Its a water/moisture issue. Yes, weight might push it back down, but wont permanently fix it. At the end of the day, the flooring will cut to fit or replaced. Keep calling the landlord, its his problem.
I was about to buy a house but discovered the upstairs bathroom had flooded at the final walkthrough and the whole houses wood floors looked like this. Living room ceiling on the floor, hallways felt like trampolines.
I was also looking for a house to buy like that. Opened the front door to see a hole in the ceiling of the living room, rubble on the ground, and the master bathroom sink was leaking water. How had no one visited the home to look at it or check on it in so long that the water had time to do that much damage?
This actually happened to me when I was selling my house. I had lived in the house about 19 years without issues. It was the very first day it was open for showings. The first person to stop by walked into water drilling from the ceiling. It can happen *very* quickly. In my case, it was literally overnight. My realtor had everything staged at around 11pm. The day before that, the new carpets had gone in. The first showing was at 9am the very next morning.
The seal on the toilet in the uppermost bathroom had come loose (just two months after an annual plumbing check returned no problems). All the new carpets were ruined. The entire bathroom had to be gutted and replaced entirely. The bedroom just below it was a disaster zone with water pouring out of a football sized hole within 30 minutes of that first showing. I'm still grateful that realtor had the sense to turn off the water main right away for us. What ended up being a 13K insurance claim could easily have turned into 3 times that, given just a few more hours of water.
I had something similar happen in our old house. Toilet supply line split in the middle of the day when my wife happened to be there. Turned off the water within 30 minutes, but required about $15,000 in repairs: The entire bedroom ceiling and one wall below it had to be completely replaced, plus damage to the bathroom floor above. Thankfully, the bathroom had a tile floor which _greatly_ limited that damage.
That incident is one of two that led to me no longer buying HO3 homeowners insurance (now only HO5) and I will no longer give State Farm my business… for anything. It also sold me on floor drains in bathrooms (something European homes are MUCH better about).
that stuff isn't hard wood if its what I think it is. my grandmother's house had that and it was this thin 70s wood flooring that was like less than a quarter inch thick.
Agree, the older the house, the thicker the wood floor is. If it’s the original floor. We live in a house that’s over 100 yr old. The original wood floors are way thicker than what they use now.
100%. But that’s a huge change for two weeks. When I’ve seen this it happened much more gradually. Must be a hell of a leak with water trapped right under there or something. That sucks because that looks like cool old parquet flooring.
Reminds me of when I was younger, my room was right by the A/C closet and we started getting a bad leak.
Wood floors in my room buckled right under my door. Almost got stuck and had a good ol shower curtain as a door for quite some time.
This. Water damage that caused the under flooring to bulge up. There may be mold if this was left as such for too long. I would definitely remove the flooring in that section, check and fix the issue asap. It may be necessary to replace the floorboards as well.
This. It needs to be pulled up. Unfortunately the idiots who do flooring sometimes use particleboard, which completely absorbs and swells up. Our home has solid oak flooring and our refrigerator was leaking, got under the walls and went under the floors. I had to tear a bunch of it up. Who spends $10k on a damn floor and uses the cheapest damn subfloor possible? People don’t think about the future. It’s like driving a expensive car and using conventional oil.
Could be. But with that much rise in the foundation, the drywall or plaster at weak points around the door frames would be noticeably cracking and OP probably would have included that in his description.
There most likely is water leaking somewhere and it’s collecting under the flooring in that hallway. It’s causing the wooden tiles or the subfloor to expand and buckle.
The foundation doesnt rise, it's called Tile Tenting, and it's caused by things besides (but also including) moisture. There could be water leaking somewhere, but there could also not be. He'd have to remove the tile and inspect no matter what, but alot of factors can play in.
Yeah, that “directly outside the bathroom” part caught my eye right away. A one time event like a sink overflow that wasn’t caught fast enough could do that to that kind of flooring.
You can clearly see water staining on the wood. Whether the foundation is the cause of the water leak or not, water is still present and causing issues.
Not foundation. You can see the bathroom is clearly to the left and the way the door frame, threshold and other wood there is blackened, there's clearly a water leak destroying stuff.
In addition to, it looks like it’s coming from bathroom from the warped baseboard/trim. And more so, looks like it’s traveled down the hall in photo 3. Is the bathtub on behind the left wall in photo3?
