New Solid Hardwood Floor on Concrete - Slight buckling

bipedalhumanoid

Had some solid Oak floors laid last week.

I'm noticing some very slight buckling of two boards at one end of the house. Although the boards are glued down, these boards — at least at their ends — have lifted off the concrete.

The boards are all glued down directly to the concrete. It was professionally installed.

Should I be worried, or is it just a product of this unusual weather?

Dudda

'Professionally installed' doesn't mean anything to me. How long did the concrete have to dry out if it's a new house or renovation project? Sounds like it wasn't fully dry or the timber wasn't fully dried out and allowed acclimatize to the room. When you buy a timber floor you're suppose to remove it from it's packaging and leave it in the room you intend to lay it for a number of days so it can dry out and acclimatize to the room.

How many days after the concrete or screed was poured did the timber floor go down and how many days did they leave the timber out of it's packaging in the room?

bipedalhumanoid

Dudda wrote: »

'Professionally installed' doesn't mean anything to me. How long did the concrete have to dry out if it's a new house or renovation project? Sounds like it wasn't fully dry or the timber wasn't fully dried out and allowed acclimatize to the room. When you buy a timber floor you're suppose to remove it from it's packaging and leave it in the room you intend to lay it for a number of days so it can dry out and acclimatize to the room.

How many days after the concrete or screed was poured did the timber floor go down and how many days did they leave the timber out of it's packaging in the room?

Thanks for the response.

Professionally installed means I paid someone to do it who does it for a living as opposed to me installing it myself.

The concrete was laid in the mid 1980s.

The first pieces of timber to be laid were not left in the room for any amount of time. They were hauled in and installed on the same day. Timber laid in subsequent days were in the room, but left in their boxes. So I'd say they weren't let acclimatise to the room. During installation the climate of the room would have been the same as the climate outside the house anyway. All doors and windows were open for the duration of the installation, which took 3-4 days. The weather was very warm and dry, as you're probably aware.

Dudda

OK thanks for the additional info. My thoughts are that the timber would have a higher moisture content which has caused the buckling and lifting as it's now drying out. It was probably stored in a cold warehouse of some retail shop over a wet winter. Wrapped in plastic they can't dry out properly. They really needed to be left a few days in your house before putting them down. Are the boards that are buckling and lifting the ones put down first straight from the van? If so then the other boards put down later probably dried out a bit and should be fine. You'll probably have to lift out the loose buckled boards and fit new ones. I'd inform whoever installed them and see if they'll come back to cut them out and refit new ones. Have you any timber left over or did you throw out the leftover bits?

bipedalhumanoid

Dudda wrote: »

OK thanks for the additional info. My thoughts are that the timber would have a higher moisture content which has caused the buckling and lifting as it's now drying out. It was probably stored in a cold warehouse of some retail shop over a wet winter. Wrapped in plastic they can't dry out properly. They really needed to be left a few days in your house before putting them down. Are the boards that are buckling and lifting the ones put down first straight from the van? If so then the other boards put down later probably dried out a bit and should be fine. You'll probably have to lift out the loose buckled boards and fit new ones. I'd inform whoever installed them and see if they'll come back to cut them out and refit new ones. Have you any timber left over or did you throw out the leftover bits?

Yes, those were the first boards laid. He did a strip of about 4-5 boards wide on the first day, starting in the middle. The guy who fitted them supplied the timber and took away whatever was left over. I'll get him back to fix it.

Thanks for the info.

tabby aspreme

Are top of the boards convex or concave

severeoversteer

is the sun hitting them through the window ?
it most likely shrinkage distortion.

most suppliers of hardwood doors or floors would have something in their paperwork about having the timber in the house for more than x amount of days due to timber being hygroscopic

if ''you'' got the flooring delivered the day you had the fitter coming I can see that you might be left having to shoulder the cost of making it right. a good fitter might have asked you was it left for long in the house but most wouldn't check how log it was in the house.

if it was a supply and fit deal you may have recourse from the company you got it off if they organised the whole thing.

bipedalhumanoid

tabby aspreme wrote: »

Are top of the boards convex or concave

The individual boards are fine. The problem is that they have come away from the concrete they were glued to and are being pushed into a wave formation, like they're being pushed together from either side trying to occupy more space than they have.

Buckling might be the wrong term, but that's what I meant by it.

bipedalhumanoid

severeoversteer wrote: »

is the sun hitting them through the window ?
it most likely shrinkage distortion.

most suppliers of hardwood doors or floors would have something in their paperwork about having the timber in the house for more than x amount of days due to timber being hygroscopic

if ''you'' got the flooring delivered the day you had the fitter coming I can see that you might be left having to shoulder the cost of making it right. a good fitter might have asked you was it left for long in the house but most wouldn't check how log it was in the house.

if it was a supply and fit deal you may have recourse from the company you got it off if they organised the whole thing.

It was a supply and fit deal. We specifically snubbed companies like Noyeks who only supply and expect you to organise the fitting yourself. I spoke to the fitter and he is going to come back and fix it.

No it wouldn't be getting a lot of direct sunlight. We have think curtains and blinds blocking it.

tabby aspreme

It sounds like the boards are swelling and pushing against each other, Oak very prone too movement, as humidity changes, and will contract and expand continuously. What width are the boards