When it comes to putting wood flooring in your home, there are plenty of reasons why you should do it. It is a beautiful flooring choice that can be a huge upgrade in any home. If you put wood flooring in your home, you need to know how to care for it though. For instance, humidity plays a large role in maintaining your hardwood flooring. Mike’s Custom Flooring is here to talk about humidity and what it means for your wood floor.
Does High Humidity Affect Hardwood Floors?
Humidity in the air can have a huge impact on your hardwood flooring. If you don’t have enough humidity, you will see the flooring shrink, but when you have too much humidity, there are several problems that can arise. Here are some issues that come from too much humidity in your home when you have hardwood flooring:
– Cupping: This is a problem that no one wants to have with their wood floors. Cupping on a hardwood floor is when the middle of the plank is risen up higher than the sides. This is caused by excess humidity in your home. The best way to fix this problem is to find out what is causing the excess moisture and fix it. As moisture leaves the planks, they should even out again.
– Crowning: The exact opposite of cupping is crowning. This happens when the middle of the plank is sunken in and the edges are raised up. If the floor is wet this can happen. If the hardwood floor was sanded while cupping was present, it can also happen. When you have the floor sanded and there is cupping happening, when the planks normalize again, the problem will be reversed.
– Buckling: If there are extreme humidity issues in the house, you may have buckling on your wood floors. This can cause the planks to rise up off the subfloor. In fact, they might rise a couple of inches off the subfloor so that when you step on them, you can actually feel them bounce underfoot.
– Cracking: When there is too much moisture in the wood floor, it can cause a lot more pressure than normal. When this pressure is pushing the planks together with more force than they can handle, it can lead to cracking. Some of the planks might simply expand, but there may be some that can’t handle the pressure and actually crack.
How Do You Protect Hardwood Floors from Humidity?
Following are the best ways to avoid the problems listed above:
– Keep the humidity levels in your home within the normal range of 30-50% humidity.
– Leave room for expansion around the edge of the wood floors that will be covered by the baseboards.
– Have an AC system installed in the house.
– Always use mats at the entryways into the house to avoid too much water on the flooring.
Hardwood Floor Installation, Repairs, Refinishing & More in Charles Town & Eastern Panhandle of Berkeley & Jefferson Counties in WV | Winchester & Frederick County | Round Hill & Loudoun County | Berryville & Clarke County | Herndon & Fairfax County VA
If you have problems with your hardwood flooring, you can turn to Mike’s Custom Flooring to help solve the issues you’re having. We can handle all of your hardwood floor repairs. Call us today!
