Solid Wood Floor Cupping

The sides of the boards will be curled upward so that the edges are higher than the center of the board.

Solid wood floor cupping. If you imagine a picture of a child drawing a boat in the water then the water will give you a good idea of what a cupped floor looks like. When the moisture increases the wood swells and then when it decreases the wood shrinks. How to fix a crowned hardwood floor. Whatever the cause a moisture imbalance develops from the bottom of the floor to the top.

A cupped floor has a concave shape across the width of the boards. Solid and engineered wood flooring can both cup. Crowning is characterized by wood that is raised in the. Sanding a hardwood floor while it is still cupped will result in a problem called crowning.

As furniture and people begin to inhabit the area it will bring about a new level of moisture and. Crowning is typically a problem that is a direct result of cupping. Other causes of hardwood floor cupping could include situations such as basement plumbing leaks that allow moisture to migrate up into the subfloor and into the wood flooring or the heat from a wood stove that drys out the air in the environment. Wood floor cupping can be avoided or fixed by following a few simple steps.

Any wood floor can suffer from cupping. A crowned wood floor is another problem that is usually the result of a moisture issue. It ends up looking a little like an accordion. You can get good advice by contacting the national wood flooring association at 800 422 4556.

Cupping has occurred when the sides of flooring are higher than the center of the boards the surface of the board has a concave shape. The planks that make up wood flooring expand and contract based on the amount of moisture in the room. If a hardwood floor is installed before a subfloor is properly dried or before the floorboards reach an equilibrium moisture content emc such as before the inside of a building s air is conditioned there is a chance for cupping later on. We ll discuss each construction separately as the dynamics are different.

How to fix cupped hardwood flooring. Their technical experts can help you out and also provide a list of inspectors if need be. The driving force for cupping comes from a response of the wood to a change in moisture. Janis cupping that goes away seasonally is usually considered normal but cupping that stays year round is not.

But what is hardwood floor cupping. It refers to a state when the individual wood planks appear to be higher on the edges as compared to the center of the board forming the shape of a cup. The simplest way to think of wood floor cupping is to imagine the edges of each plank sticking up higher than the centers. Cupping is a result of the changes in moisture in the room.