The Effects of Humidity on Your Hardwood Floors

The weather here in Maryland is heating up and summer is almost here. Summer around the East Coast is interchangeable with humidity! Those pesky, humid Maryland summers can do a number on your house's hardwood floors. Below are some sorts of moisture damage to be on the lookout for in your hardwood flooring.

Crowning

Crowning is when the center of your flooring planks climbs over the sides, making a curved, arch-like shape. It frequently occurs if hardwood floors are sanded also soon after cupping. Be sure your floors are completely back to normal before attempting to sand or refinish them.

Cracking
In some cases, the humidity or other excess moisture may get bad enough that it damages the structure of these planks and they can crack. When the boards push against each other, the force can cause them to crack.

Cupping
If the edges of your hardwood planks are becoming greater than the middle, this is known as cupping. Cupping hardwood flooring is nearly always brought on by humidity, but it can also be brought on by excess moisture from various other sources, such as a spill that was not taken care of correctly or a plumbing leak.

Buckling

Buckling is the most extreme type of moisture damage that could happen in hardwood flooring. Luckily, it is very uncommon because it actually only happens when the flooring is completely flooded. When wood floors are buckled, you may see entire sections of the floor completely pull away from the subfloor, occasionally as much as several inches. While they can eventually shrink back to normal, the structure of the genuine planks is almost constantly damaged beyond repair.