Can Buckled Wood Floors Damage Walls?

Buckled Wood Floors and Walls

• Buckled wood floors extend pressure to surrounding boards -- that is why the floors warp in the first place. But floor pressure is simply not strong enough to cause damage to walls directly. Walls are an integral part of home construction, and their framework is strong enough to easily withstand pressures, including expansion, that will buckle wood flooring. At the most, the baseboards may crack, but these are not a true part of the wall.

Moisture Damage to Floors and Walls

• If you find that your wood floors have buckled and there are signs of damage on the walls as well, from sagging drywall to deep cracks, the problems are probably related. Both types of damage are seen after floods, for example, so moisture can create similar difficulties for both the walls and floors. This does not mean the floors are causing the wall problems, but that structural issues or water are responsible for both.

Floor Damage to Walls

• While floors may not be causing damage to your walls, buckling walls can certainly damage flooring. This typically occurs in foundations where the supports are not strong enough. Over time the walls start to sag and crack, which leads to the warping of floors above. This can cause floor issues, including the warping and buckling of wood floorboards.

Solutions

• Buckled floors may need to be replaced to be repaired. You can remove some of the boards to ease the buckling problem and let the wood dry out if there was severe water damage, but your flooring may never be the same again. Signs of wall damage indicate structural issues that can be resolved with remodeling and the addition of new support beams, which may eventually take the pressure off the wood floors.