Hi all,

I am a first time homeowner in a condo in Brooklyn, NY. My condo is on the 6th floor of a 6 floor building with a large terrace. I have real (not engineered) hardwood floors made of white oak. A couple weeks after I moved in, I noticed cupping in the floors in my bedroom and in the living room along the wall that is next to my terrace.

I'm having trouble putting the images inline because of the size of the pictures so I am passing along the photo albums so that you can see them from my photo share.

These are the pictures of my floor cupping before the initial repair

http://s1008.photobucket.com/albums/af207/fyom01/2010%2007%2016%20Wood%20Floor%20Cupping/

After some time, the developer/builder came back to repair the floor.

These are the pictures I took during the repair:

http://s1008.photobucket.com/albums/af207/fyom01/2010%2008%2030%20Floor%20Fix/

There is a picture of the section they pulled out after they took off the vapor barrier in that section. I asked about the discoloration and they told me it was from the vapor barrier. They did not lay a new vapor barrier in its place. They just replaced the boards, sanded, and stained the boards there.

In the living room, they took out the boards that were creaking but left the boards that were cupped by the terrace in their place. They removed the vapor barrier in the sections where they replaced the boards but didn't replace the vapor barrier. They nailed the new boards in their place and sanded the whole floor down and then stained it.

One of the boards they pulled out looked like it had a water stain. The developer said it was prior water damage when they built my unit and that there is no water there anymore. The board was dry when I held it.

I also took a picture of the wall after they pulled out the boards. The wall edge is metal and there is drywall above it.

They sanded down the floor and the area that was cupping.

Last week, I noticed that the areas that they repaired are cupping and crowning again

http://s1008.photobucket.com/albums/af207/fyom01/2010%2012%2004%20My%20floor%20is%20warping%20again/

In addition to my floor warping, my downstairs neighbor has a leak in their bedroom ceiling. Their bedroom is right below my terrace. The developer came back to waterproof my terrace but they are still having the leak. I can't help but feel that their issue and mine are some how connected. I've been keeping in touch with them and the latest news they told me is that the builder came to look at their ceiling and he believes the problem is due to condensation that is getting pooled into subspace. However we are all skeptical of this because their leak is worst when it rains.

I'm reaching out to get any advice on my floor and to find out what is going on. I have no idea if the warping is due to a leak, condensation, or compression in those areas. I hope the pictures are clear enough to help illustrate what is going on. Please let me know if you have any questions, I will gladly answer them. This situation is very frustrating for me as you can imagine.

Thanks and much appreciated.

When wood floors take on moisture from below the floor they will swell on the bottom side resulting in a cupped appearance. bada bing. You do have some cracks in the floor so some of the issue can be from a overly dry interior due to the recent use of your forced heat. Check the r/h in the room and see if you can get a moisture reading of the wood floor. The floor should be 6-9% if its elevated then you know its getting wet from somewhere. the r/h in your home needs to be in the 40's or the floor will react to that as well. Could be a combination of the two.

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for your reply. I understand what you are saying about moisture in the subfloor. But the builders installed a vapor barrier between the floor and subfloor. You can see it in the pics. I would have figured that would have prevented excess moisture. Could you tell me why I might still have too much moisture when I have a vapor barrier?

Thanks!

You have a moisture issue as the other guy said. Either the concrete slab has excessive moisture or maybe you have a dishwasher or ice maker leaking.

Water intrusion. Your terrace is allowing water into the residence.

Do you step down to the terrace about 3 inches, or is it even with the flooring in the home?

I'd say a flashing issue or a door seal along the threshold.

The terrace is a step UP about 1-2 inches from my flooring inside my home - my terrace is slightly higher than the flooring in the home. There is waterproofing and sealant around my terrace and there is a slight grade down in the middle to guide water out the drain. Thanks for the interesting observation. My downstairs neighbor definitely has a leak coming from there but is there any way to find the leak coming from my terrace?

I'm asking these questions because the developer has not yet found the source of the leak for my downstairs neighbor or where the leak is from my terrace to my floor...

Your on the 6th floor. Is there a 7th floor?

no. above me is the roof.

No one has been able to find it, as they have not torn into the structure.

Give me a saw and a hammer, along with my moisture meter. I bet $50,000 I could find the leak that is originating from that terrace and exterior wall, that you and you lower neighbor have in common.

LOL! Yes. They have not looked inside my walls to find the leak. It has been raining the last 2 days so I only hope this creates some urgency to find the leak