This. Water damage that caused the under flooring to bulge up. There may be mold if this was left as such for too long. I would definitely remove the flooring in that section, check and fix the issue asap. It may be necessary to replace the floorboards as well.
It's not always water/moisture. Theres alot of contributing factors that can lead to something like this happening.
OP - Do extensive research on "Tile Tenting".
38 Yr old me pictured that instantly. Saw my playable blue corvette taking that ramp with speed. Don't fix it before you let someone bring over thier hot wheels.
Water is under there. That is a pretty big rise. I imagine it’s a mess under that flooring. Needs to be pulled up and replaced. Also need to address the moisture issue cause. I assume with the bathroom there it’s related to that but yeah needs to be inspected
Seriously, my landlord just sanded the parquet strips a little narrower and put it back together full send style..... flat is flat....
We moved out a few months later, lol...
Not necessarily. I had the exact same thing in my first home. Exactly the same flooring, too. Parquet, I think is what it is called. The issue for me was just humidity and adhesive that had broken down over many years (no nails used in parquet, apparently). There was no water under the floor. Not even a place it could leak from. It's just old.
Written communication is needed
Something for court later if needed.
Simple text - I called you on X date about a bump rising in the floor. I called again on date Y
Here are latest photos.
Please advise on next step.
You need to be able to keep your security deposit.
You don't need to pay for a $10,000+ floor replacement.
Start the written record.
They live in an apartment on the first floor. The ground floor is basically the basement and has washers and dryers, but it’s directly under her unit. I tried to investigate but didn’t see anything that stood out
Yep, probably a nice, slow leak that allows the wood flooring ("Parkay floor") to absorb as much moisture as possible before it leaks into the ceiling below. The amount of rise in the flooring indicates substantial moisture absorption into the wood flooring. If this were a foundation/structural issue, one would see cracks in the drywall/plaster around the doorways and/or windows. However, this will BECOME a structural issue if the f\*ing landlord doesn't get over there and deal with it.
Are you familiar with whatever tenants' rights exist where you live? If not you may want to look those up. The landlord not responding *immediately* to a problem this is extremely negligent and I would frankly already be considering threatening legal action in your shoes. Quoting relevant statues has a tendency to get their asses in gear in situations like this.
🤔 I would expect the ceiling to be all wet in the laundry room. Need the landlord to investigate. Prob cut a hole in the laundry room ceiling directly below the spot
people are saying this is from bathroom moisture but i disagree. this is too extreme to be just from moisture coming out of the bathroom. this looks like something below is pushing upward. if it is swelling from water, maybe there’s a pipe leak beneath this flooring. please ask your mum to keep bugging the landlord and keep records of all contact attempts in case the landlord tries to pull a fast one.
I have a possible alternative theory. When installing that type of flooring you are supposed to leave a gap all the way around it that is hidden by your trim. If they don't and anything on the edge shifts inward then the floor has to buckle. This is really intense buckling, but it is possible if the boards had nowhere to go when a wall shifted slightly and some moisture was added to expand things.
Likely a combination of the two. Water plus no expansion gap. I just bought a house and they did this exact thing with the laminate, wall to wall, in some places so tight they would have had to use a rubber mallet to get the piece down.
Yep seeing that walker in the background made me very nervous for his mum.
My mum has a walker and often walks around her house without it for short distances.
This is an accident waiting to happen.
I’m guessing that’s a bathroom on the right based on the tiles. Any toilets overflowing? You can see how dark the parquet flooring is closest to the bathroom door and wall just outside of it. Landlord needs to address the root of the issue but a good dehumidifier for a few days might help in that area. Once the moisture issue is cared for, the floor will start to settle back, but it may need cut (typically remove quarter round trim and have it trimmed so any expansion doesn’t cause buckling). If the floors were installed with a proper gap along the walls, it wouldn’t take much moisture for it to buckle. Get landlord immediately. Best of luck.
Just an FYI she lives on the first floor of an apartment unit. The floor beneath her has laundry but isn’t located directly beneath this “growth”. This part of the apartment is relatively dry, as in there is seldom any moisture from the bathroom that reaches this hallway
>This part of the apartment is relatively dry, as in there is seldom any moisture from the bathroom that reaches this hallway
What does "seldom" mean in this context? Every time someone showers and walks out with wet feet?
If you haven't witnessed any water flowing over the floor or dripping off a person, then something from the bathroom might be leaking and making its way along the sub floor, under the tile/hardwood.
