buckling floor

[clairem]

Considering buying house with floor buckling and rising in spots ... What are possible causes of this? What can be done to remedy?

[richard]

clairem,

One cause for this could be high relative humidity making the wood swell and buckle with dampness. Does the house have a wet basement or crawl space?

Taking care of any water leakage would be the first step, and then really drying out the air and building materials with a powerful, energy-efficient dehumidifier (http://www.basementsystems.com/dehumidifier/) would be the second step.

Once the wood flooring is really dried out it may lay back flat, but this would depend on the severity and how long they have been buckled, but drying the floor boards out by bringing down the relative humidity would definitely help, and may solve the problem altogether.

If you can get the seller to have a Basement Systems dealer take a look at the house, they can give a free estimate (http://www.basementsystems.com/forms/contact.php) on what it would cost to solve this problem.

Good luck,
Richard

[clairem]

richard - sorry I wasn't clear - it's the floor of the basement ... cement, not a floor covering. The basement is unfinished with no really visible signs of moisture prob ...?