Warped wood! Help!

Factual Questions
1

Alright, two nights ago <<<somehow>>> my air conditioning unit dripped on my plank-wood floor all night long. Woke up, cleaned it up, went to work.

I came home after work and there are four planks of wood that are completely WARPED… standing at 45 degrees. It is very localized and messed up looking — my LL would not be happy.

Again, there are four planks only which are affected. It looks like this: /_/__

It looks all plate-tectonic-like. Is there any way to make it go back down? I tried to put a heavy couch on it, so that when it dries, it may go down, but so far, no luck!

Worst-case scenerio: how much to repair? Or is it something I can fix myself?

Help!

2

It’s hard to tell you what your best method of repair would be for the floor, without actually seeing the damage.

However, before fixing the floor, you’ll need to check the a/c to prevent this from happening again. Is this a window unit that you’re talking about? If so, you’ll need to put a level on top of the outside part of the unit and make sure that it has a slight slope down, towards the outside.

Condensation forms inside and drips into a tray, and the water needs to drain. Outside, of course. You should also check underneath (on the outside) and see if the drain hole is blocked. Sometimes bugs or leaves and stuff get in there and clog the drain hole. In that case, the condensate builds up and backflows into your house, warping your nice wood floor.

Of course, standard disclaimer for any window unit: be careful if you adjust it, have a helper, don’t let it crash to the ground, blah blah blah. Oh, and put a stick or something in the inside track to keep the window from being opened. Thieves just love to enter a house this way.

3

It softened and buckled from the moisture. Go for it, and try doing the same thing under more controlled conditions. Find a way to steam the wood and soften it,or rub very hot water into the warped planks. Be ready with cinder blocks, and more free planks.

Wet the wood, soften it down, Use the new planks as a smooth clamp, use the cinder blocks as a weight, and let it dry. You might get lucky.

Cartooniverse, a.k.a. “Shaver”

4

It’s difficult for me to propose a solution without actually seeing the floor,but I can explain what happened.
The planks on the floor have expanded in width.Picture a dried out sponge immersed in water.We all know that they expand as water fills the cells in the sponge.The same thing has happened to your floorboards.Since the boards have already filled the space alotted to them widthwise(their neighbors are nailed down)they have buckled to accomodate the increased width.
Cartooniverse has suggested that the wood became soft,and then bent,and has alluded to the procedure of steam bending,and suggested steaming the wood and using the plasticity thus gained to reshape the boards.
1)his/her explanation is incorrect(sorry)
2)do not introduce MORE water to the planks(this will make the problem worse)
As to a solution,try using fans to dry the wood out.Weights added may perhaps encourage the wood to once again lie flat.
If this alone does not work,you may benefit by drilling small holes from beneath through the subfloor,but not the planks themselves.These said holes are intended to be "weep holes"facilitating the removal of the water.The water is most likely lingering(by capillary action)in the space between the planks,and the subfloor to which they are nailed.If this is true,then it is also true that the bottom of each plank is expanded to a greater degree than the tops.That information is just to help you diagnose the problem more effectively.
If the boards refuse to lie flat after a prolonged period a more radical solution is to remove them and saw slits(called kerfs in the trade)lengthwise on the underside of each plank.Needless to say the kerfs would only go to about half the thickness of each plank.They would be closely spaced,and allow an accordianlike movement of each plank to take place as you nailed them back down into place.
Give plan A some time however as wood movement does tend to take some time.
To summarize:The most important solution is to dry the space between the planks themselves and the subfloor.

5

I agree with Forbin. no more water!!! I think you will find that the wood has warped so that is has tried to straightened the growth rings out. I would cut a single kerf down the exact middle of the underside and apply weigh on top and see if it moves. I suspect that it will move a little but still not end up completely flat. after it dries completely then I would plane out the extra ridge on each edge until is mates with the other planks. of course that will change the color of the floor and you can then stain or just wait for it to age again. seal and finish the wood again before you get anymore moisture/dirt on it.

6

Thanks for the advice, all. The underside slits sound like a good idea (it works in my head, anyway).

Hopefully, the wood will go back on its own with just weight applied, so I won’t have to do it.

How long should I wait before I know that the wood is dried out? Is there any tell-tale sign/time amount that I can use as a guide before pulling the floorboads up and grooving the undersides?

