Why are my floor boards suddenly cracking after 90 years ?

The house is about 90 years old high set (6' high) & the floor is pine about 3/4" thick. Stumps were replaced with concrete some 10 years back & i have done nothing structural to it what-so-ever.

Several floor boards have started to split with 1 to 2 foot cracks a few mm's wide. Now the only thing that has happened is that i have put a gas heater in & whilst this seems an obvious answer...it barely raises the temp of the floor at all..just ever so slightly warm to touch with the palm of my hand. But...the splits are occuring within a 6-8 foot radius of the heater.

Now im used to the doors & windows all moving with the dry & then that rain last month but do you think its the sudden rain that moved the floor or could the heater be the culprit. Believe me that heater is only just slightly warming the floor boards a few degrees in a big arc...it isnt hot.

Some pics
http://www.flickr.com/photos/16083344@N00/812969066/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/16083344@N00/812969050/

My best guess is that the lack of moisture in the air would be the main cause.

I know of 80 plus year old homes that are developing huge cracks in walls and foundations.

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Originally Posted by Doughboy

My best guess is that the lack of moisture in the air would be the main cause.

I know of 80 plus year old homes that are developing huge cracks in walls and foundations.

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Yeah...now that im aware of it...i have just found a huge one 18 feet from the heater that is identicle to the others.

G'day.
temperature changes will not affect a floor as much as Humidity will.
A fire will dry the air as well as warm it. the dry air will take up moisture from anywhere it can get it. ie: your floor. Happens all the time.

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Originally Posted by glock40sw

G'day.
temperature changes will not affect a floor as much as Humidity will.
A fire will dry the air as well as warm it. the dry air will take up moisture from anywhere it can get it. ie: your floor. Happens all the time.

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Tks for that...i told my wife someone on here would be able to answer that.

So whats the go ? Sit here & freeze to death ....or fill them along side the other 90 years of splits that have filler in them i suppose. Guess i just answered that...off to the hardware then.

I've never had probs with cracking floorboards, but I have real dry skin and when I use gas or wood heat in a relatively tight house I have to deal with cracking skin. The fix is place a noncombustable/nonmeltable container of h2o on top of the space heater and it will slowly evaporate the h2o and rehumidify the house. Have to be careful not to overdo it or can cause difficulty with wallpaper or any other item that too much humidity bothers.




"Look the pyramid is opening."
"Which one?"
"The one with the everwidening hole in it."

Yup:o :~ :no: We have the same problem. Same area (Bris) and we also recently purchased a gas heater. There is a new split about 300mm long, 1 metre from the heater.:doh: :~

Mick is the gas heater flued or is it a flueless/portable unit? Ours is flueless and we move it around, this and the thick coir mats with rubber backing have probably saved us from more splits. Our heater blows out hot air across the floor, my solution is more mats and to elevate the heater 1m off the floor. I'm hoping this works.:yeahright:

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Originally Posted by Capt. Zero

I've never had probs with cracking floorboards, but I have real dry skin and when I use gas or wood heat in a relatively tight house I have to deal with cracking skin. The fix is place a noncombustable/nonmeltable container of h2o on top of the space heater and it will slowly evaporate the h2o and rehumidify the house. Have to be careful not to overdo it or can cause difficulty with wallpaper or any other item that too much humidity bothers.

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What he said.

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Originally Posted by felixe

Yup:o :~ :no: We have the same problem. Same area (Bris) and we also recently purchased a gas heater. There is a new split about 300mm long, 1 metre from the heater.:doh: :~

Mick is the gas heater flued or is it a flueless/portable unit? Ours is flueless and we move it around, this and the thick coir mats with rubber backing have probably saved us from more splits. Our heater blows out hot air across the floor, my solution is more mats and to elevate the heater 1m off the floor. I'm hoping this works.:yeahright:

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Its a flueless one. Im taking a lot more notice of the floor today & where i could see daylight with about a 1 or 2mm gap between the hardwood of the old enclosed veranda...im now seeing bloody 3 mm :oo:

I had no idea the timber had that much moisture in it...i am elevating the heater now onto an old table with the water on top to head this off at the pass. Its only for 6 weeks a year that we need it anyway.

Tks blokes !

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Originally Posted by Capt. Zero

I've never had probs with cracking floorboards, but I have real dry skin and when I use gas or wood heat in a relatively tight house I have to deal with cracking skin. The fix is place a noncombustable/nonmeltable container of h2o on top of the space heater and it will slowly evaporate the h2o and rehumidify the house. Have to be careful not to overdo it or can cause difficulty with wallpaper or any other item that too much humidity bothers.




"Look the pyramid is opening."
"Which one?"
"The one with the everwidening hole in it."

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The top of the heater is actually only just warm to touch & never gets hot at all...will this water method still work ?

The place had a huge open fireplace in it for 60 years also...i thought that would have done all the drying by now.

Sure it just needs to be a little warmer than the ambient temp of the room. I was using a "Dearborn" model when I used this method. One could always flathand the top without burning.




"Oh my god, Nickys bleeding. I'll just get a strip of my petticoat... Here you tie him up with this..."
Nancy

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Originally Posted by Capt. Zero

Sure it just needs to be a little warmer than the ambient temp of the room. I was using a "Dearborn" model when I used this method. One could always flathand the top without burning.