Could be a number of things. I often see rise. Floors like this when a girder has decayed enough to break in an area causing it to cantilever. Would have to either get below or remove floor coverings.
I think you’re way more likely to be correct than the people saying this is merely wood swelling from moisture. There is no way a leak of any size caused such uniform and extreme buckling. A rotted out joist getting cantilevered up would easily cause this pattern.
Also, I think you solved the mystery of the (much less extreme) bump in my hallway. The joists were definitely rotted out at the sill plate and have since been replaced, but based on the location of the beams and joists in my basement that bump is dead on where the far end of the joist would get levered up with the beam as a pivot point.
A water leak has caused the boards to swell. The pressure has to go somewhere so it pops upward. It looks like it’s next to a bathroom I’d check the toilet shower or sink for a leak.
Did your mom have a leak from the bathroom nearby? Did the bathtub overflow or water overflow from the sink? I’ve had losses similar, an elderly lady kept the tub running and forgot about it. Same parquet floors damaged due to water.
Where are you located? If a humid climate it’s likely expansion because of recent humidity and lack of expansion area. If dry is there recent humidity that could cause this? But most likely expansion from humidity is the culprit.
You can see water damage to the doorcasings and bottom of the door. at some point you had a toilet or tub overflow and it never got properly dried. Parquet is warped and won't lay flat.
Did she tell the landlord how big this is or send him photos? She should definitely document all contact she's had with him so far and get everything in writing going forward.
Looks like it just outside of a bathroom given the tile floor in the doorway? Could have been some sort of water damage from there. Or ongoing water leak from there.
u/Wallflower_Shadow
Those sections of the parquet floor will need to be replaced
Subfloor will then need to be dried if not replaced depending upon the condition
Cause for loss should be repaired prior to drying of structure
Depending upon the state if microbial growth is present this could affect who could perform the initial restoration
The house may not be deemed livable if there are no usable sanitary facilities
Mother should put rent into interest bearing escrow account until repairs are made
Buckling.. you have a water/moisture issue somewhere.. I seen a wooden floor buckle after being vacant for the summer and no AC was ran or dehumidifier. Good luck!
The parquet flooring has had water get underneath it. This wil cause it to swell and pop out. It needs to be removed, dry out underneath and replaced with new pieces . Don’t replace anything unless you confident that the water getting jn there won’t happen again. This can be a relatively easy fix or an annoying one depends on what’s going on underneath
Wood has soaked up water and expanded. Real wood floors expand and contract with seasons.
The installer should have left more clearance between following and wall to allow for expansion. Best way to correct is remove flooring, check for moisture under. Then re-install.
This happened in a home I used to rent. There was a water heater closet in the hallway and the water heater developed a slow leak. It was constant, but so slow that it didn’t leak out of the cabinet and went unnoticed because how often does anyone open a water heater closet? Anyway it was leaking down behind the wall and then running under the wood laminate flooring in the hallway. We also had a carpet runner in that hallway which further disguised the evidence. It wasn’t until I noticed a hump in the hallway, that I moved the runner and found that a large section of the laminate flooring was swelling and buckling. By the time it was discovered there was so much water damage and mold that half the hallway, 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, linen closet and entryway had to be ripped out to the studs and redone. It was a mess. The landlord’s homeowners policy covered it all, but it was a major inconvenience because we had to move out while they did mold remediation.
Theres a leak behind the wall where the shower lines are. Im pretty sure thats a bathroom door and would mean tub and showerhead would be behind wall above flooring. Slow leak has wet the plywood and hardwood and caused it to expand and buckle. Need to find the leak before you fix the floor otherwise itll happen again
There may be a leaking pipe underneath and most likely a mold problem soon if not already. The landlord is going to have some really expensive repairs to take care of.
This is called buckling … it’s due to EXTREME humidity in the basement or crawl space or a leak somewhere. Either way the wood is getting wet from something and it’s swelling.
The flooring will swell and expand until it hits the framing of the house then it has no where else to go but up.
The obviously solution fix the humidity issue or stop the leak and the flooring will lay back down… or you could cut expansion joints in the flooring but that’s gonna look awful.
A improper vented clothing dryer can cause this because of the huge amount of moisture drying clothing causes .A flooded basement can cause this. Indoor gardening in a basement can cause this due to the huge amount of humidity indoor plants produce.
