DIYbanter - View Single Post - New Oak Floor is Warped...is this normal?

dadiOH

wrote:
My folks (who are totally ignorant about this sort of stuff) had to
totally rebuild their 80 some odd year old cottage up on the
atlantic coast in maine after a bad n'oreaster damaged it beyond
repair. For the most part the workmanship on the new place was
superb when it was finally finished recently, but i noticed that
the new oak floor that had been installed looked odd (this is an
actual oak floor - not some sort of laminate or whatever). The oak
strips (not sure if that's what you call them) in the floor are
higher on either side of their width and lower in the center. This
warping is very modest, but it's definitely noticeable and does NOT
look normal. This creates a sort of subtle rippling effect in the
floor, which you can even see in the right light and you can
definitely feel if you run your hand over the floor. we asked the
contractor - who is a very honest guy generally - about it and he
said something to the effect of "well, that's something that
happens sometimes out here and can't be avoided when you're so
close to the water" (the place sits about 25 yards from the ocean).
I was very skeptcal of his remark, but my folks basically bought it
mostly because they were happy with the majority of the work and
glad to be finally done with the project and able regain use of
their beloved cottage. My suspicion is the contractor knows it's
not right, that it didn't become apparent to him until the floor
had already been installed and he realizes fixing it now would
require him to rip out the entire floor and install a new one -
something he obviously wants to avoid. I am pretty much a neophyte
with all this too, but i do recognize something when it's wrong,
and this just doesn't seem right. Any advice you can offer would
be greatly appreciated - including whether this can be fixed by
sanding or something short of totally ripping out and
replacing..THANKS!

It's called cupping. It comes from moisture. Yes, the floor can be
sanded flat. Will it stay that way? Quien sabe.

--

dadiOH
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