New engineered wood floor has warped with heat

Aorman

We had a new engineered wooden floor layed about 6 weeks ago, and after we came back from holiday 3 days ago, we could not open the lounge door.

The flooring seems to have buckled?/ risen along the joins just behind the door, and we had uneasy job of opening the door without damaging the floor.

The boards have been layed in a front of house to back of house direction in line with the floorboards, which were covered with 6mm plywood first.
As it very warm in the room/house when we came back, we thought that it was the heat which cased it to warp/buckle, and hoped that it would resume normal flatness fairly soon, but as yet there is no sign of that.

Anything we can do about this situation without taking any part of it up?

Thanks

mattysupra · Posted: Thu Jul 02, 2009 8:22 pm Post Subject:

nothing to do with heat, moister makes wood move. How much expansion was left?
what method of fitting? I.E floating glued?
What was the moister content of the subfloor?
What was the moister content of the flooring?
Whats the room humidity?
Flooring acclimatised to new surroundings?

Has the floor cuped ? I.E has each board changed its shape and taken on a semi-circle shape?

Has the floor kept its shape but is going up and down at joints or turned into a large ballon effect?

Where has the wood come from, make quality?

O and get some pics up!

If you can answer most of them questions we can tell you where its gone wrong,.

WoodYouLike · Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 8:29 am Post Subject:

Other issues to consider:
have there been any other decorating works being done just before you went on holiday. Painting, plastering? All contain moist which, when there is no ventilation - especially during the weather we've been having - can be absorbed in the wood.

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Aorman · Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 6:44 pm Post Subject:

mattysupra:
Well I can only guess at the amount of expansion gap was left, and I would say about 10mm approx around the outside edges, except where the door threshold is, because I can't see underneath it and it is glued down.

This is the area where the buckling/lifting has occured, just in front of the threshold.

The method of fitting was floating glued
I have no idea about the moisture of the subfloor/6mm plywood, except to say it was or appeared to be bone dry when I fitted/layed it. Then it was down for about 10 days before the new engineered wood was layed.

Again I can only say that the original wooden floorboards were or appeared to be bone dry, as there as never in the 10 years we have lived in this property, been any contact with water.
The room's humidty is nominally around 50%, and the flooring was left in the same room for 5 days before it was layed.

Also there is some lifting about halfway along the room's width just in front of a hardwood threshold where there are a pair of french doors.

WoodYouLike:
We did have the same room decorated fully some 2/3 weeks before the floor was layed. This involved painting and pasting of wallpaper on one wall. As best as I can remember we did have the french doors open at some time to get rid of the paint smell , but I doubt long enough to get rid of all moisture.

I have noticed today, that the lifting iseems to be going down slowly, because we can now close the door with only a small amount of rubbing on the floor, so I'm hoping it will return to normal soon.
Again, due the the recent heatwave, we have had the french doors open for several hours on an evening, so that should help somewhat I think.

Thanks

mattysupra · Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 9:14 pm Post Subject:

so the problem seems to be around the door way? was the door jams undercut or is the wood tight around the door frames?

Aorman · Posted: Fri Jul 03, 2009 10:23 pm Post Subject:

mattysupra:
the wood is tight upto the door frame, as it is angled from the actual threshold to the skirting board. ie the door threshold is set back from the wall and skirting board so the wood is cut at an angle to fit. Then there is a gap where the skirting board is.

Thanks

mattysupra · Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 3:39 pm Post Subject:

the door frame should be undercut so the wood flooring goes under it to allow movement. If its tight against the frame it will cause the problem in question.

Aorman · Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 4:12 pm Post Subject:

Yes I did think about that earlier. So do you think I could do that now, and what would the best method be top do it?

Thanks

mattysupra · Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 5:07 pm Post Subject:

your going to need a tool like the fien multimaster or the bosch equivilant that can be found at B&Q.

You will have to put a few pieces of paper down to try and protect the surface of the wood or even a thin sheet of metal like the end of a trowel blade.

Getting the cut wood out is going to be hard work tho. It may pay to pull the archive off around the door so you will have a gap to remove the timber you cut out.

Either that or you need up lift the flooring in that area.

Also your door strip, you say its glued down? Is glued the the subfloor only? If glued to the top of the wood it needs to be on a flexible adhesive so the wood can still move under it.

big-all · Posted: Sat Jul 04, 2009 7:11 pm Post Subject:

bargain
http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=656314&source=emailclub&dm_i=5F,1DDB,3372A,42JL,1

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WoodYouLike · Posted: Sun Jul 05, 2009 10:37 am Post Subject:

big-all wrote:

bargain
http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp?pf_id=656314&source=emailclub&dm_i=5F,1DDB,3372A,42JL,1

It's like printers nowadays: tool/equipment is getting cheaper and cheaper, accessories like blades and ink cartridges never

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