"Cracks in middle of Brazilian Cherry floor," in the Hardwood and Laminates Q&A forum, begins: "Hi, Jerry sent me to this forum to see if anyone may have an idea on a problem I have ..."
Hi, Jerry sent me to this forum to see if anyone may have an idea on a problem I have with a hardwood floor recently installed in my home.
I had appro. 1,000 sq ft of prefinished Brazilian Cherry (3/4" solid hardwood/ 3" width) installed last month and cracks have started to develop since installation was complete in the middle of many boards. The cracks do not go through the entire plank, just seem to be on the top through the aluminum oxide finish to some of the wood. The floor is over a full basement, installed above grade and nailed on plywood. humidity is kept in the 40s with a constent temperature in the house around 74 degrees.
Any suggestions on the cause of these cracks? It seems logical to me that cracks would continue until I can find the cause of the problem and correct it ( do see more cracks every few days). Any helpful guidance would be appreciated.
humidity is kept in the 40s with a constent temperature in the house around 74 degrees. It has never been over 50% humidity and has remained in the middle 40's prior/during and after the install.
It's a 3/4" solid, prefinished, brand is Appalachian I think. She has had some board replacements done but the problem keeps showing up throughput the floor.
I know there are alot of good inspectors and floor men on here and I am hoping they see this thread.
Jerry is correct (3/4" solid, prefinished, brand is Appalachian). The crack goes through the finish into some of the wood, but not through the entire plank.
I have had some boards replaced by the installer, now they are in the process of comtacting the manf and getting someone to come out to see the problem.
Now seeing cracks starting at the ends of the boards as well.
Thanks in advance for any assistance you can provide. I am disappointed with this wood and was not sure what my options would be to have this corrected, besides having them replace the entire floor.
First question that comes to my mind was the wood acclimated to you house before the installation? I'm not a hardwood person but I know moisture content has a lot to do with wood.
The installer indicated the wood was in a climate controlled environment similar to my house sothey started laying wood the same day it arrived at my house. Installer indicated the humidity levels were Ok to install. I asked him after the problems starting showing up what the moisture content was in the wood at time of install and he said 6-7%.
The install took about 1 week and boxes of wood were in the house the entire time. The cracks are happening in all 3 rooms and hallways where it was installed. The last wood put down was the 2nd area to show cracks. Not sure if the week acclimation to the environment made a difference.
The installer asked me to work with the distributor last night. It is taking longer to get someone here to discuss what will happen next in my opionion, but not sure if this is a normal process (wood install completed on 6/2/06, started seeing cracks next day and saw some milling issues where there were bumps in wood, installer replaced boards with cracks and milling issues based on direction from the distributor. Started seeing more cracks which installer came back to replace-7/21/06. Low and behold that same weekend started seeing more cracks).
simple checks, try raising your humidity level to between 50 to 55% to see what happens, give it a few weeks,,
just clicked onto it,,,, that would be a mighty big check,,, any cupping going on?
do the crack start at the endjoints down the entire length? how wide, in the rays or ring?
still up your RH
Ok. I'll see what I can do to increase the humdity level (turning the air cond to a higher setting should do that). There is no cupping at the present time.
Most of the cracks early on are as you see in the above picture (e.g. They are in the middle of the plank and did not start atthe endjoints). Now, I am seeing more cracks start at the endjoints and over a couple days they have started moving down the center of the board. the cracks are typically 1/8" wide at the "widest" point, but not the entire length of the crack.
"in the rays or ring"? I am not sure what you are asking, but the crack does not go through the entire plank. The planks that were taken out show the cracks are through the finish and slighting into the board.
The NWFA recommends "longer-than-normal" acclimation time is needed for Brazilian Cherry, as opposed to a Northern red oak. They have determined that BC exhibits significant movement in relation to climate conditions.
It don't sound good so far and it will not get any better. I suggest you inform the installer what the NWFA printed guidelines are for this wood. It should have been properly conditioned to the end user's environment, not where it came from.
Thanks for the insight and confirming that it "will not get any better". Will print the NWFA guidelines to have them in my back pocket.
The installer did take out some planks and had indicated to me that the cracks did not go through the entire wood. He did not mention the actual depth.
The distributor is having an inspector from the manufacturer come out to see the problem at my house. It would seem to me that they would need to replace the entire floor at this point and bring in wood to acclimate appropriately (e.g. testing moisture content of wood and RH in the house until they are acceptable levels).
Not sure what happens when the manufacturer comes to my house. Do you have any recommendations on the best way to approach this? Figure that they will come to the same conclusion, but they may want to just replace the cracked planks versus providing a new floor. Could see myself 5 years from now having them come back to replace planks that are cracking
If your indoor rH is in the 35% to 39% range chances are the wood in your home is in the 7 - 8% range in moisture content. The sub floor is different and should be tested also and do test any new wood on arrival with a moisture meter if you're inclined to a belt AND suspenders..
Kathy;
Call a hardwood sales business, or a cabinet builder and ask them to come over with a moisture meter for wood. Or purchase your own. You can get one for around 30 bucks thats accurate.
Whats going on with your flooring, is that it is drying out because your houses humidity levels are lower than the moisture content of the wood. The dealer who told you that wood was at 6-7% mc (moisture content) has to be full of it, because the wood would be at equilibrium with 30% humidity levels if that were so. At 40% humidity, it would take on some moisture and actually swell a very minute bit, but certainly not a noticeable amount. It sureley wouldnt develop cracks. Woods moisture content is a direct function of the relative humidity in the environment it is kept in. Thats saying that depending on the humidity, it will either gain mc or lose mc.
Raising your humidity levels to 50-60% would certainly slow the checking, but that wood would have to dry out sometime when you lowered the humidity, and then you would end up with poor joints and probably a finish coat that peels off.
I owned a hardwood company for 15 years, and kiln dried lots of lumber. I'm well accustomed to its behavior and what problems can be encountered. In my opinion, the company who sold you the flooring is probably at fault for not checking the moisture content of the product.
do see more cracks every few days). Any helpful guidance would be appreciated.
