Wood – It there a easy way to handle floor cupping

hardwood-floorhumidity

Bit of a back story.

First we rent, but our land lord is awesome. As such, when things around the house need minor repairs, we tend to either just do them, or have them done. Major repairs he does, and we always work out the cost/rent issue as needed. As such, we have a great relationship, as we are allowed to do more to the house then if we were just a standard renter, and he has less upkeep.

For example, replacing ceiling fans, fixing toilets, repairing the dishwasher, we have just done, but removing trees, re insulating the attic, repairing the A/C he has always done.

The house has been expanded a number of times though the years but the original areas have real hard wood floors. This year was especially wet during the rainy season and the floors are now cupping in a few spots. I understand that some cupping is to be expected during our humid and wet season as the floors expand and pressure causes the issue. But historically, the cupping has gone away once the wet season was over.

We live in Florida, and this year has been especially wet. For example I don't think we have had enough of a dry spell in the past 5 month for the yard to stop being mud. It has rained most every day, and the days it didn't rain have not been dry enough for the water to evaporate well.

So back to the floors. This high moisture has caused cupping in 4-5 spots. Is there an easy way for us to help along the drying / returning to normal or do we need to give up and call this major work.

What I have been able to find online has been a mixed bag. May sources say, just wait it out, with winter (our dry season) coming things should return to normal, and it's just a part of having real hard wood floors. Other sources say it's time to "rip up the floors" and start over.

Is there a place in between? Should we ride it out? Does delaying repairs to see what happens make the problem worse?

P.S. clarification: Water has not directly come in contact with the wood floors in any unusual way. That is to say that no flooding has occurred, no water set in a spot, or anything like that.

Best Answer

Wait it out. If this was your place, you might ponder dealing with the root cause (probably, as noted in the comment above, that they're too tight), but this will return to reasonably flat in the dry season. Delay is not a problem.