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2012年7月16日 星期一

Don't Let This Happen to Your New Hardwood Floor (Avoiding Flooring Failures)


I am called to inspect probably twenty to thirty solid hardwood floors every year that after several weeks or months have started gapping. A quick reminder: solid hardwood floor planks are each one piece of wood, whereas engineered wood planks are several different layers of wood glued together-very much like plywood. Once-in-a-while I'll see an engineered wood with gapping. In either case, it is a serious and very expensive problem. If you will take the time to read the rest of this article, you can be sure this won't happen to you, I promise.

"Moisture levels" are very important with solid hardwood flooring. All wood has moisture of some amount. When a solid wood floor has been installed, especially if nailed/stapled in, and then starts gapping at the seams so that there is space between adjacent boards, it is because they have shrunk. The only other possibility is that your house has expanded, but I'm pretty confident that has never happened and never will. So, why did the boards shrink? Because they lost moisture since being installed. When wood dries out, it shrinks, when it gets wetter, it expands. Okay, now we're getting to the very important part.

Most people are familiar with the term "acclimation". Most people know that wood flooring, even laminates (like Pergo) is to be acclimated before being installed. Usually the instructions say to acclimate for 48 hours, or 3 days, or whatever, then install. THAT IS NOT CORRECT. If you acclimate the product as outlined by the manufacturer for the proper time, then install it, and then it gaps, it will not be warrantied or replaced by the manufacturer. The small print on flooring installation is this: when the installer installs the flooring, he/she accepts that the flooring and subfloor are suitable for installation. The problem is, sometimes the wood flooring is showing up at the house to be acclimated at 15% moisture level, and is to be installed in a home with the subfloor having 6% to 9% moisture level. There is no way that flooring can acclimate to those conditions in a few days. It will still be too wet. And after it is installed, it will shrink-causing gapping. And the worst part, the flooring will have to be pulled up and thrown away. It is not a correctable situation.

I need to interject one small point here. "Some" gapping on solid hardwood flooring is very normal, especially if you live in an area with real seasonal changes like I do eastern Washington. Our homes here will invariably be drier in the winter and wetter in the summer, causing some minor gapping and is perfectly normal. One sure way to know if the gapping is normal is if it pretty much disappears each year during the wetter time. But the gapping I'm talking about is not like this. One lady showed me how some spaghetti that had fallen on the floor had rolled into the gaps. Or if your missing one or more of your favorite pets-that is also a clue.

THE SOLUTION So before this horrible scenario happens, make sure the following is done before your new floor is installed. The flooring needs to be moisture checked with a wood meter. There are pin meters (invasive) and magnetic (non-invasive), either of which will work. However, these run $200 to $300 or more. Insist that the installer have the moisture checked, especially as it will be the installers BIG problem if later you have gapping. Because you know what will happen? The manufacturer will send me to look at the floor, I'll make a lot of measurements of dimensions and moisture levels, and using the Wood Handbook's coefficient of dimensional change tables, I'll be able to determine what the actual moisture level of the wood was at the time of installation. I'll find that it was too high (or WAY too high), and the finding will be that the wood floor was not acclimated to the home's normal environment before being installed. OUCH! That will cost somebody a lot of money, and will cost you at least a lot of hassle with the issue of replacement, etc. You don't want that, and neither do I.

By the way, engineered wood should definitely be acclimated as well, although some of the manufacturers do not want the cartons opened for acclimation and some do, so pay attention to that. Also, laminates (which are real layers of wood similar to engineered except for the top layer which is melamine (aluminum oxide or similar) are also to be acclimated but I've never seen a claim rejected because the floor wasn't acclimated. Typically laminates and a lot of the engineered woods are "floating" which means they connect together and become one unit. Any dimensional change does not normally cause gapping but rather a change of the amount of clearance (perimeter expansion space) at the walls. Some of these issues I'll cover in another article.

TO SUMMARIZE: With any kind of wood flooring, but especially with solid hardwood, be sure that the moisture levels of the wood is within 2% to 4% of the subfloor the flooring is going on top of. In my part of the country where the relative humidity of homes is usually between 25% and 40%, the flooring should be between 6% and 9% before being installed. That leads to one of my favorite phrases, "IMAGINE NO GAPPING!".




