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I installed new bamboo floor in my house last June. It's been only 5 months, and they are already damaged. I hired an independent wood floor inspector, and he said that they are damaged due to water intrusion. He suggested to call my homeowner insurance company and have them send a leak detection company. I did exactly that and the guy from the leak detection company said that there is no active leak but water vapor in the slab, and that is the reason why the floors are all damaged. My question is: does the slab underneath the kitchen and powder room cabinets have to be fix too? If so, do the cabinets have to be removed or is there any way to do it without doing so?
Any suggestions or thoughts are very welcome. Thanks!
Did you install the wood floor on your own or hire someone to do it for you? If you hired someone, they should have done a water or moisture test and applied appropriate glue or moisture barrier for the level of moisture. There may be some type of warranty you can get them on. This happened to us, the moisture test came out negative, But six months later we had warping from moist concrete. The wood flooring company pay to replace the material and our contractor paid for the labor.
That was going to be my question as well, did you or the company you hired put down a good vapor barrier before installing the bamboo? It looks like giant rolls of plastic. Kind of like the kind painters put down before they paint.
Thank you guys for the replies. We used a glue that has a moisture barrier. I didn't do it myself...hired a contractor. I have seen his job many times, he had done a lot of hardwood installation for a lot of family members and friends. My homeowners insurance company sent an adjuster and a water leak detection company, and I hired an independent inspector myself. The insurance company is using his report, I got his info from the NWFA website, he has a very good reputation. Everything has been handled by the insurance company and so far everything is going good. The inspector suggested to use the same floor and glue if I wanted to, and also to install a vapor retarder. I was just concerned about if the kitchen and powder room cabinets have to be removed in order to install the vapor retarder underneath them. I don't know too much about this, but not sure if the entire slab would be protected if a vapor retarder is installed in all the floor but in those areas where the cabinets are sitting.
All this job, and some more was done as soon as I purchased the house and before I moved in, so I didn't have to live with the remodeling going on, but won't be the case this time.
Water and moisture can do weird things to wood. At my office we had a large rubber mat in the entrance way on a wide pine wood floor and one day I noticed the floor underneath had warped considerably. It turned out that moisture from the basement which had been flooded from a big storm had evaporated to the ceiling, was able to work its way through the floor but where this mat was the moisture was trapped and warped the floor.
I'm telling this story because what happens if your moisture problem keeps occuring and now that the rest of the floor is protected all the wetness migrates under your cabinets? Water will find a way.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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When new flooring is installed they will normally go up to the cabinets, not under them. That means the cabinets are mounted on the subfloor, so any moisture barrier would have to end at the cabinets unless removed. Since the moisture coming up from under the cabinets can find it's way back under your new floor, it can happen again.
Hopefully cause I don't think the insurance company will pay for them since there is no damage to them.
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