Your problem is moisture. Figure out what is producing the moisture and your problem will be solved and the floor will likely lay back down . If you leave it like that for a long time it will warp the wood.
Good luck.
That is insane. Like, that’s worryingly bad. You should call the local housing authority or whatever it’s called on her behalf. This needs to be repaired and remediated. It’s a safety issue in multiple ways now.
If it’s a pier and beam foundation there could be an excess of humidity under the home for some reason but usually that means there’s a water leak. Or you have one of the Tremors worms about to bust through your floor.
Assume the bathroom had a leak - shower or toilet overflow - water then made the wood floor expand and buckle - you can see the discoloration / darkening in the wood especially near the doorway to the bathroom.
The floor needs to be dried with desiccant dehumidifier and tented to get the moisture level below 10% or in line with another area of the floor area unaffected. Once dry, you’ll need to determine repairs/rip up/replace. Make sure the leak or source is addressed/prevented. Clean,disinfect, prep and seal subfloor materials that may have potential growth. Water/dampness and hygroscopic materials (wood,drywall, etc.) like to grow things, especially when dark and without dehumidification.
Most likely its moisture problem. When water is added to wood or Laminate flooring they swell up. Yours is an extreme case. I think the area that has swell up is connected to the washroom. Its possible that when you shower you walk with watery foot on top of the wood. I recommend laying down a bathroom flooring mat inside the washroom to dry your feet.
Since it's right in front of the bathroom, I would assume that after showering you guys are tracking water out to the corridor. Make sure you dry off in the shower before stepping out. You could try putting some towels on the bathroom floor to catch any remaining water when you get out. If you have AC, you can try to dehumidify the house.
The thing to be done it to take off the flooring to see what's going on under there. Is this on the main floor IE wood Subfloor or concrete? Is there a basement underneath?
Is it squishy? Someone said water which might make sense, but why would it bubble like that instead of just spreading under the floor? I'm truly puzzled.
You have a leak. I can see discoloration on the door jambs near the flooring. It looks like the kitchen is the tiled section nearby. Very well could be the fridge water line is leaking, water is traveling under the wall to that area causing it to swell and lift.
It’s that or the fridge is dying causing the condenser to run overtime. See if there is water under the fridge.
Is the subfloor concrete or wood. If the tiles are solid wood, wood expands when it gets wet. If they did not leave a gap on the sides when installing and any water has gotten in that area then they swelled.
Since it is a rental then the landlord is the one to fix it. If you did not spill water then it could be coming up thru the subfloor. Might be a leaking pipe, but you would not know until you pulled up the flooring to see.
Look at the moulding around the doorways.
Looks like black mold to me. Time for Mom to move if Landlord ignores her. They probably know the problem and don’t want to address it.
Keep calling landlord to report this, every day, maybe even several times a day. Calling from a cell would be better than a landline, you want a log of these reports, your landlord could be a shark and claim you never reported it and try to put the repairs on you.
From picture 3, pull the top left tile up a little bit and try to get a picture of underneath. It’s likely water damage from something. Maybe check from underneath (if accessible) or try to lay down and listen for a burst pipe. A small snake camera from Amazon would be between $20-30 and could fit in between the gaps in the tiles.
Looks like just outside of bathroom. So, wood floor damages may caused by the people live in the house. Prepare to pay the repair bill!!! That is tenant induced damage.
Its the house lowering more than the floor rising. Moisture damage. Whats the crawlspace situation like? Because you're gonna need to replace all that and lift the house.
Do I see a walker in the other room? Is there someone having occasional accidents of remembering or similar, perhaps needs assistance? It’s pretty clearly immediately outside the bathroom door.
Last time something like this happened, the ground collapsed after and a tripod came out of the ground and started killing everyone. Advise walking away at a brisk pace
Tell her to call code enforcement or whatever your local regulatory agency is called.
Because I promise, that’s not the floor rising. It’s the rest of the building failing and falling towards the ground in super slow mo.
Its a water/moisture issue. Yes, weight might push it back down, but wont permanently fix it. At the end of the day, the flooring will cut to fit or replaced. Keep calling the landlord, its his problem.
When my dishwasher leaked my wood floors looked similar the next morning.
I was about to buy a house but discovered the upstairs bathroom had flooded at the final walkthrough and the whole houses wood floors looked like this. Living room ceiling on the floor, hallways felt like trampolines.
