Wooden floor expansion - Advice needed

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bcol1

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We had solid oak floors laid in the living room 5 months ago, and just over the weekend noticed some serious expansion problems. On Saturday we realised the floor had risen up in front of the fireplace area, but not around the edges of the room across those same planks iykwim. This was the first time we had noticed it, and we use that room every evening. By Sunday it had risen even more, and then last night when i came home from work, the wood had expanded so much in one day that it had litterally burst up - at least 6 planks, 5 inch wide each, have bursted up completely in a hump, with a split between the timbers on the top of the hump.
Anyone any advice on what to do, short of taking off all the skirting boards and removing a plank or part of one?
Any ideas why this happened so suddenly when we hadn't had any problems over the past 5 months, then all the expansion seemed to have occured over the space of a few days?
We haven't had the heating on anywhere in the house over the past 3 months, and haven't been lighting a fire in that room either, just wondering if we turned the heating on for a few days would it help?
Any practical advice appreciated.
 
Re: Wooden floor expansion - Advice needed!

floors always expand in the summer due to no heating and windows left open etc. you should leave it alone until it settles back down to normal and then shave a bit off the edge. biscuit cutter or a sharp wide wood chisel would do it. try sealing up the room and gently heating it if you are in a hurry
 
Re: Wooden floor expansion - Advice needed!

xt40 said:
floors always expand in the summer due to no heating and windows left open etc. you should leave it alone until it settles back down to normal and then shave a bit off the edge. biscuit cutter or a sharp wide wood chisel would do it. try sealing up the room and gently heating it if you are in a hurry
Click to expand...
I would have thought that the the wood would shrink during the summer. Anyway, oak is a hardwood and the expansion/contraction should be very small indeed. Is there any way you can get under the boards to see if there is a dampness problem. What you are describing should not be happening. Did you leave an expansion space around the edges when the floors went down?
How is the floor fixed, is it glued, nailed, floating or what?
 
Re: Wooden floor expansion - Advice needed!

There was space left for expansion all around the edges, and then skirting wasn't put back down until about 1 month after. It's a new house we just built, if there is a dampness problem i will cry.... :(
I am starting to worry that maybe there is a leak from the radiator pipes or something? though i inspected them too and can't see any sign of water leaking. If it gets any worse today, they will split open completely and i'll have no problem seeing if there is a dampness problem under them!!!
 
Re: Wooden floor expansion - Advice needed!

Oh yeah, the floors are glued down, on concrete floor.
 
Re: Wooden floor expansion - Advice needed!

Are they glued directly to the concrete? is there a vapour barrier?
 
Re: Wooden floor expansion - Advice needed!

bcol1 said:
Oh yeah, the floors are glued down, on concrete floor.
Click to expand...


There should be a vapour barrier put on the entire concrete surface. It comes as a polythene roll and is unrolled in strips overlapping each strip. It should be laid flat without any bunching and the joins sealed with waterproof tape to create one blanket covering the entire room where possible. That's only the start of it.

We unfortunately learned that AFTER we laid our lovely floor and had monumental problems with it bunching up. We just had to keep lifting up the problem planks, cutting away the excess and relaying. We were lucky we had some excess flooring but the whole business would make you cry. It's middling ok now. And we didn't do a diy job. We got a carpenter. He mustn't have known any better.
 
Re: Wooden floor expansion - Advice needed!

if the dwelling is a new build the there should be a dpm under the concrete... in a case like this there must NOT be a polythene roll placed under the boarding. Vapour cannot travel through the polythene therefore it will condensate on the warm side under the boarding and will cause the boards to increase in moisture contant, warp and expand....
 
Re: Wooden floor expansion - Advice needed!

Thanks everyone for the responses so far.

I wasn't there when the floors were laid, but DH says there is foam underneath the boards, any idea what this is for? I am assuming the polythene roll is plastic rather than foam? We had a carpenter lay it, but haven't been able to get in touch with him since we discovered the problem at the weekend, hope he'll return our calls soon.
 
Re: Wooden floor expansion - Advice needed!

if theres foam under the floor its whats called a 'floating floor'... the boards are not glued to the floor (i could be mistaken on this)....
 
Re: Wooden floor expansion - Advice needed!

Thanks Sydthebeat, hopefully i can find out exactly how the floors were laid tonight by talking to the carpenter who laid them, so will update tomorrow.
 
Re: Wooden floor expansion - Advice needed!

Just to update on floor situation (btw it is floating floor)
Carpenter came out to look at it last night and says he's never seen anything like it. Says the floor has not moved towards any of the walls, still the same amount of space for expansion around the edges as he allowed when he laid the floors. When he and DH gently walk along the raised area each of them starting at either end, once they meet in the middle, they are able to get the boards to flatten back down completely, it's like as if there is air underneath the hump. Once the boards do flatten down, they are not pushing any of the other boards outwards across the floor. Once they step off the boards, they just pop back up in a hump.

We've turned on the heat in that room and closed the door, and planning to give it till Thurs to see if things improve, carpenter coming back Thurs to inspect again.

Has anyone any ideas on the cause? Just damp weather?
 
Re: Wooden floor expansion - Advice needed!

Where did you get the floors, bcol1? Were they pre finished?

If they weren't pre finished, the boards should have been left un fitted in your house for a period before being fitted.

Other than that, sounds to me like one of the following:
- poor quality floors where the timbers were not properly dried before being machined;
- poor quality fitting where your carpenter didn't really know what he was doing;
- foundations in your new house not being fully cured before the floors were laid.

J2K

PS you don't have underfloor heating by any chance do you? When UFH is turned on for the first time it will cause any remaining moisture in teh screed/foundation to rise to the surface very quickly. It is always advisable to turn on UFH for a number of days before laying any floor finish. Regardless, UFH is far from ideal with solid timber floors.
 
Re: Wooden floor expansion - Advice needed!

I didnt think you could float a solid floor??
 
Re: Wooden floor expansion - Advice needed!

it definately sounds like warped boards, if so then they are fecked.....
i agree with steevo, solid flooring shouldnt be floated, they should be fixed on battens....

how thick are the boards?? inch?? were they glued together as T + G over the foam??
 
Re: Wooden floor expansion - Advice needed!

I got the flooring in Brooks - it's their Classic Oak 5" wide boards.
The flooring was in the house drying out for 3 months before they were laid, and carpenter said they were completely dry when he was laying them, clicked together very easily.
No UFH in the house.
The boards are 2/3 inch thick, and yes i believe they were glued as t&g over the foam.
 
Re: Wooden floor expansion - Advice needed!

just looked through the brooks brochure: [broken link removed]

they recommend laying the floor as you have described, however it sounds like you have no polythene barrier under... is this true?
personally i never specify a vapour barrier under a floor in a new build if i have been involved with the construction and im sure that there is a DPM under the floor salb... however they recommend it ....so.....

doesnt sound like you have much options bcol1...
 
Re: Wooden floor expansion - Advice needed!

Hi Sydthebeat,

there is no polythene barrier under the floor but there is definitely a DPM under the floor slabs.

So what's my option? Take off all skirting and take up floor, lay polythene barrier, and then can i re-lay the same floor boards that are not currently affected by the warping? or do i need a completely new floor?

Thanks,
bcol1
 
Seems a bit of a mystery alright, none of the previous suggestions seem to apply.

Why don't you contact Brooks and ask them to send out a technical expert, either from them or from the manufacturer. May help you get to the bottom of it. If you followed their guidelines perhaps you should be looking for a refund/replacement from them!

J2K
 
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