"Oh my god, Nickys bleeding. I'll just get a strip of my petticoat... Here you tie him up with this..."
Nancy

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Tks capt. I have a bowl in front of the heater & it is reducing slightly. My walls & ceiling are also pine boards & ive just noticed that all the 'bows' (where they were pushing each other out slightly) are out of them now also.

What do you think about a good wet mop every few days would do as then the moisture could get into the floor via the gaps in between ? I usually just mop with an almost dry mop.

Don't do the Wet Mop trick.
It will cause more harm than good.
Just continue as you are.

Glad to be an asst. It seems I take much more than I generally am able to give here. I'm still new to woodwork, and learn a lot reading here on the other side of the world. By the way, how do you guys keep from falling off the bottom of the globe?:D





"Hmm...let me check the other side of the record. Yep their still talking Chinese."

Hi

Global warming :2tsup:

"they" blame it for everything else :)

Hey Capt. Zero,
What makes you think we're on the bottom of the globe?
From where we stand it looks like the top.
Wayne

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Originally Posted by Capt. Zero

By the way, how do you guys keep from falling off the bottom of the globe?:D

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Velcro

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Originally Posted by Capt. Zero

By the way, how do you guys keep from falling off the bottom of the globe?:D

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Liquid nails..i never leave home without it.

The world map is in fact upside down this is because the English drew it. They did the map and said OH GOD we are on the bottom this won't do at all. So after a lot of meetings at Admiralty House they turned it the other way up.

How do you guys stay attatched down there in the US?

Studley

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Originally Posted by Capt. Zero

I've never had probs with cracking floorboards, but I have real dry skin and when I use gas or wood heat in a relatively tight house I have to deal with cracking skin. The fix is place a noncombustable/nonmeltable container of h2o on top of the space heater and it will slowly evaporate the h2o and rehumidify the house. Have to be careful not to overdo it or can cause difficulty with wallpaper or any other item that too much humidity bothers.




"

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Guys I have a question. If the heater (which does blow hot air across the floor) causes the boards to shrink and crack in winter, will they (re-)expand and push out the gap filler in summer when the humidity in Brisbane icreases:?

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Originally Posted by felixe

Guys I have a question. If the heater (which does blow hot air across the floor) causes the boards to shrink and crack in winter, will they (re-)expand and push out the gap filler in summer when the humidity in Brisbane icreases:?

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A builder friend has told me to leave them until after summer for that very reason. We all know that we get many days here at 90+ humidity, hell i saw a dog drown one day just walking down the footpath one day.

What i dont get is that the house had an fireplace in it (gone now) & why didnt it crack the boards & surely in the 20 or 30 odd years since its gone, someone has used a heater in the place. I know its the heat now but im perplexed as to why all of a sudden.

Maybe the floor verses temperature is an exponential curve & i took it that 1 or 2 degrees higher ??

Maybe. But also your heater is blowing right across the floor. An open fireplace, the heat would rise immediately it left the face. As for drying, etc. Over the years the boards just dry out, re-moisten in summer, dry out, re-moisten, etc. :(

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Originally Posted by Honorary Bloke

Maybe. But also your heater is blowing right across the floor. An open fireplace, the heat would rise immediately it left the face. As for drying, etc. Over the years the boards just dry out, re-moisten in summer, dry out, re-moisten, etc. :(

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Bingo...Give that man a cigar....

Exactly. An open fire has the heat going up as well as drawing in cooler air from across the floor to maintain combustion.

remember...hot air rises, cool air sinks. Thus, hot air from the fire goes up and the cool air travels across the floor to the fire.

Fun Eh?

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Originally Posted by glock40sw

Bingo...Give that man a cigar....

Exactly. An open fire has the heat going up as well as drawing in cooler air from across the floor to maintain combustion.

remember...hot air rises, cool air sinks. Thus, hot air from the fire goes up and the cool air travels across the floor to the fire.

Fun Eh?

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Take that cigar back from him for a min. The cracks are appearing as far as 20 feet from the heater. It appears that its as mentioned, dry room air & not temp. The heater blows the air out the top which is 2 feet off the floor.

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Originally Posted by mick101

Take that cigar back from him for a min. The cracks are appearing as far as 20 feet from the heater. It appears that its as mentioned, dry room air & not temp. The heater blows the air out the top which is 2 feet off the floor.

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I actually thought honorary was right, but that is because my convection gas heater blows hot air across the floor. Interesting yours blows it out the top and still cracks the boards.

Did you give the drowning brown dog mouth to mouth to save it?:o :doh: :?

I am not convinced it is the gas heater that has reduced the humidity, I was of the understanding that gas heaters produce a wet heat as the burning of LPG produces water. Then again maybe I just made that up, been to long since I last studied Chemistry.

I'm with Mr Fix It - blame global warming.

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Originally Posted by Burnsy

I am not convinced it is the gas heater that has reduced the humidity, I was of the understanding that gas heaters produce a wet heat as the burning of LPG produces water. Then again maybe I just made that up, been to long since I last studied Chemistry.

I'm with Mr Fix It - blame global warming.

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I will search that question on google, tks ..also this is natural gas, not LPG.