wood floor shrank

[Scott Rogers]

Went to a customers house and noticed the wood floor shrank. New one to me, I have seen them swell and buckle but never shrink like this. Engineered plank Glued down on concrete, no visible moisture barrier. Approximately 15 years old, was not like this 4 years ago when I was in the house before.

Any ideas.



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[rick imby]

Looks like the House grew a little. Strange..

 

[Desk Jockey]

I've heard of wood trim shrinking from over drying with a Waterout trailer.

Maybe your solution like got too hot and it shrank after your last cleaning. :roll:

 

[Scott Rogers]

I've heard of wood trim shrinking from over drying with a Waterout trailer.

Maybe your solution like got too hot and it shrank after your last cleaning. :roll:

lol, more likely it was caused by the hot air coming from the white house. LOL

I have installed carpet vinyl and per-finshied hardwoods since 1981/82. and been cleaning since 91. Never seen this before. swelling and buckling sure but never shrinking.

No previous water damage in the house first question (wondered about Dehu's) I asked, but even if there was engineered flooring ( built like plywood) should be very stable

Floor appears to still be adhered well to the concrete, with no hollow sounding voids. If I hadnt seen it 4 years ago, I would swear it was installed this way.


All though you bring up a point that leads to a interesting scenario. perfect storm type thing. moisture penetrated under flooring from threshold, liquefied adhesive just enough to allow moment then adhesive re solidified? Odd, but I can think of no other scenario to cause this.

 

[J Scott W]

Appears to be that some pieces were cut to short. Depending upon how the planks latch together, they should be minimum of 8" or 12" or 16" lengths with short sections staggered so as not to be near each other.
This situation allowed them to move more easily. Part of the plank is now under the baseboard.

They may seem to be tighly glued, but that is more likely held together where the tongue and groove connects rather than by adhesive. They can be slid back into place or a new slightly longer piece installed.

 

[Amazing]

Nahh, crappy install.

heating and cooling has slowly worked the pieces under the base trim.

Not gunna shrink just lenghtwise..

 

[Ron K]

Don't they sell a wood filler pencil ?

 

[Lee Stockwell]

Just go to the trim on both ends and move the slat toward the center of the room. Then drop a shim in before replacing the trim. An expert can do it without actually removing the trim completely.