How does one prevent.... (floorboard cupping)

[toptec]

Floorboards curling across their width?

Am replacing a woodwormed floor and even though I stacked the new boards 8 high, and "cured" them for 48 hours in the room many are still curled/curling.

Am I missing a trick here?

 

[big-all]

did you buy you wood from a wood yard/timber yard!!!

the quality of wood in the sheds is very questionable
you start out with say 20% bad boards nobody picks these so next time they restock yo have 40% bad boards till eventualy you only get a few good boards that disapear in no time

buy from a wood yard you not only get thicker boards {22mm as opposed to 19mm] you get flat better seasoned wood
you will of course still get around 10% moving but only around5 % will be badly cupped and can be used for other uses

 

[WoodYouLike]

Right big-all

It all depends, next to quality, on the amount of moist in the wood and the humidity in your home. Floorboards should be dried to a spec of 9 - 11%, pine can be slightly higher.
If your boards came in at say 18 - 20% moist, 48 hours is way too short to have them acclimatise.

 

[toptec]

I know it was a stupid thing to do but........ I got the boards from Wickes!

They were £1 per metre cheaper than the nearest Timber yard, who also wanted £25 for delivery. Living out in the sticks I don't have a lot of choice unfortunately, and tend to trapse to the nearest town, Taunton, once a month for bulkier materials. (I am re-furbing an old bungalow).

In addition I also had to treat the new boards with a water/boron mixture due to the woodworm. In hindsight and reading your comments I should of left them to cure longer.

As to damaged boards, I have to say Wickes were no worse than the local Builders merchants. I have only two boards of no use out of 70.

One learns by ones mistakes!

 

[big-all]

are you talking txg or around 18x144 boards!!!

perhaps they where offering redwood boards as i only pay around £1.60 per 1m for floor boards

or perhaps you should have got an account and got a decent discount because your doing a refurb

another advantage is the lengths avalable up to around 16 or 17 ft at a timber yard

 

[toptec]

Nah, I'm talking about T & G. The Timber Merchants were more expensive presumably cause their transport overheads are higher.

Hadn't thought about an account with them, but the Builders merchants 6 miles away wanted a letter from the bank and referees etc for an account. Too many hoops for me.

Agree about the lengths though - I could only get 3m ones and the room length is 3.35m.