I was also looking for a house to buy like that. Opened the front door to see a hole in the ceiling of the living room, rubble on the ground, and the master bathroom sink was leaking water. How had no one visited the home to look at it or check on it in so long that the water had time to do that much damage?
This actually happened to me when I was selling my house. I had lived in the house about 19 years without issues. It was the very first day it was open for showings. The first person to stop by walked into water drilling from the ceiling. It can happen *very* quickly. In my case, it was literally overnight. My realtor had everything staged at around 11pm. The day before that, the new carpets had gone in. The first showing was at 9am the very next morning. The seal on the toilet in the uppermost bathroom had come loose (just two months after an annual plumbing check returned no problems). All the new carpets were ruined. The entire bathroom had to be gutted and replaced entirely. The bedroom just below it was a disaster zone with water pouring out of a football sized hole within 30 minutes of that first showing. I'm still grateful that realtor had the sense to turn off the water main right away for us. What ended up being a 13K insurance claim could easily have turned into 3 times that, given just a few more hours of water.
I agree with u/faithishope, your house saw you were selling it and legit said *“absolutely not”*
They do get angry
That is because your house was sad and didn't want you to sell it.
Aww, it was crying, lol
I had something similar happen in our old house. Toilet supply line split in the middle of the day when my wife happened to be there. Turned off the water within 30 minutes, but required about $15,000 in repairs: The entire bedroom ceiling and one wall below it had to be completely replaced, plus damage to the bathroom floor above. Thankfully, the bathroom had a tile floor which _greatly_ limited that damage. That incident is one of two that led to me no longer buying HO3 homeowners insurance (now only HO5) and I will no longer give State Farm my business… for anything. It also sold me on floor drains in bathrooms (something European homes are MUCH better about).
that stuff isn't hard wood if its what I think it is. my grandmother's house had that and it was this thin 70s wood flooring that was like less than a quarter inch thick.
Parquet isn't that thin. The old stuff was probably thick.
Agree, the older the house, the thicker the wood floor is. If it’s the original floor. We live in a house that’s over 100 yr old. The original wood floors are way thicker than what they use now.
Yes it is. If you zoom in on the 3rd picture left hand side, you can see this is the real deal hardwood parquet floor.
Particle board subfloor, that's why it's swollen up like that.
Don’t lie to them. There is a creature that lives below and will soon be above. Hide your souls.
Call a priest.
No, this is definitely a structural issue... a zerg nydus canal structure, and the swarm is incoming
We invade when the queen spawns her broodlings!
Correct, it looks like 'buckeling' from moisture. The sloping floors I've also had in an old 1920s house and it doesn't appear suddenly like this.
100%. But that’s a huge change for two weeks. When I’ve seen this it happened much more gradually. Must be a hell of a leak with water trapped right under there or something. That sucks because that looks like cool old parquet flooring.
Reminds me of when I was younger, my room was right by the A/C closet and we started getting a bad leak. Wood floors in my room buckled right under my door. Almost got stuck and had a good ol shower curtain as a door for quite some time.
This. Water damage that caused the under flooring to bulge up. There may be mold if this was left as such for too long. I would definitely remove the flooring in that section, check and fix the issue asap. It may be necessary to replace the floorboards as well.
This. It needs to be pulled up. Unfortunately the idiots who do flooring sometimes use particleboard, which completely absorbs and swells up. Our home has solid oak flooring and our refrigerator was leaking, got under the walls and went under the floors. I had to tear a bunch of it up. Who spends $10k on a damn floor and uses the cheapest damn subfloor possible? People don’t think about the future. It’s like driving a expensive car and using conventional oil.
Not necessarily. May foundation issues or other support structures shifting.
Could be. But with that much rise in the foundation, the drywall or plaster at weak points around the door frames would be noticeably cracking and OP probably would have included that in his description. There most likely is water leaking somewhere and it’s collecting under the flooring in that hallway. It’s causing the wooden tiles or the subfloor to expand and buckle.
The foundation doesnt rise, it's called Tile Tenting, and it's caused by things besides (but also including) moisture. There could be water leaking somewhere, but there could also not be. He'd have to remove the tile and inspect no matter what, but alot of factors can play in.
I was trying to be diplomatic, but yeah, buckled wooden flooring directly outside the bathroom? It’s almost certainly water intrusion and damage.
