Hardwood floors are the pride of every homeowner who has them installed. They are elegant and give your home a fantastic look. No one would want to see them ruined, and that’s why you need to protect them against humidity.
Hardwood floors, being made with a natural material -wood-, react to changes in their environment. Humidity levels are one of these factors that must be considered. Keeping humidity at a certain threshold is key to maintaining your hardwood flooring in good shape.
In this article, you will find different ways humidity can affect your floors. Also, don’t forget to check out the other posts on our blog!
Cupping and Crowning
When relative humidity is high, you may see your wood planks cupping. This means the edges of the board are lower than its center, which gives it a ‘soft’ look.
Cupping can happen when there is a leak or after a minor flood. The first thing to do when you encounter this issue is to identify the root of it and eradicate it.
The opposite phenomenon is crowning, which means the center of the plank is higher than the edges. Crowning can also happen when a floor has been sanded too soon after cupping.
After solving the origin of the humidity, you can begin drying your wood. In most cases, just waiting will work, but you can also use a fan or a dehumidifier to speed up the process.
Buckling and Cracking
When humidity fills your hardwood floor, it expands, taking up more space than it should. Therefore, you might experience issues like buckling or cracking.
Buckling is when planks expand beyond what’s intended and create pressure against each other until they pull away from the subfloor. In consequence, it becomes difficult to walk around and creates a perfect environment for bug colonies.
If your hardwood floor doesn’t buckle when expanded, it might begin to crack. Cracking occurs when wood boards, in the face of pressure, do not give in and pull away from the subfloor, causing them to crack internally. These cracks can be filled with sawdust to fix them.
How to prevent humidity problems
As you can see, humidity is an important aspect to keep in mind when maintaining your floors. Luckily, you can take different measures to prevent issues beforehand.
Keeping the humidity level low is essential. The National Wood Floor Association recommends maintaining humidity levels between 30% and 50% in order to ensure a healthy hardwood floor. You can achieve this by turning on the AC occasionally or by using a dehumidifier.
Moreover, making sure your house doesn’t have any leaks is also decisive. Should you encounter any leaks, it’s important to fix them as soon as possible, as they might cause irreparable damage to your floor.