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We had solid maple 3/4", 5" plank hardwood installed in our recently built home. The subfloor is OSB. The installation was botched. We have had two professional wood flooring experts inspect it, and they have explained what was done wrong (humidity & moisture content too dry when installed during winter). We live in high humidity area (MD), so floors started cracking as soon as higher humidity hit in spring. The two experts told us only real solution was to rip out and replace, but that would be >$20,000 and is not an option for us at this point. (Putting a claim into builder or installer is futile, builder did cover a segment that had tented, but the size of repair for entire floor is over our contractual >10% over estimate clause. Builder no longer uses that installer, but that doesn't help us....). Because of how the installer laid out the floor, the major cracking & squeaking is in a 5' x 30' length along the back of the house. (Installer switched directions at that line.). The rest cups even with running a dehumidifier during the summer, but doesn't squeak as much. The house is very well sealed and we run the dehumidifier both upstairs and in basement during this time. Perhaps in future we can afford to replace the 5' x 30' worst section (vs the entire 2000 sq. ft of house), but in the meantime is there anything else we can do to mitigate? I asked the experts about nailing down boards from below, but neither wanted anything to do with that type of fix (and I can understand that position). But my husband and I are fairly handy with tools, and would we be creating more problems if we tried using screws from below to secure the boards in the really bad 5'x30'section? The squeaking is greatly reduce now that the heat is on and humidity down. And we can kinda map loose boards from below. What would happen when higher humidity hits in spring?! Any other suggestions?
Any feedback would be appreciated!
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