Why Is Some Hardwood Flooring Rippled

I think that there is some issue with the.

Why is some hardwood flooring rippled.

It sounds like it is caused by humidity but allowed to happen because of a poor finish and a lack of sealant. They have a wavy like appearance and you can feel the waves with your hands. We recently refinished a wood floor. Reclaimed hardwood flooring refers to the use of planks that have already served another purpose.

They re beautiful and smooth to the touch but there are many ripples cutting perpendicular to the boards that can be seen when light skips off the floor at a low angle. My hickory 4 inch board floors were installed in december 2005 in a brand new home the boards are not laying completely flat. Floor buckling happens most often after a floor has been flooded for an extended period of time. Buckling occurs when the wood flooring actually pulls up from the subfloor lifting several inches in one or more places.

Floor buckling is the most extreme reaction to moisture in a hardwood floor. The floor is completely smooth but visually there appear to be ribbons in the finish. All the hardwood floors in my 1927 bungalow were refinished with 3 coats of oil based polyurethane this week. Otherwise the floor machine will simply follow the contour ripples and probably make them even more pronounced.

Rippling after sanding is normally caused by a drum sander that doesn t work properly. Read about troubleshooting the causes of rippled floors. Your question sounds like you are referring to the flat surface of the planks rippling. While i m sure it got a bit damp as it does in the summer in indiana i don t think that s the cause of the problem.

After work completed we noticed areas of visual rippling i e. The light reflected by the. Fortunately this is not a common occurrence. Hardwood floor is designed to stand all sorts of moisture from high humidity to low humidity.

It re appeared the second time probably because once these ripples are in the floor you would have to initially sand on a bit of an angle to flatten the floor and remove them. Hardwood floors with significant movement or noises could be the result of several factors. The ripples are often not noticeable until the first coat of finish is applied.