I just spent a week out on the road traveling like a rock star, it seemed. I landed in D.C., helped my brother install about 650 square feet of factory-finished flooring, and then navigated my way down to see some friends, ending it all with a wedding. I grew up in Virginia, but haven't lived in the area since I started in the business. On my trip I definitely understood how guys east of the Mississippi have to contend with moisture. Pretty much every single floor I saw from the mountains to the coast had a very slight amount of cupping. It was so minimal that you really wouldn't be able to feel it, but you can see a slight lift in the edges.
I just spent a week out on the road traveling like a rock star, it seemed. I landed in D.C., helped my brother install about 650 square feet of factory-finished flooring, and then navigated my way down to see some friends, ending it all with a wedding. I grew up in Virginia, but haven't lived in the area since I started in the business. On my trip I definitely understood how guys east of the Mississippi have to contend with moisture. Pretty much every single floor I saw from the mountains to the coast had a very slight amount of cupping. It was so minimal that you really wouldn't be able to feel it, but you can see a slight lift in the edges.
While I was touring the state I had the opportunity to see a really good friend from the Germany trip. He lives in the mountains of Virginia and I had the chance to go ride around with him for a few hours and see the life of a contractor in a different area. He and I both thought that we were going to have to refinish a floor together due to white lines issues. The finish was lifted off at the edge of certain boards and it was, ironically, on the part of the floor that was oldest. I had experienced this problem a few years ago and had been able to fix the problem without doing a full refinish. We were able to do the same fix on this job.
From what my friends and family have told me, the weather in the eastern U.S. has been really hot and recently pretty wet. I think that's why most of the floors had such a small amount of cupping, which in turn created one finish issue. We know that we cannot predict the weather, but we can learn from the past and prepare for next time.
Sometimes because we forget to reach out and talk through problems with our colleagues, we end up doing a lot of unnecessary rework. I would encourage all of the readers to start actively using the HF Forum or pick up a phone and call a friend, because it just may give you the edge to prevent unprofitable rework-you might learn a simpler approach from someone who has been there before. Spending 30 minutes at the computer or on the phone sure beats edging and scraping for a whole day.
