A few months ago, I had a new floor installed throughout my house during house renovation....
3/4" X 5" pre-finished solid, select maple, floating floor over 5/8 plywood over concrete slab.
Now the floor is both cupping & buckling up. The contractor keeps telling me it's the normal adjustment for the floor but it has gotten beyond the point of tolerability & everyone who comes to the house comments on it.

The first place to buckle was near the sliding doors. The contractor told me the floor was laid too tight & they replaced a few planks there to ease it, but the problem has continued in that spot & is rapidly escalating throughout the house.
Several doors could not be opened fully, and the contractor resolved this by planing down the bottoms of the doors.

Over past few months, the floor has become so warped....throughout the hall & some rooms the planks are cupping. In other areas they are buckling...in one place the planks have buckled up as much as 1 1/2". You can feel space underneath the boards as you walk on them in several areas.

The house is 30 years old, and located in eastern Long Island, NY. There is no airconditioning & the heat is from baseboard heaters. I had a serious flood in the house approx. 1 1/2 years before the floor was installed, so the concrete should have been dried. (I've never washed the floor with water, only vaccumed it thus far)

In some areas of the concrete, there were linoleum tiles that were adhered so tightly they could not be removed, and the contractor assured me that if plywood was put down over these it wouldn't be an issue.
After researching this issue online, it seems to me that there should have been some type of moisture barrier put down, and I don't think there was...I think it was just plywood on concrete.

What I should do? If there was not a moisture barrier installed, can I insist that the entire floor, including plywood, be ripped up & reinstalled properly? Can they reuse the wood or is it damaged & should be replaced?

Well it seems someone basically stole your cash. I would demand a full refund, and for them to come get their wood out of your house.

Then find someone to do it right, and by the book.

Solid over concrete is not recommended, Throw in a very unstable wood like Maple and your just asking for what you have got!!!

Ther is no saving it! It needs to all come out!

Thanks for your reply.
Should the plywood come out as well & start over again from the concrete slab?
Some of the linoleum tiles that were used as the original subfloor years ago do not want to come up, so this may pose an additional problem.

What would you recommend to be put down over concrete slab to avoid this cupping/ buckling problem?
Several flooring companies recommended a floating floor....now I don't know what I should do (ideally would like a wide plank, maple floor) & would appreciate anyone's advice.

Cela,

I agree with floorguy that your floor was done incorrectly and needs to be replaced. No fixing will resolve the poor planning and execution of your floor installation. You say it was a 3/4"x5" SOLID maple floor that was FLOATED. Well, unless it was Junkers brand, that floor should have been nailed down. Also, solid floors can successfully be installed over concrete IF it is done correctly by the book. Maple is a unstable wood and will show more gapping than a more stable wood. Plus being 5" wide you should expect some movement BUT I suspect that the cupping is due to no attempt to prevent moisture migration from the concrete by your flooring contractor. It is labor intensive and costly to install a successful vapor BARRIER and quality subfloor to nail a 3/4" floor to. You maybe better off having an engineered floor glued or floated over your existing slab, once the other maple floor AND plywood have been removed.

Agree to all responses. The problem continues and it gets worse... Getting worse would indicate a constant moisture source, such as the concrete.
No fixing it..
Sorry, You are in for the long/hard battle as the floor sounds expensive. Contractors don't like losing that much money without a fight.
If you need a good inspector up there, let me know and I'll refer you to a good inspector named Steve.

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to read my post & offer their opinions & support!
Ray, I would love to have Steve's contact info. I called the NWFA today & the closest inspector they could recommend to me was several hours away from my house. (I'm in Suffolk county, eastern long island, ny)
I've asked my contractor to provide me with detailed info on materials used, process of installation, etc. I'll post it here once I have it. Based on all I've read here, I can bet there was no moisture barrier put down.
cela