Hardwood Flooring Troubles

Q: We’re having trouble with the solid maple floor in our house and I hope you can help. Our place was built last summer, and the floor was site-finished with three coats of varnish after sanding. For the first two months the floor was smooth, but over the last little while it has developed raised edges along one side of each board. In some places you can push the raised boards down to their proper level. What is this? Is it fixable?

A: There's no question in my mind about the cause of your trouble. Your maple flooring had too high a moisture content when it was installed. The trouble emerged when you began heating the house, driving relative humidity down and the moisture content of the wood with it. There also might have been too much clearance between the tongue and groove sections where adjoining floorboards interlock. This would account for the fact that you can push some boards down now. From the pictures you sent, I can see that the boards have cupped slightly, causing the unnailed, groove side of each floor board to rise. This creates the ridges you see and feel. As with most wood flooring trouble, there is no easy fix. I expect that the ridges will go down again as humidity levels rise in summer. If you find the current condition of your floor unacceptable, the only thing I can suggest is having the floor sanded and refinished when the ridges are present. Even this won’t be perfect, but it will help.