Steven Kohl
Rainbow Carpet Cleaning http://www.rainbowcarpetcleaning.net
America's Most Wanted Carpet Cleaning http://www.amwcarpetcleaning.com
Moses Lake, WA





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2012年5月6日 星期日

Sub Floor Spaces - The Engine Room of a House


Sub floor spaces create a great deal of water and air flow through your home most of this moisture is released from the subfloor soil, up to 0.4 litres per day for every meter square of soil, this may be higher in the winter months. Not removing this moisture and having poor ventilation can lead to damage of the building structure even as faraway as the roof void, this may also be causing ill health to the occupants from dust mites and mould.

Water can be released into the sub floor from various sources, downpipes and blocked gutters, rainwater not being cleared far enough away from the building, foul water drains, blocked drains, traps and burst water mains. Badly drained surface water, especially on poorly drained ground, causing water to pond and stagnate in the sub floor space. This is where proper ventilation comes in, a well ventilated area will help remove moisture from the subfloor, with little or no ventilation you may have a build up of moisture, your building materials will absorb moisture from the air the amount depending on the humidity, if the humidity is allowed to rise to 100% for long periods it can potentially bring the timber moisture content to 30% saturation point where timber if not properly treated will start to break down due to fungal attack, the exception being H3.2 treated timber most other treatments may break down in as little as 6 months or as long as 10 to 20 years if the moisture has not been removed. When the temp drops and moisture reaches dew point it can condense, this may be noticed on metal fittings like hanger's, nails and wires as water droplets and will gradually break down these fittings.

All this moisture can support fungal growth, lead to decay and insect infestation. The sub floor is often referred to as the engine room of a building circulating air and moisture through your buildings cavity and roof space, it is estimated that up to 50%of the air we breath may be coming from the sub floor, this may be filled with moisture much more than you would expect to find from any leaks, this problem may show up as excessive condensation on windows, mostly in the winter months.

This is where proper ventilation comes in removing moisture from the subfloor, up to 5 air changes an hour are required to keep the sub floor vented, in more severe cases especially poorly vented low laying areas you may need to add sheathing of a minimum of 0.25mm thick, this needs to be fitted properly, turned up at the sides and taped with joints lapped no less than 75mm. You may also have to consider field drains around the exterior walls to stop water gaining entry into the sub floor space.

This will all help to make your home a drier and healthier place to live, you may also find that at some point you have rid your home of some of the more unpleasant smells in your home.




Liam Hempsey is Managing Director of Pre-Purchase Inspections [http://www.prepurchaseinspections.co.nz], he has a long career within the building industry having worked in the UK, Scotland and New Zealand. Liam is a qualified Thermographer and currently undertakes professional pre-purchase inspections [http://www.prepurchaseinspections.co.nz] to help save property purchases check a property prior to purchase.





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2012年3月1日 星期四

Epoxy Floors - The Right Floor Insulation


The best part about epoxy floors is that they last many decades! If you take care of each step, everything will be fine. You can easily learn how to maintain your epoxy floor. It is a matter of being constant, responsible and willing to learn. You will notice that it doesn't involve high maintenance, and luckily, they can last forever. You won’t need to replace your floors so many times. Water damage won’t take place so you can have peace of mind. Yet, you might want to be aware about humidity conditions- especially if your place climate is not so good. In addition, you can check reviews to make a wise choice. As you may already know, epoxy flooring is great for workplaces and garages.

If you have no floor insulation, you are losing one thing for sure - the heat through your floor! If you have epoxy flooring in your garage then floor insulation is easy to get and you can do it yourself. In order to do it right, you need to understand why insulation is so important. First of all, by losing heat you lose money. That is because you will definitely need extra heat for the rooms that have common walls with your garage. So that is costly, considering you will have to do it every winter. Also, if your garage is your little workshop, you will definitely not be able to work under a state of stress and freezing temperature.

Considerations

Before thinking about the epoxy floor insulation, there are other things to take in consideration first. The state and irregularities of the epoxy floor, the need to heat the floor, the insulation resistance to heavy weights and the protection of you floor against humidity and degradation caused by fungus and dampness. However, epoxy is much better than concrete so you won't have much trouble in terms of impermeability, etc.

