CRACKS BETWEEN BOARDS
Almost every wood floor endures some expansion and contraction as seasons and humidity
levels change. When homes are heated, humidity levels plummet, boards shrink and spaces
appear between the boards. In dry months, cracks can easily develop to the thickness of
a dime on a typical solid 2 1/4" oak floor, with light-colored woods making the cracks
appear larger. Plank floors will also show cracks more. These spaces are to be expected
and usually close up as the season changes and moisture returns to the air. To reduce the
degree of change, home owners can add moisture to the air during the dry months, ideally
by installing a humidifier in the furnace.
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CUPPING
As with cracks between boards, both cupping and crowning are natural
reactions to moisture and should not be a concern if they occur only to a
minor extent. More severe cases, however, indicate a serious moisture problem.
"Cupping" describes a condition in which the edges of a board
are high and its center is lower. Humidity is usually the culprit, although cupping
also can happen after water has been spilled on the floor and absorbed into the wood.
The moisture causes the wood to swell, crushing the boards together and deforming
them at the edges. In order to repair the floor, the cause of the moisture must
be identified.
Most often, indoor humidity will have to be controlled. Other causes could
include situations such as a plumbing leak in the basement, which can allow
moisture to migrate up into the subfloor and the wood flooring. Once the cause
of the moisture is controlled, cupping usually can be reversed. Oftentimes
the floor may naturally dry out and improve over time. Fans may be necessary
to speed the drying process. After the floor has dried, it may be necessary
to recoat the floor with finish, or to sand and refinish the floor.
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CROWNING
"Crowning" is the opposite of cupping: The middle of the
board is higher than the edges of the board. This can occur when the
surface of the floor encounters moisture. More often, it results when
a floor has been sanded too soon after it has cupped. When this happens,
the top edges of the board are sanded off, and thus are lower than the
rest of the board when it returns to a normal moisture content.
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BUCKLING
Buckling is one of the most extreme reactions to moisture
that can occur with a hardwood floor. It happens when the floor
literally pulls away from the subfloor, up to heights as high as
several inches. Fortunately, buckling is an uncommon occurrence,
usually happening only after a floor has been flooded. Even in such
cases, it is possible that a floor can be repaired instead of being
totally replaced.
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SUNKEN JOINTS IN PANEL MANUFACTURING
Sunken joints are slight depressions at the
glue lines in a finished panel (sometimes noted before veneering
or finishing, but often most obvious after finishing).
The most common cause of a sunken joint is
that wood around the joint swells when it absorbs water from the
glue itself. If the wood is planed or sanded flat before the
swelling goes down (that is, before the MC equilibrates), the
wood at the joint will shrink later, creating a depression at the
joint.
The remedy for a sunken joint is to wait
for the moisture around the joint to dissipate before planing or
sanding. Generally, seven days at warm temperatures is
sufficient.
In a few cases, a very dry wood panel
machined flat in the dry condition and then permitted to regain
moisture during storage will have very little swelling in
thickness at the joint area (the glue is rigid), while the wood
away from the joint will swell in thickness normally, creating a
sunken joint appearance. The cure in this case is to make sure
that the MC of the lumber at the time of manufacturing is within
2% of the EMC of the air, even in the humid summer months.
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UNEVEN SURFACES IN PANEL MANUFACTURING
Occasionally, several days after sanding, a
glued-up panel seems to have been made up of pieces of different
thicknesses. This is often referred to as planking.
Assuming that the panel was even when it
was sanded or planed, the wood could change shape only if its
moisture content changed. Therefore, planking is caused because
individual strips or pieces were at varying moisture contents
when the panel was glued up, and these MCs were not equalized
before sanding or planing. For example, a 1" thick panel
could experience a noticeable thickness change of up to
0.01" with only a 2% to 4% MC difference between individual
strips. (That is, planking can be obvious when one strip is 6% MC
at the time of gluing and the adjacent one is 8% MC.)
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PANEL END SPLITS
Within hours to a week after edge gluing of
a panel, end splits may be noted, usually, but not always, at the
glue line. End splits develop only because wood is shrinking, and
the only reason wood shrinks is because it's drying. In short,
end splits are caused because the panels are too wet for the dry
air in the plant.
Remember that the end grain of wood dries
up to 50 times faster than the edge or the face. The ends
therefore dry rapidly and shrink, while the center of the panel
dries and shrinks more slowly. This difference leads to stress
build-up and, potentially, end splits.
To correct this problem, keep the moisture
content of the lumber within 2% of the EMC of the surrounding
air. Because the EMC in the plant and in the home or office is
lower in the winter, lumber should be dried to a lower MC in the
winter (typically 5% to 7.0% MC), and/or the plant must be
humidified slightly.
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CUPPED OR CURVED PANELS
A panel, after manufacturing, may show cup
or curl across its width. There are three possible diagnoses for
this problem, but all three are caused by moisture changes in the
panel that, in turn, result in shrinkage.
A. Because the face of the lumber closest
to the bark shrinks more than the other face, a glued-up panel
with most or all of the pieces with same grain orientation will
shrink more on the bark side as it dries, thus causing cupping.
Most important, lumber should be dried to the correct MC to
minimize all shrinkage. As an additional safety factor,
individual pieces should be varied in their grain
orientation-bark side up, then pith side, and so on. (Note: The
reverse situation occurs if the lumber is too dry for the EMC.)
