Has anything like this ever happened to you? Certainly you may have had some vinyl flooring years ago that pulled in at the perimeters or a graphics tufted nylon carpet, glued directly to the substrate that shrank at the seams the next day. Both of these examples were inherent characteristics in the material that caused them to be dimensionally unstable. This condition appeared right after or shortly after installation.
The cases I’m going to share with you occurred quite awhile after installation. One is wood which shrank months after it was installed and the other a vinyl tile which shrank four years after installation. In the case of the wood the boards were separating up to 3/16 ths of an inch. Naturally the first inclination is that the problem is installation related. That is not true in both of these cases. The environment in which the wood was installed had an average humidity level of 6%. The heating was a radiant hot water system with a blower unit. Not only was the air in the geographical area of this installation dry outside but there was virtually no humidity in the building where the wood was installed. As a result the wood literally had the moisture in it baked out. When the wood dried out it shrank. This was not an installation problem or a defect in the wood. The cause of the problem was the low moisture levels in the space it was installed. This can happen in the winter up north with the very cold; dry outside air and heated space that has no humidification. If your skin dries out in these conditions you can rest assured your wood floors are going to do the same thing. The case sighted is extreme but shrinking wood in winter is common – it will shrink in the winter and expand in the summer. If you dry out the space the wood is in it will shrink. If you go to the National Wood Flooring Associations website you can get booklets that explain all of this. If you sell wood you might want to seriously consider doing this.
The vinyl tile floor shrinking may have you scratching your head but when all the facts and evidence are considered it’s not so strange. The building the tiles are in was an expansion completed in 2001. There are four sections to the building with the first dating back to 1983. The tiles were noticed shrinking in the new section of the building about two years ago and the condition has gotten worse. There are gaps as wide as ¼ inch. The tiles are stuck to the floor tighter than two coats of paint. When the exposed substrate was tested it indicated very high moisture present. But vinyl tile should not shrink with moisture so we shouldn’t see the tiles separating as a result of the moisture detected. On top of that all the tiles were not affected, only sections. What was going on here?
Look outside. The building was built on a hill and the earth leveled where it was built. The land above it was hilly and the pitch of the earth and of the parking lot was toward the worst affected area of the floor. This is a “gathering point” for ground moisture. A perforated moisture barrier would allow moisture to migrate below the slab and move up through it. Remember, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. When the slab heaves just a little it will take the “deck” of the tile with it. Every area where there was more moisture in the slab is where there was separation in the tile. This was not an installation problem, it’s almost impossible to get the tiles off the floor without shattering them. The cause is actually nature and excavation.
Make plans now to attend the LGM Carpet Seminar on April 2, 3 and 4 inDalton. Contact us for details 706-370-5888.
Author: Lewis G. Migliore
LGM and Associates – The Floorcovering Experts