We had an owens 4 inch cherry floating floor installed over infloor heat. It never looked quite right to me but I was dismissed by the installer. We kept a humidifier running all winter. Come early spring, the center part of the floor near the island started to buckle. It continued to get worse over a 2 month period. The installer refused to fix it. We hired another contractor who made relief cuts around the perimeter of the floor to see if it would lay down as the floor was installed up to the wall. This did not work so they eventually had to replace 50% of the floor.

The installer says it was moisture although an owens rep came out and said it was not an issue with the material failing nor the moisture content. Instead, he said it was an installation issue. The new installer, of course, agreed as they are the ones who replaced 50% of the floor. Now both are back pedaling and saying the noising was glued to the floor and that they never said it wasn't a moisture issue. We know the noising wasn't glued to the floor. And, if it was, how come it only buckled in the center of the floor and not on the other side of the island where there is an identical noise (transition piece into another room)?

My questions are as follows: Can a floor buckle because it was installed too close to the wall? If so, is it typical to have the buckling occur in the center of the room or near an island where there is less expansion? Although I know the noising wasn't glued, hypothetically, if it had been wouldn't the floor buckle on both sides of the island?

I have now paid 15K for a floor that should have cost be 6.5K and it still doesn't look very good. This seems criminal yet everyone is back pedaling. Any advise would be most appreciated.

Without seeing the problem, impossible to comment. When everyone denies liability, your only option is to sue everyone. Hire an independent, local NWFA Certified Hardwood Flooring Inspector. Then you should have the real reason for the floor failure. BTW, I did not know Owen's could be floated. Maybe that's the problem.

It is wood, doing what wood does.


Wood is hygroscopic, meaning it will absorb moisture and it will lose moisture. When wood absorbs moisture the cells, sometimes called vessels, swell, also called expand. With a loss of moisture they shrink, also called contract. Humidity is moisture in vapor form. During acclimation of the flooring before installation, during the installation and long after the installation is complete, humidity plays an important roll in wood. In a consistent state of relative humidity, wood will not swell and it will not shrink. It does not gain or lose moisture content.
Acclimation of wood flooring requires the use of a calibrated invasive wood moisture meter to determine the wood flooring's moisture content upon delivery of the wood flooring to the jobsite also a thermal hygrometer to measure the jobsites temperature and humidity to verify it is not too dry or too moist, to allow proper acclimation to living conditions. Humans feel most comfortable with a temperature between 65º-75ºF and at a humidity level between 40%-55%RH. Acclimation of the wood flooring must take place within those perimeters, to achieve moisture content equilibrium, where it is no longer losing, or gaining moisture content.