How To Fix A Bowed Section Of Hardwood Floor

Hardwood floors are a great choice for home flooring.

How to fix a bowed section of hardwood floor.

Most often a warped wood floor is caused by standing water or heavy moisture below the floor due to an unidentified leak or other hidden water source. While the veneer can range in thickness depending on the quality of the flooring most engineered products can be sanded and refinished to restore their appearance. You can also fix buckled areas of flooring and avoid having to completely refinish your floors. How to fix bowed floors.

Thre ways to fix a sagging or sloping floor. Water causes the wood to expand and shrink. Warping manifests as gaps between the boards. This works best for warps that come from humidity or a water spill rather than from a leak that originated below your flooring.

However hardwood flooring does have one draw back it can t stand up to prolonged exposure to water so if water is allowed to stay on a hardwood floor the wood will be damaged either stained or warped. Bowing or warping of floor boards can occur for several reasons. Sanding down a warped floor. Sand down the bump in your flooring until it is level with the rest of the floor.

The first method to fix a warped floor is to sand it. On the top side of the floor another fix it idea to lay down new hardwood over the existing floor. Depending upon the conditions it is possible to strengthen or repair existing framing members such as floor joists or roof rafters by adding reinforcing material sandwiching the member on either side with plywood is sometimes worthwhile but the plywood must be installed correctly for greatest strength. Wood responds to changes in temperature or humidity by warping and that can be bad news for your hardwood floor.

They are made of a plywood or composite base topped with a thin layer of wood veneer. Wood floors usually become warped because of water damage although too much sunlight can also cause boards to warp. Engineered floors are an economical alternative to solid hardwood flooring. If your hardwood floor is in generally fine shape with only a damaged spot or two it is easy and economical to make small repairs by replacing a strip or plank of flooring.

If water has seeped into the boards they may swell against one another which can cause the bow. A plywood subfloor will bridge any minor waves in the existing floor and leveling compound would help too. How to straighten a warped floor. Sometimes even a nearby water source like flooding underneath the house can cause enough of a moisture imbalance to result in warping.

Most floors use a tongue and groove design. Many floor boards that are warped will need to be removed and replaced.