new solid wooding oak floor has swollen up into a bump

[Joeylegend]

new solid wooding oak floor has swollen up into a bump in the middle of the hallway, i have taken the skirten boards of and there is room for expansion.

What could be causing it and how can it be fixed?

 

[big-all]

is it a floating floor or secured solidly at every joist!!!!!

 

[JohnD]

damp.

 

[Joeylegend]

glued in places to a cement floor .

No damp anywhere

 

[gcol]

If you have kids, 99% of breakages and problems can be attributed to them.
Only last night I asked the wife what happened to the plant that was on the bathroom window cill. Apparently my daughter knocked it off with her arm.
I agree with John that the boards have got damp/wet somehow. Question is..... how did they get wet? Hmmm

 

[WoodYouLike]

glued in places to a cement floor .

No damp anywhere

Glued completely or only in some places???
How old is the concrete/screed?
Where did you buy the solid oak flooring - timber yard? - and where was it stored beforehand?

 

[material.buyer]

glued in places to a cement floor .

No damp anywhere

Glued completely or only in some places???
How old is the concrete/screed?
Where did you buy the solid oak flooring - timber yard? - and where was it stored beforehand?

I'm guessing you're going with the shrink/swell possibility here?

I was thinking along the lines of.. flooring with a mild moisture content (as most timber has), put into warm house, moisture evaporates, timber can't contract, so bubble appears where it can shrink?

Matt

 

[WoodYouLike]

Hi Matt

No, thinking a different thoughts here:
If only glued in some places and with the higher humidity we're having lately the boards are expanding, but the ones not glued are able to 'come up' instead of being hold better in place by the adhesive.
The (new?) concrete hasn't been allowed to dry out sufficiently. Moist of the concrete is getting in the wood: buckling
The wood wasn't of flooring specifications (too dry?) and again with the high humidity we're having: buckles.

We'll just have to wait for some more details before we know

 

[material.buyer]

Over to you Mr Legend

 

[JohnD]

still damp.

 

[mattysupra]

im with woody. Seems if i leave my reply for a couple of hours woody writes the same thing anyway. Saves me the typing. Thanks woody! O and woody are you getting a little worried yet about installs you have done to normal english humidity which has been alot higher than normal for a few months now? I have been out and checked a couple of large area solids that i installed to see they have grown passed the maximum they should do for the humidity we normally work to Glade i always leave double the expansion needed

 

[WoodYouLike]

O and woody are you getting a little worried yet about installs you have done to normal english humidity which has been alot higher than normal for a few months now?

Hi Matty.

Not really We install more and more thick wood-engineered boards (21mm total, 6mm solid top layer) that can handle rapid changes in humidity better (and English weather looks/feels a lot like Dutch weather too ).
We have several customers who do insist on solid boards, we keep the width 'narrow' - upto 150mm to prevent extra problems. Some solid floors we've installed you just know you have to return to every once in a while - part of our service' to ease it a little and to 'educate' the customer again about the necessity of ventilation.

And as you say Matty - leave a wide enough expansion gap! Wood is and always will be a 'seasonable' product

 

[Joeylegend]

The bit that is swollen has most traffic.
You would think someone had burried a cat under it.

I bought the house 2 months ago ,The floor has been down 7 months,the house was built 13 years ago.

Cant contact the previous owner, they have immagrated.

A joiner looked at it , there is a 5mm gap at round, it is only glued in certain places.

 

[JohnD]

It's still damp.

If the house is only 17 years old the concrete OUGHT to be dry but it might have a leaky pipe under it. Or it could be the humid weather.

Or have you got a puppy?

I don't understand why its partially glued

You are probably going to have to take it up and relay it floating.

A photo would be interesting.

If was laid shortly befeore you bought the house it might have been one of these cheap jobs to tart up the house for a quick sale, you know?

 

[WoodYouLike]

T

A joiner looked at it , there is a 5mm gap at round, it is only glued in certain places.

That only glued in certain places is IMHO what's causing the trouble. The humidity is higher than 'average': wood absorbs moist from its environment and expands. Proper flexible adhesive can 'accommodate' this, ONLY if the floor is fully bonded - not just here and there. Now you get 'humps'

The 5mm gaps shows (IMHO again) that the rest of the floor has expanded too - normal expansion gap when installing a floor should be at least 10mm) but only in extreme cases - top high humidity over a long time, or accidents with pets - this would fill up completely and then the floor would start to buckle.