What Is Hardwood Floor Cupping

See the picture at the top of this post for an example of a cupped floor.

What is hardwood floor cupping.

Whenever there is too much moisture the wood expands. The center of the board dips below the edges. It refers to a state when the individual wood planks appear to be higher on the edges as compared to the center of the board forming the shape of a cup. Failure to properly performing testing of concrete or wood substrate prior to installation of the hardwood.

The cupping is due to some type of moisture imbalance in the wood flooring itself. The wood flooring subsequently crowned when it dried out and had to be replaced even though it was a new floor. This imbalance could either be moisture from the concrete environmental conditions in the space being to dry and drying out the top of the wood and or a wood floor that wasn t properly acclimated to the environment prior to installation. Wood is hygroscopic so it gains or loses moisture in your home seasonally.

This makes the wood appear to be in a u shape. But what is hardwood floor cupping. Cupping means that the wood that is raised on the edges of each individual floor board. Flooring that is installed before the structure is fully enclosed may cup.

How to fix cupped hardwood floors. How our 950 moisture meter works is it has a hygrometer built in to read temp humidity and calculates your the emc equilibrium moisture content of what your wood floor. Cupping dry or wet wood floors can be caused by humidity lack of humidity temp water. Wood flooring that is installed prior to the hvac system being installed may result in wood floor cupping.

When the moisture increases the wood swells and then when it decreases the wood shrinks. It s surprising how quickly some people can point out a hardwood floor that is not flat and if you. 5 tips to prevent hardwood floor cupping this summer. If you imagine a picture of a child drawing a boat in the water then the water will give you a good idea of what a cupped floor looks like.

Creating cupping below is a solid board that started at a normal moisture content 8. Cupping is a result of the changes in moisture in the room. It ends up looking a little like an accordion. Let s face it no matter if you installed a light colored oak hardwood floor a darker toned cherry wood floor or something in between like hickory you want your floors to look good.

The simplest way to think of wood floor cupping is to imagine the edges of each plank sticking up higher than the centers. The planks that make up wood flooring expand and contract based on the amount of moisture in the room.