B. If the finish on both sides of the panel
isn't identical, the two faces can swell at varying rates,
resulting in warp. Therefore, the finish must be applied equally
to both sides, especially water-based finishes. Again, all wood
should have similar initial MC.
C. If panels are designed with a cleat or
rail which is securely fastened to the bottom of the panel and if
the panel changes MC (resulting in shrinking or swelling), the
top face is free to move but the bottom face can't. Warping will
result. Therefore, the cleat must be free to move slightly as the
panel shrinks or swells. I recommend using slotted screw holes
and not gluing the cleat to the panel. But the real cure is using
lumber at the correct initial MC.
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SPLITTING AND CHIPPED GRAIN WHEN MACHINING
Overdried lumber is stronger and less
bendable, so it is more prone to developing splitting and chipped
grain when it is machined. Splitting is often noted with pines;
chipped grain with dense hardwoods like oak. (On the other hand,
lumber that is too wet will develop panel splits, open glue
joints, and warping, as mentioned previously.) The rule is that
in addition to sharp knives and properly adjusted machines, avoid
excessive overdrying and underdrying. Get the wood at the correct
MC. Measure the MC yourself-do not trust an invoice or word of
mouth.
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FUZZY GRAIN AFTER MACHINING
This condition is characterized by wood
fibers not cutting cleanly; instead, they bend over. Then, when
they pick up a little moisture, they spring back and stand up
above the surface, looking like "peach fuzz." If the
stock is being run slowly, planer knives are sharp, and sandpaper
is fresh, this fuzzing is caused by too high an MC in the lumber.
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GLUING, LAMINATING, AND VENEERING FAILURE
One of the major areas in furniture
manufacturing that causes problems is gluing-edge gluing,
laminating, and veneering. There are at least 100 things that
could be wrong when a glue joint is below par. But, as general
rule, a gluing problem is a breakdown of one of the five
"links" in a glue joint.
The adhesive, or middle link (#1), is
determined by the strength of the adhesive itself. If the proper
adhesive has been chosen and handled correctly, this link
shouldn't be a problem. The next links (#2 and #3) represent the
bond between the wood and the glue. In practice, weakness of this
bond is the most common cause of glue-line failure. Weakness
results because the adhesive cannot attach itself to the wood.
Two common reasons are: (1) the surfaces to be glued are several
hours old and have become less active because the glue-bonding
sites are occupied with dust or with moisture from the air; and
(2) the wood MC and the EMC aren't close enough, so the wood
changed MC, swelled (or shrank), and now the surfaces are no
longer perfectly flat (0.002" to 0.006" is the
preferred gap between surfaces-no more or no less for maximum
joint strength). Links #4 and #5 are the wood surfaces
themselves.
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GLUE-LINE FAILURE
There are five stages in forming a good
glue bond. The key to several of these stages is proper wood
moisture. That's why metering is important.
STAGE 1:
After application to the wood face, the
adhesive must flow to form a fairly smooth, continuous film. It
won't flow if it's too thick, if the wood's too hot or too cold,
if the wood surface is dirty, or if there isn't enough adhesive.
STAGE 2:
The adhesive must transfer to the opposite,
mating surface. This requires pressure and sufficient adhesive.
Excessive assembly time or wood that is too dry can cause a
failure in this stage. Lack of sufficient pressure and precuring
are also common causes.
STAGE 3:
The adhesive penetrates the microscopic
nooks and crannies of the wood surfaces with the application of
pressure. Pressure also pushes the two pieces within the required
0.002" to 0.006" gap. Too much pressure squeezes out
too much glue which is a weak glueline; too little results in a
thick glue line, which is also a weak glue line (except for gap-
filling adhesives).
STAGE 4:
Good glue joints are characterized by good
"molecular" bonds between the molecules of the wood and
the adhesive. For this bonding to occur, the wood and adhesive
must be in intimate contact. However, sometimes the wood surface
is contaminated or is chemically unable to bond. This is called
a"nonwetting" surface. (Imagine trying to glue two
pieces of wood that have oil on their surfaces.)
STAGE 5:
The final stage is the solidifying of the
adhesive. Failure to solidify may be caused by cold temperatures,
pH problems, or adhesive/catalyst problems. The rate of
solidifying is influenced by the wood's moisture content (the
drier, the faster) and by temperature (the hotter, the faster).
Lumber that is too dry withdraws water before all five stages are
completed.
A final note on gluing. There are a
considerable number of factors in the gluing operation that
affect the strength, durability, and appearance of a glue joint:
(1) factors relating to the adhesive itself; (2) factors relating
to the handling of the adhesive from its arrival in the glue room
until it is applied to wood, pressed, and heated; and (3) factors
relating to the wood itself.
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CRACKED OR CHECKED FINISHES
This is a frequent complaint. When today's
finishes dry, they become quite rigid. Any expansion or
contraction of the wood underneath causes stress which can lead
to cracking and checking of the finish. Correcting this problem
requires maintaining an EMC in the plant equal to the in-use EMC,
and achieving and consistently maintaining the MC of the wood
that is equal to the EMC in-use.
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The above information was originally prepared for the report entitled:
10 Ways of Eliminating Wood Problems
Dr. Eugene M. Wengert
Extension Specialist, Wood Processing
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Forestry
