\"Cupping\" in a wood floor

tim smith

It could have been too high of moisture content in flooring , could be that it is wider plank flooring which is more prone to this phenomenon. You will get some gapping and cupping albeit slight to more pronounced no matter what. This can happen from season to season as humidity levels and temps change. This may be the case also. I have seen some extreme cases where the flooring was laid on green concrete and also was not acclimated properly. Man it was badddd. Alternately the controls and install may be such that surface temps are too high for the wood product as stated in other post. Just some thoughts. Tim

Rob L_3

\"Cupping\" in Wood Floor

A friend of mine has a a staple up heating system in a new cabin in the Northwest. It also has an indirect hot water tank, using a Munchkin boiler as a heat source piped in primary secondary.(my boss-his good friend also sold the system to him).

He reports that the system is working great, keeping the place warm when needed and plenty of hot water for showers,etc.

The one problem he said is he noticed a slight "cupping" effect on his hardwood floors. I havent seen this before. He said, "ahh , you can barely tell".

But, I was wondering is this a common sight/effect? Anyone else experience it? Is there a way to stop or prevent it from happening in the future?

Thanks,
Rob L

kevin coppinger_4

was the ...

wood dried out/ aclimated properly? There should not be more than 5% moisture content when nailed down...what is the floor temp? much more than 85 f you can have issues...what type of wood is it?

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Unknown

Just a guess

but I would think any kind if "plank floor" would cup or curve-down depending how it`s laid. Was the wood allowed to adjust to the humidity prior?, were plates used to dissipate the radiant, or just direct staple-up?

Dave

Bruce Stevens

This could also

be do to the fact the heat gets shut off or turned down when nobody is there. The humidity swings with little or no heat would not be good for any wood floor.

Steve Ebels_3

Couple things I've run into

I've seen this a couple times with staple up tubing. One instance turned out to be an install that had a huge humidity difference between the heated area and the unheated crawl below. The owner had installed tubes and heavy plates with 6" of fiberglass insulation underneath. There was a 2 inch air gap between the insulation and the floor as you would want. He also nailed 6 mil plastic on the bottom of the floor joists. What this did was trap moisture in the fiberglass insulation and cause a large difference in the two areas. He had to replace the fiberglass which was saturated. After doing that, getting rid of the plastic and ventilating the crawl the cupping went away in about a years time.

The other house was a weekend home that was left at 45* when unoccupied and then brought up to temp when the owners showed up. They had complained to the original installer about slow response time when turned up so he had bypassed his mixing valve and set the boiler at 165* which was quite a shock to the floor as you can imagine. That floor was cupped, gapped, and cracked all over. I told them to leave the house at no lower than 58* and get their water temp corrected to hold the floor at no more than 90*. Never heard how it turned out.

john_83

First if the manufacturer reccommends R-19 foil thats what should be used. I always see people trying to use something else or in place of it. they reccomend it for a reason. Second our co. does miles of staple up a year and the biggest thing is acclimating the flooring to the atmos phere the flooring should be in the heated house for minimum one weeks time and it should be spread out not kept packaged up. The other key is floor tempature not supply temp although supply temp is important as well. but whatever you do your gonna get some shrinkage but if you follow the right guidlines they will be minimum, Most floors go right back to normal after the heating season.

Paul Pollets

Controls and Transfer plates

I've seen this problem where the application does not use aluminum transfer plates with the tubing to reduce water temperatures and when proper mixing controls are not used to assure the panels temps stay below 85 degrees at design temperature. I've measured joist bay temps without plates at over 160 degrees!! Not good. A Munchkin has the Vision 1 Control, which can provide simple outdoor reset, and set up to prevent overheating. Without transfer plates, it usually doesn't work to well, and subjects the floors to excessive heating.

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Rob L_3

Thanks for the input

I think it may be a combo of several of the above. The system is using metal transfer plates, but the basement joists which are directly underneath the main floor have not been insulated yet. System does have the vision control system and is using outdoor reset control. I think t-stat is set for 68F and pretty sure the Munchkin setpoint is at 140F supply water temp.
I tend to think now it might be moisture in wood flooring. His neighbor has an almost identical house and heating system but is a few years older and does not have the cupping effect.

Thanks again.
Rob L

hot_rod

Monitor the humidity levels in the home

as well as the temperaytures below the flooring, if possible.

hot rod

hot_rod

Monitor the humidity levels in the home

as well as the temperatures below the flooring, if possible.

hot rod