The house I bought last winter has a bamboo floor in the kitchen (and
radiant heat in the floors). The bamboo is natural-colored and grained
like a wood floor (lines visible, not dots of endgrain). It sat fine
through the winter, but the humidity of summer has caused the boards to
swell, buckling the center of the floor upwards. The middle 6-7 of the
3-1/2" (x 5/8" thick) boards are humped over most of the 13-foot length
of the kitchen, as much as 2" high in the middle of the hump. In
addition to being trecherous walking if one (visitors) are not
expecting it, I am concerned that further floor or cabinet damage can
occur if a heavy friend steps on it (forcing the adjacent boards
outwards and/or upwards, against wall and under cabinets).

As far as I can tell, the flooring goes all the way to the walls under
the cabinets. The floor was laid about 5 years ago, and the prior
owner simply lived with the fact that it popped up every summer here in
north NJ. He tells me the installer is out of business.

Any suggestions? Will a typical homeowners' insurance plan cover
repair of a problem like this? Is there a solution short of pulling
the cabinets and appliances from one wall, reducing the width of a
board to allow for expansion, and replacing everything? Thoughts?

Regards, Teo

Oy. I don't know about hte fix, but the folly of the installer/prior
owner perhaps was that wood floors should be installed in the
summertime, and the wood should be allowed to sit and acclimate in the
house for a good period of time to prevent this stuff from happening.

Short of reinstallation, I'm not sure what can be done. Sorry to hear
of this problem!

Todd H.
http://www.toddh.net/

On 26 Sep 2006 07:46:21 -0700, wrote:

The house I bought last winter has a bamboo floor in the kitchen (and
radiant heat in the floors). The bamboo is natural-colored and grained
like a wood floor (lines visible, not dots of endgrain). It sat fine
through the winter, but the humidity of summer has caused the boards to
swell, buckling the center of the floor upwards. The middle 6-7 of the
3-1/2" (x 5/8" thick) boards are humped over most of the 13-foot length
of the kitchen, as much as 2" high in the middle of the hump. In
addition to being trecherous walking if one (visitors) are not
expecting it, I am concerned that further floor or cabinet damage can
occur if a heavy friend steps on it (forcing the adjacent boards
outwards and/or upwards, against wall and under cabinets).

As far as I can tell, the flooring goes all the way to the walls under
the cabinets. The floor was laid about 5 years ago, and the prior
owner simply lived with the fact that it popped up every summer here in
north NJ. He tells me the installer is out of business.

Any suggestions? Will a typical homeowners' insurance plan cover
repair of a problem like this? Is there a solution short of pulling
the cabinets and appliances from one wall, reducing the width of a
board to allow for expansion, and replacing everything? Thoughts?


Running a dehumidifier to keep the humidity down will work.
If you can get under the toe-kick and or up against the far
wall with a saw, you can cut a kerf anywhere to allow for
expansion, but if you want the cut concealed, you'll have
to move whatever is going to be covering the cut.

well, if you remove the covering trim and shorten the boards where they
contact the wall will does that look like it will correct the problem
(is it binding), there are a number of tools that can handle this, the
easiest would be a circular say set to the right deapth, but you may
remove too much that way, best to use something that will only take off
1/2" at a time.

Empressess #124457


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wrote:
The house I bought last winter has a bamboo floor in the kitchen (and
radiant heat in the floors). The bamboo is natural-colored and grained
like a wood floor (lines visible, not dots of endgrain). It sat fine
through the winter, but the humidity of summer has caused the boards to
swell, buckling the center of the floor upwards. The middle 6-7 of the
3-1/2" (x 5/8" thick) boards are humped over most of the 13-foot length
of the kitchen, as much as 2" high in the middle of the hump. In
addition to being trecherous walking if one (visitors) are not
expecting it, I am concerned that further floor or cabinet damage can
occur if a heavy friend steps on it (forcing the adjacent boards
outwards and/or upwards, against wall and under cabinets).

As far as I can tell, the flooring goes all the way to the walls under
the cabinets. The floor was laid about 5 years ago, and the prior
owner simply lived with the fact that it popped up every summer here in
north NJ. He tells me the installer is out of business.

Any suggestions? Will a typical homeowners' insurance plan cover
repair of a problem like this? Is there a solution short of pulling
the cabinets and appliances from one wall, reducing the width of a
board to allow for expansion, and replacing everything? Thoughts?

Regards, Teo

On 26 Sep 2006 07:46:21 -0700, wrote:

The house I bought last winter has a bamboo floor in the kitchen (and
radiant heat in the floors). The bamboo is natural-colored and grained
like a wood floor (lines visible, not dots of endgrain). It sat fine
through the winter, but the humidity of summer has caused the boards to
swell, buckling the center of the floor upwards. The middle 6-7 of the
3-1/2" (x 5/8" thick) boards are humped over most of the 13-foot length
of the kitchen, as much as 2" high in the middle of the hump. In
addition to being trecherous walking if one (visitors) are not
expecting it, I am concerned that further floor or cabinet damage can
occur if a heavy friend steps on it (forcing the adjacent boards
outwards and/or upwards, against wall and under cabinets).

As far as I can tell, the flooring goes all the way to the walls under
the cabinets. The floor was laid about 5 years ago, and the prior
owner simply lived with the fact that it popped up every summer here in
north NJ. He tells me the installer is out of business.

Any suggestions? Will a typical homeowners' insurance plan cover
repair of a problem like this? Is there a solution short of pulling
the cabinets and appliances from one wall, reducing the width of a
board to allow for expansion, and replacing everything? Thoughts?

