Oicu: How do I steam them? Can I use a clothes iron? Seriously. Is that an option? Heavy weight needed? Check.
BTW, they are NOT connected by tounge… etc. They just end. New plank. End. New plank. They aren’t connected to one another lengthwise. I don’t know if that’s applicable to anything I’m doing.
There is no glue (that I’m aware of) holding any aspect of it together. I say this only because from looking at the planks, there are so many finishing nails in them, so I think I can get the planks up with no problem. But we’ll see.
It is MY a/c unit… so I’ll be the one to blame. Period. Telling the landlord is an absolute LAST option.
The last thing I need is a bill for $2000 to uproot my (rented) floor!
I don’t need this to look perfect. I need this to look presentable so that when I move out next spring, I won’t be charged my deposit, and possibly more.
You could try leaving (overnight) a sheet of plain paper on top of the plank, covering it with plastic bag and something to weight it down, if the paper feels bone dry in the morning, then the wood will have stabilised, but leaving it a couple of weeks should do that anyway.
Acco40,
Since you have decided to repair this yourself you may benefit from the following.
Oicu812 has mentioned a U shape.This is important.The planks are most likely buckled in such a fashion.
Are the rifts between the planks on the high points of the U(seen from above)or the low side?
The inside of the U shape is the dry(reletively)side of each plank and the expanded,or wet side will be the outside of said U.If the U is rightside up,then the floor is wettest on the bottom.The boards will have to be removed,and some provisions for drying them and the space below.Placing the boards to dry face down will help to dry the bottom faster.
From some new posts on this thread I believe it’s possible that you have narrow strip plank flooring.This type of material is usually nailed on from above.Are there nail holes filled with putty visible?
A strip plank floor bedded in organic mastic(really thick glue)will most likely be wettest on top,due to the glue layer resisting water infiltration.Therefore,if the planks are curved in an upsidedown U the top has become wet and consequentially expanded.
Option 1:Planks Wettest Below
Remove the damaged planks and replace them later after they dry if they dry flat.
If they do not dry flat,determine if they can be placed with the inside of the U facing down.That is the preffered orientation.
Replacing them with new boards at a lumber company should be cheap,given the small sizes so far discussed.If you are unable to locate boards of the exact same dimension just buy something a bit bigger and have a local woodworker mill them to the correct size for you.
Option 2:Planks Wettest on Top
Wait a week or two to see if they settle down.Otherwise proceed with option 1 strategy.
Acco 40,
Just read your latest post,and yep,you’ve got a strip planked floor.
Good news is it should be easy to remove each plank.
Wait for them to dry(one week in good conditions)and renail them into place.
You should still use a fan to dry the area where they are going to go.Here again,let common sense be your guide.A real bad situation(water wise)will indicate a longer period for drying.One week should just about do it in most cases.
The easiest way to steam the wood is to take a LARGE pot, put the warped area over the mouth, and then cover it with a heavy towel as it boils. This will catch and hold the steam around that area.
As a landlord I know that I would assume responsibility for the floor unless it was caused by an air conditioner that you brought in yourself. Otherwise it just doesn’t seem to me that you are at fault. I suppose you could have been a little more aggressive at cleaning things up once you discovered the problem, but I suspect that even so the damage had been done.
Basically, the floor is fucked. There’s no way it’s gonna fit back into place.
Since the planks were are so thin, they sucked up the water like little sponges.
I measured some of the planks and the warped ones are up to 1 1/2 inches wide, even after drying!!! Much too large to be nailed down next to their unaffected 1’’ bretheren.
So what I did was pull up the affected pieces and dry them out. Then I left the unaffected pieces and nailed them down. I’m in the process now of cutting the ‘extra’ wood out of the warped pieces to bring them to the correct size so they will fit perfectly into the space allotted.
I think it’s gonna be OK, though. It’ll just take some time.
Kinda late, but I understand that after a hardwood floor buckles apart from moisture, it’s gone. There is no way you can straighten out the original wood, but four planks isn’t many. The adjoining planks may have expanded too and if so, they will need to dry for 3 or 4 weeks to shrink back (close) to their original size.
I am assuming that whatever you do, you want to get something that looks as close as possible to the original wood: the easiest way to do that would be to take the four bent pieces to a lumberyard that sells furniture-grade hardwood (most don’t, call first), tell them what’s up and have them get and cut for you four new planks of the same wood that you can just drop-in. If they can get the wood but can’t cut it to the right size for you, cabinet shops can cut it (but probably won’t for free). The new planks may not match the old ones exactly, but if they have a lighter color, you can ->very carefully<- stain it to a darker color. These four little pieces of wood might end up costing you fifty or seventy-five dollars, but as they say, experience is what you have after you’ve screwed up everything at least once. - MC
Addendum: cutting the wet wood to size is a waste of time. The wood is still wet internally, that’s why it’s too big for the hole it used to be in. It’s gonna take two or three months for the wood to really dry out, and the wood’s going to shrink the whole time it’s drying, so three months from now you’re gonna have cracks in the floor where you trimmed the “extra” wood from. Hardwood flooring is supposed to be dried for several months before it is installed, because of this very problem. - MC
I don’t know. I’m no expert (Obviously) but I swear they are dried out… and they are MUCH WIDER than they were before. Did you read my earlier posts? I gave the specifics of the planks.
If it’s real wood, it isn’t going to dry out in two days. Hardwood flooring has to be dried for several months before it is installed. The reason it expanded is that it got water in it. The reason it’s still expanded is because it’s still got water in it.
If you soak the whole boards in water for a couple days until they’re waterlogged, they should flatten out. Then you could just weight them down along their entire length and hope. You have to use a very clean tub and only distilled water to avoid changing the wood’s color though. And then you’re still going to have to let them dry out for two or three months, there’s no way around that dry-out time. They may not dry perfectly flat but they might end up flat enough to use. At this point it couldn’t hurt because they are unusable as they are, but you see, the “two or three months” drying time is why pros will just pull up the warped wood and replace it. - MC