I am in the market for some wood flooring and due to condo constraints I am forced to go with a floating floor. I am probably going with bamboo from Plyboo or Teragren. I am concerned about the warnings regarding moisture. I live in a 2nd story condo and I must float my floor.
CONS (pulled off a website)
-Only suitable for indoor environments with very stable year-around humidity. Low-to-average dimensional stability leads to excessive shrinkage when humidity decreases by 15% or more
-Maximum recommended runs if very stable humidity cannot be maintained: 15 ft across widths (tangentially) and 25 ft lengthwise (longitudinally)*
I have been reading horror stories about floors cupping and buckling that I wish to avoid. I was thinking since my floor is not glued at all, just click&lock that this issue is pretty much avoided since the entire floor slab can move as unit over the sub-flooring.
Is that a fair statement? I am not sure what stable moisture environment entails. Would a single hot and humid day kill a floor. I can try and mitigate with a dehumidifier that just runs constantly.
Also would an engineered variant ameliorate the situation?
Thanks in advance.
Best Answer
Cupping will happen with most laminate floors eventually if the laminate gets wet and is not cleaned up right away. You can get waterproof laminate that is made from vinyl as an alternative but it is a little more pricey and may still get damaged when furniture is slid across it. There's also stick down vinyl planks which go over luan and it is easier to replace damaged pieces in the middle.