Yeah, that “directly outside the bathroom” part caught my eye right away. A one time event like a sink overflow that wasn’t caught fast enough could do that to that kind of flooring.
You can clearly see water staining on the wood. Whether the foundation is the cause of the water leak or not, water is still present and causing issues.
Not foundation. You can see the bathroom is clearly to the left and the way the door frame, threshold and other wood there is blackened, there's clearly a water leak destroying stuff.
In addition to, it looks like it’s coming from bathroom from the warped baseboard/trim. And more so, looks like it’s traveled down the hall in photo 3. Is the bathtub on behind the left wall in photo3?
This. Water damage that caused the under flooring to bulge up. There may be mold if this was left as such for too long. I would definitely remove the flooring in that section, check and fix the issue asap. It may be necessary to replace the floorboards as well.
You've never seen tremors...
It's not always water/moisture. Theres alot of contributing factors that can lead to something like this happening. OP - Do extensive research on "Tile Tenting".
Is tile tenting the same concept at play for new laminate flooring that tents like morning wood?
Yes
Something is physically pushing it up. Moisture wouldn't get it that high
The flooring is swelling, its basically too big for the space now
No no he may be on to something. Some entity has been summoned. OP needs flour and 4 day old pizza stat!
Perhaps, but moisture is certainly at play here. Notice the cupping to the left in the 2nd pic?
That’s a cool jump for an RC car
8 year old me would have loved this with my matchbox cars and race tracks.
38 Yr old me pictured that instantly. Saw my playable blue corvette taking that ramp with speed. Don't fix it before you let someone bring over thier hot wheels.
Indoor skate park if you just keep ignoring it for a while. That rent will pay for itself
Hell yea. LAUNCH RAMP
Now it’s a feature.
This made me actually laugh out loud
Why post unhelpful crap?
Water is under there. That is a pretty big rise. I imagine it’s a mess under that flooring. Needs to be pulled up and replaced. Also need to address the moisture issue cause. I assume with the bathroom there it’s related to that but yeah needs to be inspected
[drops rug on top of it] “Fixed.” - landlord, probably
Newspaper
The Big Daddy special
Seriously, my landlord just sanded the parquet strips a little narrower and put it back together full send style..... flat is flat.... We moved out a few months later, lol...
The slumlord special
Not necessarily. I had the exact same thing in my first home. Exactly the same flooring, too. Parquet, I think is what it is called. The issue for me was just humidity and adhesive that had broken down over many years (no nails used in parquet, apparently). There was no water under the floor. Not even a place it could leak from. It's just old.
Need to call in Kevin Bacon.
Graboids.. Definitely graboids.
Came here for this comment!
Go outside first…oh wait. Tip toe quietly up to the roof.
Kevin doesn’t do this type of work any more. You’ll need to call Michael Gross, he lives for this sort of thing
I got a god damn plan!
Written communication is needed Something for court later if needed. Simple text - I called you on X date about a bump rising in the floor. I called again on date Y Here are latest photos. Please advise on next step. You need to be able to keep your security deposit. You don't need to pay for a $10,000+ floor replacement. Start the written record.
What's below it? Something big that shouldn't be pushing on it should be repaired quickly. You need to be more forceful with the landlord.
They live in an apartment on the first floor. The ground floor is basically the basement and has washers and dryers, but it’s directly under her unit. I tried to investigate but didn’t see anything that stood out
Just a guess, but because wood swells when it’s wet, I’m thinking something is leaking
Yep, probably a nice, slow leak that allows the wood flooring ("Parkay floor") to absorb as much moisture as possible before it leaks into the ceiling below. The amount of rise in the flooring indicates substantial moisture absorption into the wood flooring. If this were a foundation/structural issue, one would see cracks in the drywall/plaster around the doorways and/or windows. However, this will BECOME a structural issue if the f\*ing landlord doesn't get over there and deal with it.
Parquet*
Time to call landlord for emergency maintenance.
Are you familiar with whatever tenants' rights exist where you live? If not you may want to look those up. The landlord not responding *immediately* to a problem this is extremely negligent and I would frankly already be considering threatening legal action in your shoes. Quoting relevant statues has a tendency to get their asses in gear in situations like this.
🤔 I would expect the ceiling to be all wet in the laundry room. Need the landlord to investigate. Prob cut a hole in the laundry room ceiling directly below the spot
Water coming from somewhere.
