Hello everyone,

It's been a few years since I last posted here, and you all were incredibly helpful then. I had red oak installed and finished on site and it turned out great.

Unfortunately, the kitchen faucet that was installed has a faulty party that can cause intermittent leaking. I woke up two days ago to water all over my hardwood floor in the kitchen.

I removed all the water from the surface and I've been running a dehumidifier ever since. I've also been using a radiant heater to try and dry the floor out. Unfortunately, after two days I haven't seen a change, so I'm coming to you.

Nothing has buckled, and if I showed you a picture from my phone, you would only be able to see the cupping if it was close up and you looked for it. But I can *feel* where all the wood is cupping, and it's far more substantial than any seasonal change. You can feel the bump on the board edges, with your hands or feet when walking.

Any advice on what to do? It would be greatly appreciated since everything I've been trying hasn't seemed to make a dent in the problem.

Thank you!

Jesse

Give it more time with the dehumidifier and heater. Kitchens are typically areas of high humidity due to cooking, hot water dish washing, etc. Just out of curiosity can you check the humidity with a humidistat?

I have a Nest thermostat about 15-20 feet away that reads 30% humidity (was 39% when I went to bed last night). I do have another humidistat I can set up on the kitchen. I'll do that now. Thanks!

You didn't give your location but normal relative humidity is 40%/45% - 50%/55%. How wide are the floor boards? Is there a basement below the kitchen? Heated? What's it's relative humidity? Vapor barrier under the kitchen floorboards? Cupping usually occurs when the humidity below the floor is higher than the humidity above i.e. moisture content at the bottom of the board is higher than the moisture content at the top of the board. This is seen when a basement gets humid (summertime) while the room above is at a lower humidity (air conditioning).

If, in addition to the surface water, there was water leakage between the joints that allowed water to reach the bottom of the boards the unfinished bottom of the boards would more easily absorb the water than the finished top of the boards. This is a good scenario for cupping. It may take a while for the tops and bottom of the boards to reach equilibrium. Be patient. Cupping may or may not resolve on its own depending on the severity.

The best hope for little damage is to remove the baseboards so the edges can dry out. I would tape a hair dryer to the floor that aims toward the joint of hardwoods and the wall, into the expansion gap. Move the dryer every half hour or so. Keep it on high. The best place to aim it would be where the ends of the boards expose the channels so the moisture can be drawn out.

Most likely, you will need to sand and refinish the floors, and then your issue should be solved. Before you do that, though, you'll want to make sure it's fully dry (including subfloor), no leaking, check w/ moisture meter.

We've had this happen many times, although usually the issue is from the dishwasher being improperly installed...most often from Sears ironically. Usually, they pay to have this fixed.

You may find this article helpful: http://theflooringgirl.com/blog/flooded ... cover.html

Debbie Gartner
http://TheFlooringGirl.com

Thanks for the help, everyone. I ran a dehumidifier in the unfinished basement below the subfloor nonstop and directed a radiant heater toward the oak floor every night when the kids went to bed. It took a couple weeks, but the floor is pretty much back to normal with no obvious cupping or damage. Whew - what a relief!

It turns out the problem is a defect in the sink faucet from Delta. They sent me a replacement part. Apparently it's a known issue.

I didn't want to revive a dead topic with this post, but I did want to show my gratitude and provide some hope for others who might stumble onto this post with a similar problem.

That's good news!!!! Thank You for the update.