planks haywire

[Brett Herr]

Not strictly boat-related, but this did happen in the room next to the boatshed a.k.a. garage. A minor flood hit our kitchen hardwood floor last night. This afternoon, my shoe found a bump where there should be none. Closer examination revealed that each seam had swelled up at least an eighth of an inch, so the middle of each plank looks like a trough, then rises up to a little peak at each edge, and so on across the width of the floor.

Thought you people with planked wooden hulls might have some insights, with all that swelling and shrinkage going on each year.

So far, we're just keeping a fan on it to help dry out the wood. Will the problem go away? Anything we should do or don't to help? Wood looks like oak.

Thanks,
Brett.

[Stan Derelian]

Get out the floor sander. I've had the same problem. The flooring is flat-sawn and has cupped. Somebody else might have a way, but I think sanding it flat is the only way.

[Dave Fleming]

WAIT, don't do any sanding until the floor wood returns to what is normal for your area. Lets not do anything rash here. In the future you folks laying a wood floor might consider a good sealer coat on the underside of the wood. Might not prevent this from happening altogether but, MIGHT prevent it from becoming such a problem.

[Ron Williamson]

What Dave said,plus, get a dehumidifier on the area.It may not come back down perfectly but it might be enough.It's not your boat,after all.
Is there a basement underneath?Drying out under there, won't hurt either.
R

[Bruce Hooke]

Yup, the water has soaked into the undersides of the each plank. So, once all that water has a chance to escape, which could take a few weeks, or even long since there is so little air access to the undersides of the planks, the floor should return to something close to what it was.

[TomRobb]

In case the reason for NOT sanding now isn't clear: If you sand now and the boards dry back to the original moisture content, you'll have the opposite problem - humped up in the middle & low at the edges. :(

[Stan Derelian]

Sorry, didn't mean to mislead. I assumed that nothing would be sanded until it was dry.

I found that with my floor there was residual uneveness.

[nedL]

Don't sand! smile.gif We had a similar thing happen about a year ago (leak in the 'fridge condensate tray). It took me a while to figure out where the puddle was coming from every morning & ended up with cupped planks after a couple of weeks (even with 9 coats of finish on the floor). The flooring did return about 99.9% to where it belonged, but it took a good couple of months. Now, a year plus later you can't tell at all. -As has been said, if you sand to soon you will end up with crowned planks in the future. Just wait it out.

[Brett Herr]

Hey, this is my kind of home maintenance project: wait it out, stand by, and do nothing for a couple of months!! Maybe by then the boat will even be finished, since I don't have to spend any time on the kitchen floor.

Thanks for the reasurance ... it is pretty unnerving to look at all those shiny little wooden waves. It's time to refinish the floor anyway, so we'll wait til the middle of the Summer dry season and do it then, sanding enough knock down any ridges that remain.
-Brett

[Ron Williamson]

This type of project takes patience,beer,a hammock and at least two months of careful study. :D
R