Hi,
I have just moved into a new house. The wood floors were put down about a month ago. As I was cleaning (with recommended products), I am noticing some splinting along where the guys cut the lengths of wood. There are about 12 pieces of wood in the great room that have this problem. The wood is the smaller planks and 3/4" thick. What has caused this? I am having them come and replace these pieces. Will more splint??? Is it the wood grade or a dull saw blade or humidity in the house (I checked it at about 60%). Thanks for any help and /or suggestions.

do you mean the wood seems to be splnterng at the ends where they cut the boards to length?. or down the sde (lenghtwse). A dull saw blade wll often cauase some mnor splnterng at the ends but they usually get covered by a T moldng or baseboards. You shouldn't be anble to see ANY cut ends or sdes..Wth the excepton of where carpet may be tuced to an end or sde.

Is this out in the floor? At the edges? On the ends? Along the sides?

Me no understandie your post. A little more info would go a long way in helping me put on my Sherlocke Holmes hat.

Sounds like installation damage, but could be checking. Hard to tell from your description. One thing may help; stop mopping the floor.

Hi again,
Sorry about being vague. The splinting is down the side (lengthwise) of the wood. The splinting can be 1/2" to 1" in length. It is out in the middle of the floor. The installers came back yesterday and put some Bruce varnish repair over the splints to keep them smooth. They stated it was due to the nailing??? I do not mop the floor. I have only cleaned one time with the hardwood floor cleaner with a hand cloth.

In reflective light; do you see small round bumps along the edge?
If so, maybe too much compression causing the brad/staple to go too deep. Causes the tongue to break which, in turn, raises the wood surface at the nailed area.

Bruce tavern grade?

If the splintering is along the edge lengthwise and about one inch in length, I suggest it is due to hitting the flooring together with the mallet. I've had this happen to me when installing when I've accidentally used the wrong side of my mallet. It's like taking a hammer and wacking the s*** out of the edge of the board. Inspect your floor carefully and ask the installers to replace all edge damage boards. Once the damaged boards are replaced, you should have no further problems with splintering.

I have seen this on almost all the budget wood floors I have installed. Little to large splinters on the edges. It doesn't matter if it is the tongue side or the goove side. I see it more often with bevel edge.

Whe every board is like that you learn not to slide your fingers down the boards.

This happened to Bruce engineered wood floors we put down in January. Bruce after much dragging of feet is replacing the floor.

Good for you Betty.
That must have been a real battle!!

I'm happy for her too. Sounds like the all too comon Bruce "we'll find a way out of this problem--let's blame it on the installer"

We also have a new build from November 2003. Our original BRUCE - 700 sq foot area, Cherry color-bristol strip cb 328, had splitting on the edges in multiple places. Not to mention, the cherry wood was not anywhere close to the sample strip..... it looked like the "oak" or gunstock. Anyway, Bruce finally said replace it.. welp, second floor same thing even during installation, so we stopped again, changed to MULLICAN, same cracking on the edges, But with Mullican, the finish is bubbling up certainly more noticeable to the eye..... AND NOW WE HAVE areas that are PEAKING upward... like TENTS...... They both Bruce and Mullican have done moisture readings etc.. but these areas did this immediately.. The hope was the peaking would go down == probably moisture, but it has been almost 8 weeks.. not the moisture..... Mullican at least had 2 technical people sent in to look at the floor and admit like Bruce, we need to fix the splitting.. So they want to try a special boot while installing the next floor...Oh did I mention, we had 3 different installers--same problem. I am beyond stressed regarding this situation and have no idea what to do. The Mullican floor is definitely closer in color to our choice than the Bruce and has the micro bevel and lays very nice on the edges that meet the carpet, but the Bruce has the shiny finish.. Mullican the dull-satin finish and seems to just be dirty all the time.. hard to clean or something I dont know......
So, I am wondering about this TENTING-some call it cupping I guess, but it is NOT a moisture problem, and how do you make a decision on the product.. oh boy......... Thanks for any input...
Dawn
goofy3@aol.com

Dawn, It sounds like you need a good site finished floor. No splitting edges, chips in the finish, bubbling finish, micro bevel,cupping,color problems,sheen problems,hard to clean and having to deal with factory technical people.
From a very busy sand and finish guy.
Buddy

Thanks for the reply. At this point, I have no idea what the day will bring. We are a new construction home. Everyone is having issues with the cherry/dark stained wood. What a joke, eh! Thanks for your time.
Dawn