Hi all,

Recently installed 6” select and better white oak rift and quarter on my 1st floor (dining room and living room). The floors were installed and finished in October. It’s been about 4 months and now my floors are cupping, splintering and checking. I have no idea what is going on with the floors. I’ve had my installer and 2 independent floor companies tell me it’s not installation error and that it could be due to humidity issues. I live in New York and have a basement humidity sensor that ranges 30-50 in my basement. Anyone else having the same issues?

If the flooring is cupping and your humidity is between 30 and 50%, then the flooring was too dry for the conditions when it was laid, and has swollen to match the new conditions. It likely should have been acclimated before installation. The contractor ought to have a record of the moisture content of the flooring when it was laid, and also the moisture content of the sub-floor. You can compare it to the moisture content reading now.
He should be responsible to deliver an acceptable floor, which will need to be sanded again, at this point.
Sometimes a contractor will lay the flooring as it comes directly from the mill without any acclimation, which can be a big problem. The mill will dry the flooring so it can be sold in different places, so it is usually too dry for some areas, and it will need acclimation for best results.

So I’ve had flooring installers come and they tell me nothing was wrong with the installation and that there was some humidity problem. I’ve had 3 basement contractors come and they said nothing was wrong with my basement with the humidity readings I’m getting. My basement is 30-50 and my 1st floor where I’m having the floor issue is also 30-50%.

The wood floors were acclimated for 5 days before installed. They were installed in October of 2023. I’ve reached out to where I got the wood floors from and they are currently having an expert figure out what happened. No one seems to know.

I don’t think my floor installer measured the moisture content of the plywood and the wood. I guess when I turned the heat on during the winter it dried up the wood?

What temperature are you running the heat?