Before getting specific floor insulation, you will first need to prepare your epoxy floors. If you have problems with humidity, you need to solve these problems first. Make sure your floor is level as well, as you might have to dig or play the builder role to ensure a smooth and level floor. Also, you need to measure the distance between the floor and ceiling. It has to be around 7 meters. Make sure adding a few extra inches will not harm too much, everything has to go like before.

Now that you have everything ready, it is time for the floor treatment, which is prior to the garage floor matter. First of all, get the floor clean. Take out all the dusty stuff, let the sun come in and then vacuum the epoxy floor. Close your garage and vacuum it again. You don't need any dust. Add then a 6 millimeter layer of polyethylene.

Treating the floor is definitely easy and fun and garage floor insulation is not so hard at all! Yet, if the process appears to be somehow difficult it can be done in a few different ways. Ideally, it would be to get a professional to help you.




Are you trying to find out more information about epoxy flooring? Visit http://www.epoxyflooring.info/ for more information.





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2012年2月27日 星期一

Preparing to Lay Your New Wooden Floor


Due to the nature of real wood such as oak it is a living and breathing product. It will expand and contract depending on its environment. A new wood floor looks fantastic but it is always best to ensure it stays looking pristine for years to come. The way to do this is to make sure the preparation for laying the flooring is done correctly, along with a common knowledge of the small issues that can happen with real wood floors.

Solid flooring has a tendency to expand and contract. In summer, when the air is more humid due to the house being aired more often - the boards soak up the extra moisture and tend to expand slightly. In winter, when central heating / underfloor heating are used regularly, the air in the house is very dry therefore resulting in the boards drying and contracting - this often creates gaps appearing between boards - often large enough to put a coin between. These are harmless and disappear in the warmer months when heating is not used in the house as often.

When hardwood flooring gets wet or damp it absorbs the moisture and expands to accommodate this extra moisture. This can often happen even if the room does not feel damp or wet - the humidity in the air can also affect the floor. Before laying a wooden floor in is essential to check that the room is dry and the sub floor contains no extra moisture. It is also best to check the moisture content of the flooring before installing. However the sub floor is the most important thing to check before installing as this will affect the floor if it is not the correct moisture levels.

Where an existing timber subfloor is present, this needs to be checked for wet rot, dry rot and for woodworm. Although these are not commonplace it is always best to check existing floors before laying down your new wood floors which can get ruined by rot or woodworm. It is always best to ensure that the existing boards are also securely fastened to the joists as they will cause creaking if not fitted well. Loose timber boards can be screwed down onto the joists - or additional noggins can be placed between the joists if an old board has been cut in the wrong place and is loose.

When nailing down onto the existing flooring, the boards should be laid at 90 degrees to the sub floor. This ensures maximum stability and strength in the floor. (As an example consider a jenga game where all the blocks are placed on top of each other in the same direction - it is extremely unstable). If you are wanting the boards to be laid in the same direction as the sub floor a layer of plywood can be placed and nailed or screwed down to ensure a stable fit of the new wood flooring.

There are additional precautions to take where a screed or concrete sub floor is present. New concrete dries at a rate of 1 inch per month or 1mm per day. Although the concrete can look and feel dry to the touch, it can often still contain more moisture than the recommended amounts for hardwood flooring. The best way to check is to use a moisture meter - this will give you an instant reading and tell you whether you need to leave it to dry for longer.

If the new wood floor is an engineered floor that is being laid as a floating floor then it is possible to lay an extra layer of damp proof membrane (DPM) over the concrete / screed to ensure no moisture reaches the wood floor however if the floor is being glued down to the subfloor or battened out it would not be possible to lay the DPM, however a liquid DPM or epoxy resin can be used to create a liquid barrier instead. As solid wood floors are recommended to be stuck down to the sub floor it is best to glue solid wood floors down to the concrete directly therefore it is essential that the moisture is checked before laying.

