Edge crush is something that millions of people have been afflicted with. This is a serious condition of the wood floors that can lead to total disaster. If you are unlucky enough to be plagued with this terrible problem you could find yourself facing the cost of getting a whole new floor put in. So how can you avoid edge crush and compression set? It is easy, get a professional in to put your wood floor down for you. Just kidding, you can still lay your own floor but you do need to be very careful
The key to laying wood floorboards down right is to make sure that the floor is completely and totally dry. If there is any moisture at all on the sub floor it will get absorbed by the wood planks and when this happens the planks will grow. The problem comes in because of the fact that when you put the floor together it needs to be tight. SO how can the boards expand if there is no room? Where will they go? Nowhere, that is where, instead they will buckle and crack and this is what is called edge crush.
In some cases the floorboards will go back into their normal shape when they dry but more often than not this kind of situation does not have such a happy ending. You will usually have to replace most of your wooden floorboards.
There are other places for the wood to get damp however. For example if the wood was shipped to your home it could have gotten wet. If the wood has been left outside it will most certainly have absorbed some wet as well. If you have a freshly poured concrete slab in the basement this can be enough to make the wood plenty damp. When you receive the wood that is to be used in you home it is essential that you let it dry for at least a week, many experts will tell you to dry it for much longer. This is to help you to avoid things like edge crush and shrinkage.
Shrinking is just as common as swelling and just as deadly. If your floorboards shrink they can leave the floorboards loose and ugly. That is why you need to make sure that your hardwood floor is insulated correctly. This is especially important if the furnace is right under it. With the furnace so close the floorboards are bound to get extra dry. This will eventually leave the room with no wood at the edge.
