I had solid hickory installed on concrete, but not directly on the concrete. The installer laid a 3/4" plywood, then that black paper then nailed the floor. However, I am now. experiencing cupping after 8 months since installation. And I have noticed that it has been very humid these last few weeks. Concidently the same time this is happening. The floors are expanding so bad that I can barely open my sliding glass patio door. What could be causing this cupping after all this time? I have had the installer out and he wants to remedy the problem by just cutting about a 1/4" off on the boards laying along the sliding door. Whereas, three other hardwood floor installers/repairers want to take off all the baseboards, cut along all the edges, then sand to remove the cupping. One guy suggested to leave the floor bare for a month to continue to acclimate. This person wanted to remove a whole row. The floors are 5" wide. Which method is correct? And was the installation done correctly?

Concidently the same time this is happening.

No coincidence about it

Gloria, whats under the plywood for vapor retardation? lol Did I make up a new word just then?

Nope, it actually is a word.