Again, thank you for the advice!

7

I looked at the thread title and thought …well…erm…it looked very rude to me

8

I would pull all the warped out asap to get to work on them before they completely dry. I assume that your floor is white oak which means the water is all the way thru and of course will dry from the outside in. so you cant really tell without weighing the board and comparing to a completely dry piece. when they weigh the same then the water is out. remember the water weighs more than wood so the difference will be noticeable.

9

How 'bout this?

What if I removed the warped planks, got them wet again, put weights on them, and let them dry straight, then made slits on the underside? Would that be a route to take?

Casdave: sorry to upset your sensabilities… I shuddered after I saw what I had written too!

10

Before you get all concerned and depressed about the landlord, consider this. I am assuming that the air conditioner was part of the lease and installed by the landlord. If that is the case, inform them immediately so that they can take care of the problem. For your protection, photograph the damage and write down and keep the details so you have documentation when it comes time to collect your security deposit.

11

As I stated before,the problem likely persists because of lingering water between the finished floor and the subfloor.In this confined space the water will remain,and only very slowly evaporate,so it may remain a long time.

justinh has suggested removing the planks,and that is good advise,depending on your skill level and confidence with woodworking/carpentry repairs.

If you do choose to operate with such an approach,you will be able to see how the planks are mounted,and upon what type of subfloor.This will help you to find out why the water is lingering there.Perhaps they are mounted on a plywood subfloor with a vapor barrier of some kind(tar paper is common)which prevents,or at least greatly slows down the evaporation of the water.

I would try to do plan A(ie.fans,and drying)for a period of perhaps one week.If the problem persists you will have to resort to more substantial solutions.

You have still not detailed the exact nature of the construction,so it is not possible to give a complete answer.
What type of wood are the planks of the finished floor made of?
How wide are they?
Are they plainsawn or quartersawn?(I can explain that if you e mail me)(they are likely plainsawn BTW)
Are these boards located near a perimeter of the floor?(again likely due to the fact that air conditioners are usually mounted on windows)

If you choose to remove the wood,you will also discover the nature of the joinery that holds the planks to each other,and the subfloor below.If they are toungue and groove,you may have some difficulty.If the problem planks are located near the perimeter,you are probably best to remove the strips starting at the perimeter.Begin at the edge closest to the affected area and remove all planks up to the last damaged one.You will also see if you need to go a little farther too.If the water has penetrated farther,the planks there will perhaps also need to be removed.
This technique will encourage and facilitate drying of the area between the subfloor and the finished floor.
THAT is where your principal problem lies!
A hair drier or some similar device applied at this point will help you to speed things up to a human timeframe you can live with.Water evaporates from wood on a wood timeframe.SLLLOOOWWWWW. :slight_smile:

Another approach is to use trim head finish screws to force the edges of the planks down after they have dried.If you opt for plan A,and the planks have dried but fail to return to their formerly flat state,a series of trim head screws along the raised perimeter of each plank may help to hold them down.I don’t reccommend this solution unless removal of the planks is not viable for some VERY important reason!Trim head finish screws are of slim design,like finish nails,and drive in with square drive screwdriver points.You will need to drill clearance holes in the finished floor planks,so the screws turn freely in them,but grab the wood below.This way progresive tightening of the screw will produce increased downward force on each high spot thus treated.If you do not have a hole large enough to do this both the finished floor plank and the subfloor will be grabbed by the screw,and progresive tightening will yield you nothing.If the screws have a smooth shank near the head,the same effectiveness can be relied upon however.
The holes can then be puttied and colored in in some manner.
Good topic BTW.I’m just sorry you had to learn some of this stuff in such a poor situation. :frowning:

At the risk of sounding like a broken record:
Make sure to dry the space between the finished floor and the subfloor!

12

BTW the planks are always flatsawn or you would have real problems with expansion.

the bottom line on this is that unless you are a competent woodworker then you should leave this alone.

for example if the planks are laminated then just bend over and kiss your ass goodbye. they cant be corrected.

13

justinh: They are laminated. Why can’t they be fixed then?