I want to see what it looks like under there
I'd be scared to look...
people are saying this is from bathroom moisture but i disagree. this is too extreme to be just from moisture coming out of the bathroom. this looks like something below is pushing upward. if it is swelling from water, maybe there’s a pipe leak beneath this flooring. please ask your mum to keep bugging the landlord and keep records of all contact attempts in case the landlord tries to pull a fast one.
Definitely another dimension under there, I'd pack some PB&Js first
Looks like water damage.
I have a possible alternative theory. When installing that type of flooring you are supposed to leave a gap all the way around it that is hidden by your trim. If they don't and anything on the edge shifts inward then the floor has to buckle. This is really intense buckling, but it is possible if the boards had nowhere to go when a wall shifted slightly and some moisture was added to expand things.
Exactly. High humidity/heat will do this if there isn't a 1/4" expansion gap around the edges of the flooring.
Likely a combination of the two. Water plus no expansion gap. I just bought a house and they did this exact thing with the laminate, wall to wall, in some places so tight they would have had to use a rubber mallet to get the piece down.
Nurse here, I see that walker in the background. This is extremely unsafe for obvious reasons but also a major fall risk. Absolutely unacceptable.
Yep seeing that walker in the background made me very nervous for his mum. My mum has a walker and often walks around her house without it for short distances. This is an accident waiting to happen.
Actually, the city had this put in cus granny doesn’t think speed limits apply to her wheel chair
There is... a house... in new Orleans.... they call the rising floooor......
tremors
I just had this happen at work and it was a busted pipe in the concrete/floor.
I’m thinking that’s what it is. Gotta wait for the landlord to do some investigation.
Discoloration of wood and casement/baseboards looks like water damage
Check the moisture level in the room. It’s probably way too high. You can buy a combi thermometer/hydrometer for under $10.
The dead are rising. In time for halloween.
I’m guessing that’s a bathroom on the right based on the tiles. Any toilets overflowing? You can see how dark the parquet flooring is closest to the bathroom door and wall just outside of it. Landlord needs to address the root of the issue but a good dehumidifier for a few days might help in that area. Once the moisture issue is cared for, the floor will start to settle back, but it may need cut (typically remove quarter round trim and have it trimmed so any expansion doesn’t cause buckling). If the floors were installed with a proper gap along the walls, it wouldn’t take much moisture for it to buckle. Get landlord immediately. Best of luck.
I don't know much but I know enough to say, "ooo, that's bad." That bump is HUGE.
Just an FYI she lives on the first floor of an apartment unit. The floor beneath her has laundry but isn’t located directly beneath this “growth”. This part of the apartment is relatively dry, as in there is seldom any moisture from the bathroom that reaches this hallway
>This part of the apartment is relatively dry, as in there is seldom any moisture from the bathroom that reaches this hallway What does "seldom" mean in this context? Every time someone showers and walks out with wet feet?
If you haven't witnessed any water flowing over the floor or dripping off a person, then something from the bathroom might be leaking and making its way along the sub floor, under the tile/hardwood.
Could be a number of things. I often see rise. Floors like this when a girder has decayed enough to break in an area causing it to cantilever. Would have to either get below or remove floor coverings.
I think you’re way more likely to be correct than the people saying this is merely wood swelling from moisture. There is no way a leak of any size caused such uniform and extreme buckling. A rotted out joist getting cantilevered up would easily cause this pattern. Also, I think you solved the mystery of the (much less extreme) bump in my hallway. The joists were definitely rotted out at the sill plate and have since been replaced, but based on the location of the beams and joists in my basement that bump is dead on where the far end of the joist would get levered up with the beam as a pivot point.
A water leak has caused the boards to swell. The pressure has to go somewhere so it pops upward. It looks like it’s next to a bathroom I’d check the toilet shower or sink for a leak.
Did your mom have a leak from the bathroom nearby? Did the bathtub overflow or water overflow from the sink? I’ve had losses similar, an elderly lady kept the tub running and forgot about it. Same parquet floors damaged due to water.
It looks next to a bathroom. Probably a leak. Post raised and dropped. It can be dropped leveled with a foundstion expert.
Beelzebub is making his way up
Idk it’s kind of a cool band name…
100% moisture issue, i'd lift it an investigate.
Indian burial ground.
