Had a 3/4 inch engineered floor buckle on me two days ago in a brand new build

Honestly, it was a nightmare. The homeowner had the AC off for a week while they were out of town, and the humidity in that place spiked like crazy. I came back to finish the baseboards and saw a huge hump right through the middle of the living room. The glue held, but the boards themselves just swelled and pushed up. I had to cut out a 4-foot section and let everything acclimate again for 48 hours before I could even think about fixing it. Has anyone else had engineered wood fail that fast from a simple humidity swing?

3 comments

3 Comments

cameron_hernandez694d ago

Heard about a buddy's floor that did the same thing after a party with all the windows shut?

wren2304d ago

People forget how much moisture a crowd adds just by breathing. A packed room is basically a human humidifier. If the AC can't keep up, that trapped air soaks right into the floor. It's not just about leaving windows shut, it's about the system's capacity during a load it wasn't sized for. Your buddy's floor probably got hit with a double whammy of high outdoor humidity and a ton of extra indoor moisture from all those people.

emma_wells834d ago

Yeah, that's the glue-down risk with engineered. It's locked in place, so when it swells it has nowhere to go but up. Always tell clients to keep their HVAC running, even when they're away, to avoid this exact mess. A cheap hygrometer in the room would have shown the humidity climbing before the damage was done. Next time, factor in a bigger expansion gap if the room's prone to big swings.