wooden floor problem.

jackreacher

hi guys and gals,
little bit of guidance required

i have noticed a bit of buckling in the wooden floor of my sitting room. it seems to be affcting just under a 6in squared area and im not sure how big or small a problem it is.

i have checked the 2 walls bordering it with a moisture meter and the plaster board is dry as a bone.

i have also got some settlement cracks i think running down the length of the wall.

i have pictures taken which i hope make sense.

my question is do i have something to worry about or is it a diy job to fix.

One shot on kill

no pics there dude is it solid semi or is it laminate flooring

Kashkai

When you say "buckling", do you mean it has swelled and pushed upwards? This could be down to:

(a) there was an insufficient expansion gap left around the edge of the room so when the floor settled and expanded, it pushed up against an immovable wall and thus buckled on you. The solution is to remove the skirting board and cut 6 - 9 mm's off the edge of the floor board that faces the wall to allow for expansion.

(b) moisture which is a bigger issue and not so easy to rectify. How long is the floor laid? If its a new floor, then it probably the moisture in the cement that has soaked into the wooden floor and caused it to expand and buckle on you. The solution here is to take the floor up immediately and let it dry out or the problem will soon spread.

(c) the worst case scenario is that you have an underfloor leak. This happened to me several years ago and I first noticed it when the door started to hit off the raised floorboard when floorboards started to buckle with teh water from the leaking pipe soaking into them.

Check out (a) above first as its the easiest to fix. While you have the edge board lifted, get a moisture metre to see what the readings are from the concrete slab beneath.

North West

Hi
It sounds like the flooring has expanded to a point where it cannot move. So its beginning to rise. Is the area on a straight wall ? Is there an external corner close to where it is rising?

Ok get a piece of wire about 4" long bend a 90 deg angle about half inch down the wire. see if you can put it under the skirting around where it is tight. Turn the bit of wire so the angle end turns down behind flooring under skirting.Move the wire towards the wall, You should be able to push wire to wall in the expansion left between wall and floor. try it over and back in a few places and if you have movement the expansion is ok. If you have a very minimal movement the floor could be tight to wall. If you can find no movement you ma y have to take of skirting and trim floor to leave movement.

Do so anywhere you think floor might be stuck to check expansion.
NW
See attached sketch

jackreacher

sorry tried to upload pics but they are too big. ive a carpenter buddy coming to price batthroom units so i might wait till he comes and get his twopence.

floor is done bout 5 years now.

flooring was already down so dont know is it semi solid or laminate to be honest.

Kashkai

If the floor is down 5 years, it's unlikely that the buckling is down to an insufficient expansion gap as it should be well settled by now and you'd have noticed the buckling long before now. You might have a water leak under the floor thats causing the wood to swell and buckle. Is there a rad nearby that's dripping? Check the water pressure in your central heating to see if its low.

jackreacher

update, got a recommendation for a carpenter on tuesdat. rang today was finished another job and came over to check out my floor.

took off trim around it and took up the affected floor in a bout 10 mins.

problem came about from an unever concrete floor in one area.

bout 30mins later the two guys were tidying up. they kangod and smoothed down the raised patch of concrete and relaid the section.

checked it for moisture and twas bone dry. so problem solved.

cost for all this was 30 bucks so all in all a result.

it highlighted for me that houses built in the last few years were fired up at speed.

it would have taken the original carpenter 15 mins to out it right where as he just cover it up.

part rant part compliment.

regards

jack