With all wood flooring, an expansion gap must be left around the edge to ensure there is room for expansion in case of problems with moisture. This can be covered with skirting, beading or an edge profile. When preparation for the sub floor has been completed correctly, the laying of the wood floor is more likely to fit properly and without problems for the future.




Wood Flooring





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2012年1月4日 星期三

Ways to Rectify Cupping in a Solid Wood Floor


Diagnosing the Cause Of, and Avoiding Cupping in Solid Wood Flooring

Cupping or dishing in solid hardwood means the boards raise slightly at their edges making the hardwood flooring uneven across its width. The cause of cupping is an imbalance of moisture through the timber. This can be a result of a spillage on the floor, or because of the hardwood flooring gaining moisture from the sub-floor material.

Taking moisture reading of the underside of the timber and comparing this with a reading taken from the upper side will confirm this.

Wood always expands when it takes on moisture. It therefore follows that moisture on the underside of the wood will make the underside expand laterally. However, the upper side of the wood which has not absorbed any moisture, so this stays at near its original size. The immense strength of the expansion of the underside of the wood is what makes the edges of the wood curl.

On nearly every incidence of cupping that I have inspected, the flooring was laid onto a solid floor using adhesive- meaning that the sub-floor was too high moisture content. A quick and simple way of identifying the problem is by taking a moisture reading of the sub-floor. Usually this is just a matter of drilling a small hole into the sub-floor between the gaps in the board, and inserting the probe from a moisture meter. The reading of the sub-floor should be around 9- 11% moisture content. If it is higher, then this could be the source of the moisture.

As part of an inspection process, I also look for evidence of leaks from appliances e.g. dishwashers, and leaks from heating pipes, and poor or zero ventilation in the room.

I also take a reading of the humidity at the time of the inspection, although this is merely a snapshot of one moment in time and does not necessarily give an indication of the humidity at an earlier time that may have caused the cupping.

However, another cause could be that the sub-floor was within the above parameters, but the wood could have been dried too aggressively before being installed. This would mean that the sub-floor was at the correct moisture content, but the wood was too dry to be installed. In a case like this, the humidity needs to be regulated quickly which can usually stabilize the problem.

Dealing With the Cupping

First of all check the integrity of the fixing of the floor. In extreme cases of buckling, the flooring can (in the case of adhesive installations), de-bond from the sub-floor. If this is the case, the floor is possibly beyond repair if in excess of 40% of the floor area is affected in this way.

Stabilize the humidity in the room as quickly as possible. If the relative humidity of the room is below 40% then this is too dry. A correct humidity level is between 45% and 60% R.H. This can be achieved by the use of a humidifier. It may then ne necessary to have the floor sanded and re-finished, which should then eliminate any further problems and restore the appearance of the flooring.

It is vital though, that the stabilization is undertaken gradually over a period, and that thorough moisture readings are taken on both sides of the timber before sanding. If the floor is sanded before the wood has stabilized, the edges of the board will be lower than the centre of the boards.

How To Avoid the Cupping

If you are about to lay a floor using a stick down method, take thorough moisture checks of the sub-floor and the humidity of the room that is to be fitted. The sub-floor should be ideally below 12% moisture content and the humidity of the room should be between 40% and 60%.

If there is any doubt regarding the integrity of sub-floor, it may be necessary to apply an epoxy resin damp proof membrane to the sub-floor. If you are installing using the secret nailing technique, then an impervious layer should be laid over the sub-floor or battens -e.g. foil, polythene membrane or builders paper.

Make sure that an adequate acclimatization period is allowed for. This is normally achieved by storing the flooring in the room for at least two weeks prior to installation. The room should be heated and ventilated in the same conditions that the floor will be used i.e. temperature and relative humidity.

Further Points to Consider

1. Tangential cut hardwoods always have greater movement than radial cut or quarter sawn hardwoods.

2. Narrow width solid hardwoods are always more stable and less prone to movement than wider width flooring.

3. Engineered flooring will always cope better with fluctuations in moisture, and climate.

4. Wood floors will always move depending on the season- e.g. in winter months slight opening of joints and cracks are to be expected.




David is the technical manager of Birbek Floors Ltd, a UK distributor of European oak wood flooring and American solid walnut flooring





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