Hardwood floor swelling in Summer


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Old 07-19-19, 07:54 PM
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Hardwood floor swelling in Summer

I had a leak in an upstairs bathroom that buckled up a hardwood floor in the dining room below it a couple of years ago. I replaced several of the tongue and groove hardwood slats with solid hardwood cut to size but did not leave enough space between the new slats to accommodate summer swelling. Now I have to do something with them so the floor remains flat (the new stats are nailed into the sub floor and don't move, but they when the weather changes from winter to summer the new slats push against the old ones and they raise up just enough to bug me. Would an expert go after the grooves in the new slats with a small circular saw with a thin blade, or something else to open up the grooves a bit?
 
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Old 07-20-19, 02:19 AM
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If you run your HVAC or a dehumidifier that should lower the humidity enough to prevent the swelling.
 
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Old 07-20-19, 04:38 AM
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the new slats push against the old ones and they raise up
It is quite the phenomenon when wood floors buckle due to humidity, there is a lot of energy in the wood when it swells due to moisture!

So it sounds like it was repaired with pieces of wood and not T&G planks?

Either way what you need to do is take the floor/boards apart now when it's humid and reinstall when they are in the "swelled" condition so that when they dry out in the winter the gaps and fits will get larger!
 
 

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