Ways in Which Humidity Can Affect Your Wooden Floors
Read on to know about how humidity can affect your wooden floors and ways to prevent it from degrading further.
06/11/2019
With winter soon to come, you must have already started feeling the cold and cozy vibes from within. But do you know that the alterations in the humidity levels that occur in association with the winter season can pose some serious threats to your wooden floors? Yes, you heard it right, while you enjoy your evening sitting by the fire; your wooden floors may be facing deterioration.
You may be simply obsessed with wood, but it is a natural material and is exposed to suffer changes arising out of the environmental factors and conditions. Thus it is vital to maintain adequate humidity levels. Read on to know about how humidity can affect your wooden fitting and fixtures adversely and ways to prevent it from degrading further:
Cupping
Cupping is witnessed in the form of disproportionate wooden floors. It makes your floors look uneven with elevated edges and depressed centers. Cupping can be a result of humidity and thus requires the homeowners to get into action as soon as one spits such a thing. The reason behind the tarnish should be identified at the earliest and measures should be taken to get the wooden floor back to its standard shape. Sometimes humidifiers may be enough to solve the issue and sometimes the issue may be big enough to seek assistance from the professionals.
Crowning
Unlike cupping, crowning is the other way round. One can witness the edges to be lower than the center portion of the wooden planks. Crowning also occurs owing to the excess moisture content, which causes the center of the wooden plank to swell up and the edges to shrink down.
Cracking
As the name suggests cracking is the state that causes cracks in the wooden planks. And, surprisingly, the cracks result out of excess moisture content in the air. The high level of humidity present inside your house can cause the planks to expand and thus tends the affected plank to press against the consecutive wooden planks. This causes pressure development between the consecutive wooden boards causing it to crack.
Buckling
Buckling is an extreme state of moisture-related problems caused to the hardwood floors. This uproots the planks from its core and has the right to pull it a few inches higher than the other planks. This may result in gaps and spaces between the wooden tiles and may make you feel like walking on a trampoline.
Ways to gain control over wooden floor deterioration
The very first thing that you should consider is getting a humidifier for your house if you don’t own one. Wood floorings are costly, and their maintenance is also necessary at the same time, investing dollars in wooden flooring and pulling yourselves back from investing in a good quality humidifier is stupidity.
Investing in humidifiers can make your wooden floors last long and explicit their shine for an extended period. You can also consider opting for yearly moisture check-up by calling in the professionals as they can analyze the current situation and get the cure for the excess humidity in your house.
Bottom Line
So these were a few reasons that can cause your wooden floors to wither. So if you are someone who simply loves to have wooden decks, make sure that you seek assistance from the pros to maintain the health of your wooden floors to make them last longer.