I have moisture and leveling issues with my 40 year old pier and beam house. After remodeling 5 years ago we put down 3/4" prefinished maple hardwoods. I am being told that moisture under the house has caused cupping and they need to be refinished.

Ther are also leveling issues and a tight crawlspace that will make repair from below challenging at best.

If the decision is made to remove the floors and re-level and replace the subfloor what is the most cost effective way to go about refinishing the floors?

Once the repairs are made should the original floors be re-installed and then refinished or can the individual boards be milled and then out back down for staining.

I am in for a very expensive process. Just looking for some guidance on how best to go about the process. I have had some bad experiences with contractors and even inspectors that got me here along with my lack of experience so I don't want to visit this issue again.

Thanks

Jeff

I would 1st solve the moisture problem. Then go over all options of solving the leveling issues, without removal of the Hardwood floor, ( it would be tough to convince me that this can't be done). Then your just looking at a sand & finish. The process of re-installing the original floor is a huge expense, very possible unecessary, & opening a can of worms.

Thanks for the input. I have an engineer coming to evaluate. What I have heard so far is that extreme moisture is not present now but over time has caused some dry rot and shifting. Have read about shimming, sistering joists, etc. Along with vapor barrier to prevent re- occurrence. I know my crawlspace is tight so wondering if we will end up at the juncture of removing subfloor to get to the resolution.

Thanks

Jeff

There are guys that are familiar in dealing with tight crawl spaces. You would be amaized at what they can do, without going in through the top. If there are areas that need attention,where access is impossible, maybe it's a matter of cutting out a small section or two, instead of ripping out the entire floor. Just throwing suggestions out there.

Is it still cupped or not? Whats the rh under the floor, moisture content in the hawrdwood, mc in the subfloor?

the cupping appears to have stopped. i am being told that the moisture under the house seems to be a past issue, but there are issues with settling and dry rot as a result. its unclear if the earlier moisture caused the cupping or the floors did not climatize well enough before they were laid(they were shipped from canada to texas) the subfloors are the original osb that was in the house and carpeted prior.

meeting with engineer this afternoon to get more information.

As mentioned, try to resolve the issue under the house and then re sand the floors and re finish. I wonder if your house is on or near water because maple is one of the least stable flooring types.I normally refuse to install maple flooring near bodies of water, especially ocean unless it is quarter sawn grade.Even then, I still proceed with caution.

If you have to remove the flooring , you will have to destroy maybe two rows and then cut the rest out. To remove a wood floor, you can use a sawsall (reciprocating saw) and cut between the sub floor and flooring , moving the saw side ways .The only downside to this method is that it shears the nails (cleats or staples) which makes it hard to push them back up through the boards. I prefer to carefully pry up boards and then push the nails back out the same way they entered the board.This is much better than trying to pull the nails through the tongue which breaks the tongue or splits it at best. This method takes longer though.

So , should you get to this point, fix your sub flooring and consider coating it with a moisture preventive coating.Two coats of urethane would work but isn't normally done and I am not sure if the Sika Corp's products were meant for plywood or not but Sika Corp is a good company to check out. I say this because in my mind, I am thinking you might want to re install your flooring by gluing it down with Sika Bond or Bostich's Best along with re nailing.

Ultimately, it's hard for us to give you our best advice without walking through your project first but maybe a combination of our tips might help you out.