Regards, Teo

Insurance agents have a great deal of power to deny or approve your
claim. Give them a call.

If its floating floor (probably) it shouldn't have been installed under the
cabinets. The floor needs to be able to move. It also sounds like there
isn't enough clearance around the base boards. I think you are going to
have to pull the base boards to see. Fixing this is not going to be easy.

As for insurance, I doubt it covers improperly installed finishes. Maybe a
home warranty?


wrote in message
ups.com...
The house I bought last winter has a bamboo floor in the kitchen (and
radiant heat in the floors). The bamboo is natural-colored and grained
like a wood floor (lines visible, not dots of endgrain). It sat fine
through the winter, but the humidity of summer has caused the boards to
swell, buckling the center of the floor upwards. The middle 6-7 of the
3-1/2" (x 5/8" thick) boards are humped over most of the 13-foot length
of the kitchen, as much as 2" high in the middle of the hump. In
addition to being trecherous walking if one (visitors) are not
expecting it, I am concerned that further floor or cabinet damage can
occur if a heavy friend steps on it (forcing the adjacent boards
outwards and/or upwards, against wall and under cabinets).

As far as I can tell, the flooring goes all the way to the walls under
the cabinets. The floor was laid about 5 years ago, and the prior
owner simply lived with the fact that it popped up every summer here in
north NJ. He tells me the installer is out of business.

Any suggestions? Will a typical homeowners' insurance plan cover
repair of a problem like this? Is there a solution short of pulling
the cabinets and appliances from one wall, reducing the width of a
board to allow for expansion, and replacing everything? Thoughts?

Regards, Teo

wrote:
The house I bought last winter has a bamboo floor in the kitchen (and
radiant heat in the floors). The bamboo is natural-colored and grained
like a wood floor (lines visible, not dots of endgrain). It sat fine
through the winter, but the humidity of summer has caused the boards to
swell, buckling the center of the floor upwards. The middle 6-7 of the
3-1/2" (x 5/8" thick) boards are humped over most of the 13-foot length
of the kitchen, as much as 2" high in the middle of the hump. In
addition to being trecherous walking if one (visitors) are not
expecting it, I am concerned that further floor or cabinet damage can
occur if a heavy friend steps on it (forcing the adjacent boards
outwards and/or upwards, against wall and under cabinets).

As far as I can tell, the flooring goes all the way to the walls under
the cabinets. The floor was laid about 5 years ago, and the prior
owner simply lived with the fact that it popped up every summer here in
north NJ. He tells me the installer is out of business.

Any suggestions? Will a typical homeowners' insurance plan cover
repair of a problem like this? Is there a solution short of pulling
the cabinets and appliances from one wall, reducing the width of a
board to allow for expansion, and replacing everything? Thoughts?

Regards, Teo

It cannot be installed correctly. That is way too much expan sion for
just humidity, there has got to be water there somewhere. If it is on a
slab, maybe it is condensing

It cannot be installed correctly. That is way too much expan sion for
just humidity, there has got to be water there somewhere. If it is on a
slab, maybe it is condensing

The house is on a boulder - no joke. A narrow (6' wide) basement
spans the width of the back of the house, and hatches lead to the
crawl space under the main part of the house which is supported by
pilings resting on the rock.

The reason I suspect summer humidity is that there were some minor
signs of the same problem when I looked at the house last fall (boards
slightly buckled, but sat flat if stepped on), they were fully flat
when I bought in Dec, and they popped up as they currently look in
early summer. Previous owner confirms that the floor cycles with
seasons (put in 5 years ago).

Regards, Teo

Running a dehumidifier to keep the humidity down will work.
If you can get under the toe-kick and or up against the far
wall with a saw, you can cut a kerf anywhere to allow for
expansion, but if you want the cut concealed, you'll have
to move whatever is going to be covering the cut.

I started a dehumidifier in the basement area below/behind the kitchen
in mid-August, with no apparent change. I suspect I need to set the
humidity lower or run it upstairs in the room itself.

You are exactly right - I am very reluctant to try to move the cabinets
(fancy, cherry-veneer, granite tops, on both sides of room). I have
called several flooring places to come give me their opinions.

Regards,
Teo

On 26 Sep 2006 07:46:21 -0700, wrote:

The house I bought last winter has a bamboo floor in the kitchen (and
radiant heat in the floors). The bamboo is natural-colored and grained
like a wood floor (lines visible, not dots of endgrain). It sat fine
through the winter, but the humidity of summer has caused the boards to
swell, buckling the center of the floor upwards. The middle 6-7 of the
3-1/2" (x 5/8" thick) boards are humped over most of the 13-foot length
of the kitchen, as much as 2" high in the middle of the hump. In
addition to being trecherous walking if one (visitors) are not
expecting it, I am concerned that further floor or cabinet damage can
occur if a heavy friend steps on it (forcing the adjacent boards
outwards and/or upwards, against wall and under cabinets).

As far as I can tell, the flooring goes all the way to the walls under
the cabinets. The floor was laid about 5 years ago, and the prior
owner simply lived with the fact that it popped up every summer here in
north NJ. He tells me the installer is out of business.

Any suggestions? Will a typical homeowners' insurance plan cover
repair of a problem like this? Is there a solution short of pulling
the cabinets and appliances from one wall, reducing the width of a
board to allow for expansion, and replacing everything? Thoughts?

Regards, Teo


There was not enough space for the wood to expand or possibly the
floor was fixed down in some areas. Seek legal channels against the
installer if the installer won't make it right.