A strange problem...

[Mindik]

You'll have to forgive my ignorance of home-related things, because I really know nothing about any of it. But we have this problem, and can't figure out what's going on.

We live in a home constructed using pier-and-beam foundation in the 1950s. We've noticed some cracks in the walls in a few places, but nothing major or unusual. Until this past weekend.

There's an odd bump that has risen in the kitchen floor. The tile is coming up, and the floor is bowing up along a line about two feet long. Then, less than one foot away, another part of the floor, of an identical size, has also started bowing up in the past couple of days. This one starts in front of the stove, and ends underneath it.

Any ideas as to what the heck is going on? If it was some sort of water leak problem, wouldn't the WHOLE floor there in front of the kitchen sink and cabinets be bowing up, rather than two symmetrical areas? If it was a foundation problem, again...why only two places rather than the whole floor on that side?

Any responses would be wonderful!!!!!

[HayZee518]

wood is a good and odd construction material. the cells that make up the pith part can be open or tight. the more open it is makes it more prone to absorbing moisture. a closer grained wood ( the grain is actually the growth rings) absorbs less moisture than the spaces in between. if when wood expands and itself is held tightly in place the expansion has to go somewhere, in this case upward or downward, again this depends on how it was installed. they say to install wood so the "cupping" [ the bowed part of a plank or beam] is upwards. your cupped board is growing upwards because of moisture. I'll bet in winter when the humidity is low that the bulge goes down.

[Mindik]

Thanks for the reply, HayZee. We've lived in this house a while now, and haven't noticed it before. We've got a plumber coming to look at things and see if there's any type of leak anywhere...maybe we'll get lucky and it'll be something fixable, or that we can live with!!

[pushkins]

The "cupping" should be installed downward. Cup your hand, turn it over and place it on the floor, thats how the end grain should look on wood floors.

Did you have a water leak or spill recently ?
Have you noticed the wall cracks getting bigger recently?

[Mindik]

We haven't noticed any change in the cracks, and we DID have a leak in the sink a while back that we fixed. It's entirely possible that there's a leak somewhere under the cabinets though, as we noticed a musty smell when we opened one of the doors last night...

We've called a plumber first, to see what he says...

Thanks, y'all!!

[Allison1888]

Odd problem -- please let us know what the solution is.