Relief Cuts In Wood Flooring

Many manufacturers of solid wood flooring cut grooves into the back face to reduce.

Relief cuts in wood flooring. I guess you can picture the action if the wood swells from getting wet and that thinner section being crowned up by the thicker sections on both sides of the channel but i have trouble seeing it with the relief cuts in al s picture. They add extra stability to the overall structural integrity of the floor. Relief cuts are vertical grooves running the length of the bottom side of flooring. Secondly it cuts the surface area that contacts the sub floor.

Stress relief depth should be from 20 30 of overall thickness stress relief along the width should be from 50 65 of the finished width dimension. This should be a series of grooves or fluted across the width not one large groove. Firstly it breaks the tension that causes wood to cup. The stress relief prevents your hardwood flooring boards from cupping maintaining it s flatness.

Cupping is when the board becomes curved across the width of the flooring. The photo gallery above includes finished product. We do not install build or finish the wood. If spilled water sits atop the flooring for too long or if moisture seeps into the wood from the subfloor.

The grooves provide a relief area for splinters to break into when the planks get nailed in place. The relief cut kept the flat surface of the casing and base off the wet wall surface and also provided a bit of air circulation behind the wood which helped prevent cupping and warping. The bigger question in my mind is why they do a similar relief cut on door jambs. How to fix a buckled hardwood floor.

Plaster is pretty much the origin. Make these blind cuts with a circular saw setting the blade depth to just about the thickness of the flooring. The relief cut helped the molding span over the plaster grounds and the slight high spot right at the back of a jamb. Moisture is the downfall of many hardwood floors.

Afterwards working from the hole saw two kerfs down the center of the board to cut out a relief strip wood that once removed allows you to pry out the groove and tongue sides of the board without damaging the adjacent flooring. Without this splinters and bulges could create raised pivot points where the installed flooring meets the subfloor which could result in squeaks. Hunt s timbers manufactures the wood product and can deliver it to the project site.