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jimhfallon Waterville, MN posts: 2

posted on November 16, 2009 at 11:58AM Inappropriate?

My family room has in floor heat with hardwood floor over cement slab. The room is dry making the flooring coming apart at the butt joints. What should I use to get thwe dryness out?

replies: 2 latest post: December 08, 2009 at 06:30PM by worldweary2

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bdmccray Franklin, TN

posted on December 08, 2009 at 05:52PM

Inappropriate?

I've seen this same problem in homes in some locations, but usually with tight-fitting cabinet doors in the summer rather than widening floor joints in the winter. Both are caused by the same thing--temperature and humidity have an influence in the contraction and expansion of wood, but in my experience the expansion changes caused by humidity are far more than those caused by wood's thermal expansion coefficient. Since it's a single room and you mentioned no problems elsewhere in the home, I'd consider purchasing a small portable room humidifier. You may find that you only need to operate it several months out of the year, and then only intermittently, because the dryness peaks during the winter months. If you run into the opposite problem in the summer, a dehumidifier would be needed. If the problem exists in other areas of the home, I would seek the advice of an HVAC professional, since the in-floor heating poses unique challenges to balancing humidity throughout the home.

worldweary2 Water Mill, NY

posted on December 08, 2009 at 06:26PM

Inappropriate?

I also would like to recommend oiling, as this will help keep the flooring supple, and flexible.

I've found lemon oil to be the best, but there are other oils out there.

I've also seen extremely cold, dry wind strip ice off of asphalt overnight. Pretty amazing when you see the ice the night before, it never got above twenty, yet, the ice was gone.

Humidity can do funny things...

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