Tongue and grove floor buckling up

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pstew96

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My floor is forming mountain ridges in places, as tho its being squeezed, its on probably a concrete slab, Im thinking if I could get something heavy (an asphalt roller) would be great to flatten it out or worse case a vibration sander to even it out and then re-finish it. Any easier ideas?
 
Yeah your probably to close to the wall needs to be 1/4" way from the wall so when expands it dosnt do what you have

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It needs to be spaced away from the wall as mentioned but there also needed to be a vaper barrier and some form of subfoor to nail it to under the flooring.
No roller is going to push it back down and stay there for long, it's going to have to come out to see why it did this.
 
Is this interlocking floating Floor?...Laminent? Post a photo would help us.

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And no with the roller u will ruin your floor see if you can pull up a piece is there foam matting under neath?

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Oh brother! the floor is buldging up in two rooms , in three or four places for about 2 to 3 feet, and I can feel it cupping slightly in the third room. I can't tell if there is a vapor barrier under the 3/4 inch oak floor. I wonder, if I take off the trim around the walls and find it does not have at least a 1/4 inch space, if I cut it, will it settle the floor.? What about a vibrator sander that they rent out, can I flatten it enough? I really need a simpler solution other than taking up the whole floor, I would carpet over it first. Thanks all!
 
pstew96 said:
Oh brother! the floor is buldging up in two rooms , in three or four places for about 2 to 3 feet, and I can feel it cupping slightly in the third room. I can't tell if there is a vapor barrier under the 3/4 inch oak floor. I wonder, if I take off the trim around the walls and find it does not have at least a 1/4 inch space, if I cut it, will it settle the floor.? What about a vibrator sander that they rent out, can I flatten it enough? I really need a simpler solution other than taking up the whole floor, I would carpet over it first. Thanks all!
Click to expand...

Take all the trim off in effected rooms see what gaps if any.
How staggered are the pieces?
If you have no gaps need then get your hands on a toe kick saw
Did a company come and do this floor?
If so have them come back

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A simple way to see what type flooring you have is to remove one of the floor vents and see how thick it is.
 
Bought this house less than two years ago, it was ok, a little rough and cupped slightly, then girlfriends son had his dogs dish on the floor for a few months until he left and now I notice where the water bowl was is also buckling. It looks like it was a pre-finished flooring probably done unprofessionally. I'm going to try a dehumidifyer between those two rooms as well as check the gaps along the walls.
 
pstew96 said:
Bought this house less than two years ago, it was ok, a little rough and cupped slightly, then girlfriends son had his dogs dish on the floor for a few months until he left and now I notice where the water bowl was is also buckling. It looks like it was a pre-finished flooring probably done unprofessionally. I'm going to try a dehumidifyer between those two rooms as well as check the gaps along the walls.
Click to expand...

Silly question but was the dog house broken let's just say if any water and or liquids that gets on the floor and not properly cleaned up this could cause the floor to warp up as well if it's cheep flooring.
Maybe the dog knew how cheep the floor Before you did?... Lol

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For any new form of flooring to go down all that old flooring needs to go first.
There will be no pushing it back down and having it stay there.
My guess would be moisture is coming up through the slap and cause all your trouble. If you add another layer over what you have it's just going to rise more, because your holding in the moisture.
If you try and just sand out the cupping without finding out what the cause is and fixing it, it's just going to keep cupping and lifting.
Lots of slab homes where built with the slab to low and the rising water table when you get heavy rains can and does come right up through the slab.
The home needs gutters, and a french drain if it's to low.
 
joecaption said:
For any new form of flooring to go down all that old flooring needs to go first.
There will be no pushing it back down and having it stay there.
My guess would be moisture is coming up through the slap and cause all your trouble. If you add another layer over what you have it's just going to rise more, because your holding in the moisture.
If you try and just sand out the cupping without finding out what the cause is and fixing it, it's just going to keep cupping and lifting.
Lots of slab homes where built with the slab to low and the rising water table when you get heavy rains can and does come right up through the slab.
The home needs gutters, and a french drain if it's to low.
Click to expand...

I don't think he mentioned house being on a slab?
1st he needs to pull up any section by the base trim see what sub floor he has if there is any under layment.
We also don't know if there is any registers in the floor to take off and check.

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pstew96 said:
My floor is forming mountain ridges in places, as tho its being squeezed, its on probably a concrete slab, Im thinking if I could get something heavy (an asphalt roller) would be great to flatten it out or worse case a vibration sander to even it out and then re-finish it. Any easier ideas?
Click to expand...

First line in the post includes "they think it's on a slab"
 
Sanding, pounding running a roller across it, trying to cover it up is going to do nothing to fix this. These's moisture coming up from below causing it and needs to be addressed.
 
As the weather gets colder, the flooring is getting worse, the edges near the walls are tight, do you guys think that if I take up the edged peices and cut them to create better expansion it might settle the problem? The last thing I want to do is to takeup the entire floor....
 
pstew96 said:
As the weather gets colder, the flooring is getting worse, the edges near the walls are tight, do you guys think that if I take up the edged peices and cut them to create better expansion it might settle the problem? The last thing I want to do is to takeup the entire floor....
Click to expand...

I would take up all your base trim any peaces that are to close to wall cut them by using a toe kick saw I'm shore you can rent one if the blade is to low you can put 2x4 or piece of pine under the saw so you don't cut into the slab.
 
A Toe kick saw is the only saw that can get that close to the wall, rent one at Home Depot and try it, your also going to need an Ossalating saw to cut the pieces closest to the corners, but I'd bet the only thing that's going to fix it is to remove it.
If the floor was glued down or just glued in the T&G the bond is broken and there will be nothing holding down the flooring.
 
The water was allowded to sit for loong periods which I suspect caused the worse damage, I expect to rent maybe a Toe kick and put that gap in at the very least. The last thing I want to do it uplift the entire three rooms of flooring. Also, looking thruogh where a closet door I cannot see anything under the 3/4 flooring like a vapor barrior.
 
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