Hello, I have spent the last year browsing through your forum and have gotten received valuable information and advice from it. A little more then a year ago I had an engineered maple floor installed (glued on concrete) on the first floor of my home. I live in South Florida and it is always quite humid. In the wintertime when the humidity was lower, the boards did separate slightly but thanks to reading various posts, I was prepared and not alarmed. However, I was not prepared for what I found this morning. A small portion of the flooring (maybe 3-4 boards) was actually raised to the extent that it created a small hill. I can only guess that the wood pressed against eachother and having no where else to go, actually raised up. I'm at a loss as to how 1)remedy the situation and 2) safeguard the rest of the floor so it does not happen again. When I first had the floor installed I made the mistake of hiring a contractor who turned it over to a sub who I have little faith in, so i do not want to call him back again. Any advice or feedback is gratefully appreciated.

If you could include a photo, that would be very helpful. My initial thought is excess moisture= expanded flooring=buckling. But a photo could verify. Plus, can you get access to a moisture meter?

I'm actually at work now but I will take a photo this evening when I get home. Can I purchase a moisture meter at Home Depot ?

Here are a links to a couple of pix


http://www.theholcombhouse.com/images/buckle1.jpg
http://www.theholcombhouse.com/images/buckle2.jpg

Ouch!

It's hard to see in the pictures, is that tile flooring that the wood is next to? Was there a T transition strip (with an expansion gap) covering the seam between the two surfaces?

That part of the floor is buckled. Why is hard to say but moisture from somewhere is usually the culprit. A call to the installer/contractor is warranted. This probably can be repaired fairly easily IF the cause is not excessive moisture from below. If it's an excessive humidity issue, then an installer warranty may not cover the cost of repair. However, it does appear that the wood was installed "tight" to the tile and not allowing for expansion. It shouldn't expand IF you are maintaining proper RH AND the slab is not emitting excessive moisture.

Agreed, I think that refer to that as tenting.

Thank you for all of your responses. Yes that is tile next to it. After I got home from work and posted the photos, I went through EVERY possible leak source in my home...sinks,washer/dryer, appliances etc. and found the culprit...A leak in our central AC system. AC is now turned off, a bucket is collecting dripping water, fans are set on high next to warped wood and wet carpet and today I will be calling an AC repair company and my insurance company to inquire about making a claim. I'm fairly certain that the likely need for replacement of the wood will exceed my $500 deductible although in the very expensive insurance climate which is South Florida it is scary to think of possibly getting dropped from homeowner's insurance as a result of filing a claim. Well, now I know what my tax stimulus check will be used for

It's good that you found the leak. A leaking AC unit is much better than a crack in the slab that is wicking moisure from below.

How large of an area is damaged, the picture only shows a few boards? If you have left over boards from when it was installed, the repair may be pretty straight forward. Personally, I would contact some flooring installers before calling the insurance company. Filing a claim to the insurance company may haunt you with increased premiums for years to come and cost you much more in the long run.

You bring up an excellent point about insurance, (and those of us in South Florida who have decent homeowners insurance live in fear that we will be cancelled and have to join the last resort state run one) However, as typically happens in these scenerios, the damage was much more extensive then first thought. When the water damage people came and moved our corner bench unit out of the way they uncovered a lot of saturated boards ... about 8 feet x 14 feet all told. Additonally I had to purchase a new air handler to the tune of $1,800 so I may have no choice to make an insurance claim. After this fiasco I'm going to be extremely neurotic about having the coils of the AC cleaned. Apparently all of the gunk collected in them was what made it freeze up and begin to leak.

What kind of AC is this? Is it central? Shouldn't the condenser unit be outside? Or is it a wall mount model?

The condensor is outside, but the evaporator core is in the inside unit, and it drip condensation, the pan over flows when the drain is clogged. A cup of bleach down the drain every spring and fall works wonders, along with a little air blast from the compressor.

Shows you what I know about AC My Furnace and blower are located in a room next to my laundry. So I am assuming my evaporator core is below my blower (it has to be). Below that is a collection pan with a copper pipe which leads outside to drain the pan. During the summer when it's hot and the AC is running all the time, water is constantly running out of the drain pipe. Think how humid it would be inside without the AC.

If your vents and ducting are in the ceiling, the evaporator core and heating elements are above the blower, so the blower blows across them. Vise-versa, if you have floor vents.

No, the ducts and vents are in the crawl space. I have a raised wood subfloor and pier and grade beam foundation with engineered trusses. So I got a crawl space where the ducting runs. So my evaporator core is below my furnace blower. I can see the coolant lines running to it. If the pan ever over flowed, it would just leak into the crawl space.