14

laminated is not real wood. its just wood strips glued together. so your problem is not a warping of the material due to moisture as discussed in all the above. its a problem of the glue failing to hold the pieces of wood together. think of it as a magazine with the pages glued together. if it gets wet then the pages would loosen from the glue and curl up. it would be almost impossible to glue the book back together to match other glued together magazines. and since its laminated then it probably glued to the subfloor which adds other problems.

15

Maybe they aren’t laminated, though.

Just to give a better idea of what I’m dealing with:

Each plank is about an inch wide and 2-2 1/2 ft. long and about (guessing here) 1/4 in. thick.

There are a total of four affected planks. As I said in the OP, they look like this: /_/__

They are at a 45 degree angle though.

The wood appears to be light in weight. It is definately light in color. I can’t say for sure if they are laminated… it looks polished on top (or used to). I’m not sure what affect this would have on the wood.

They are located about 1 1/2 ft. or more away from the wall in front of the air conditioner which is obviously, in the window. Both “rifts” are pretty close to each other, but not next to each other.

The planks aren’t twisted, they are just buckled upward.

If any other info is needed let me know.

Thanks.

16

you are right. if they are that buckled then they arent laminated. they are solid wood. probably nailed to the subfloor. I have heard of wood floors getting wet and pushing the brick off the outside wall of the house. there is an unbelievable amount of pressure. so I am back to remove the planks, flatten them and dry them thoroughly (test by weighing them),dry the subfloor and renailing them.
not for the novice believe me.

17

Ok, justinh lets say I go the novice route… imagine me with a hammer. Let’s start from there. What else do I need to get this done?

Basically, I’ll be damned if I lose my deposit. I’ll be even more damned to pay God-knows-how-much to get a pro in there. So I’m willing to go that extra mile to do it right. And I’ve got all the time in the world. So where do we start?

18

  1. plan if they are nailed to the subfloor.
    buy a framing hammer and a pry bar. remove all the warped planks and the planks that have moved.dont scar up the face of the board. carefully pry it by the nails to the subfloor, the planks will only be nailed on 1 edge . lay them flat on concrete/tile/vinyl floor in the A/C and put as much weight as you can on them . let them dry over the weekend at least. while they are drying then check the subfloor and if its wet/damp then put a fan on it to help dry it out. they will probably take longer than a weekend. lets see how it looks on monday.

  2. plan if they are glued to the subfloor. tear out bad ones and install new boards. what to do about the mismatch in color?

19

I used to do antique furniture restoration for a living, and had to deal with some VERY warped wood in my time.

If you can remove the boards from the floor, take them out. Measure the holes left, making certain that the only warped pieces were the ones removed. Sometimes with tongue in groove flooring, a piece will be forced out of place by the one adjacent expanding SIDEWAYS. Be certain that the hole remaining is of the proper width.

Then, take the warped pieces and STEAM them. This is the industry standard way of bending wood without breaking it, i.e. bentwood chairs, curves in furniture, etc.

Place a heavy, flat weight on top of the boards in question, once you have them scalding hot. Keep steaming them for at least an hour before removing them from the heat. When you apply the flat weight (A lot of the time, a nice heavy toolbox placed on top will do the trick), keep the warped side up. That means, if the warp is roughly in the shape of a “U”, then the open end of the U should be placed on the floor, with the weight on the “hump”.

Unless things go absolutely perfectly, you will not be able to remove all the warpage. If you have access to a planer, then replane the boards. If not, reinstall them upside down, with what remains of the “hump” up. Use finish nails and a nail set to tack down the center of the board, and then the ends. Fill the holes with matching wood putty, then stain and finish the boards to match.

Good luck.

O

Vidi Vici Veni!

20

Most likely they are laminated planks.The small one inch strips are joined with glue to a "main"plank.As such each plank is actually wider.The one quarter inch thickness explains the rapid swelling of the wood though.It isn’t hard,nor does it take long for water to infiltrate and damage such a thin plank.Also the composite nature of the planks sets up differential rates of movement between the layers of each plank.I think the planks need to be replaced.
Kerfing such thin stock is NOT an option!(sorry) :frowning:

I bet!I have seen this before,and it can be pretty bad.

That’s a lot to remove.A professional should be your next move.As stated above,get your landlord to pay for it.It’s his floor and his AC unit too.
I would be remiss not to mention plan A at this point.Put fans on it in the hopes that it will dry out and settle down.Too bad that plan has little chance of working though,given this new information.