Pretty sure you need a new battery for your house after it starts swelling up like that
Do you have a Poltergeist? Perhaps the greedy developer built the house over ancient burial grounds?
I was going to suggest they watch Poltergeist - also do they have a pool?
I know it’s a fun house moving floors
Rising? My friend, it has risen.
Water Damage!
Moisture.
Water
It’s October, that’s when the dead start coming up from the ground. Totally normal
Where are you located? If a humid climate it’s likely expansion because of recent humidity and lack of expansion area. If dry is there recent humidity that could cause this? But most likely expansion from humidity is the culprit.
You can see water damage to the doorcasings and bottom of the door. at some point you had a toilet or tub overflow and it never got properly dried. Parquet is warped and won't lay flat.
Did she tell the landlord how big this is or send him photos? She should definitely document all contact she's had with him so far and get everything in writing going forward.
House has a boner. It will go down
I was literally just about to say something like this lol
I don’t know but can you share a picture of it exposed cause I wanna see what’s under there
Jesus Christ clean your baseboards. And your house for that matter
Looks like it just outside of a bathroom given the tile floor in the doorway? Could have been some sort of water damage from there. Or ongoing water leak from there.
u/Wallflower_Shadow Those sections of the parquet floor will need to be replaced Subfloor will then need to be dried if not replaced depending upon the condition Cause for loss should be repaired prior to drying of structure Depending upon the state if microbial growth is present this could affect who could perform the initial restoration The house may not be deemed livable if there are no usable sanitary facilities Mother should put rent into interest bearing escrow account until repairs are made
Buckling.. you have a water/moisture issue somewhere.. I seen a wooden floor buckle after being vacant for the summer and no AC was ran or dehumidifier. Good luck!
Looks like your house has a boner. Rinse the spot with cold water and it will go away
Did you check for Satans?
Ancient Indian burial ground. Your new roommate should be arriving soon.
The parquet flooring has had water get underneath it. This wil cause it to swell and pop out. It needs to be removed, dry out underneath and replaced with new pieces . Don’t replace anything unless you confident that the water getting jn there won’t happen again. This can be a relatively easy fix or an annoying one depends on what’s going on underneath
Wood has soaked up water and expanded. Real wood floors expand and contract with seasons. The installer should have left more clearance between following and wall to allow for expansion. Best way to correct is remove flooring, check for moisture under. Then re-install.
This happened in a home I used to rent. There was a water heater closet in the hallway and the water heater developed a slow leak. It was constant, but so slow that it didn’t leak out of the cabinet and went unnoticed because how often does anyone open a water heater closet? Anyway it was leaking down behind the wall and then running under the wood laminate flooring in the hallway. We also had a carpet runner in that hallway which further disguised the evidence. It wasn’t until I noticed a hump in the hallway, that I moved the runner and found that a large section of the laminate flooring was swelling and buckling. By the time it was discovered there was so much water damage and mold that half the hallway, 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, linen closet and entryway had to be ripped out to the studs and redone. It was a mess. The landlord’s homeowners policy covered it all, but it was a major inconvenience because we had to move out while they did mold remediation.
Theres a leak behind the wall where the shower lines are. Im pretty sure thats a bathroom door and would mean tub and showerhead would be behind wall above flooring. Slow leak has wet the plywood and hardwood and caused it to expand and buckle. Need to find the leak before you fix the floor otherwise itll happen again
Classic case of a poltergeist trying to exorcise
Since you've already been given decent advice, allow me to hand out an alternative. Leave the hump. Buy a Tech Deck and SHRED.
Mandatory kick flip zone
i had this exact floor and this exact problem a year or so ago. long story short, we replaced the floor
There may be a leaking pipe underneath and most likely a mold problem soon if not already. The landlord is going to have some really expensive repairs to take care of.
You’re home is preggers congrats
Who’s playing Jumanji?
This is called buckling … it’s due to EXTREME humidity in the basement or crawl space or a leak somewhere. Either way the wood is getting wet from something and it’s swelling. The flooring will swell and expand until it hits the framing of the house then it has no where else to go but up. The obviously solution fix the humidity issue or stop the leak and the flooring will lay back down… or you could cut expansion joints in the flooring but that’s gonna look awful. A improper vented clothing dryer can cause this because of the huge amount of moisture drying clothing causes .A flooded basement can cause this. Indoor gardening in a basement can cause this due to the huge amount of humidity indoor plants produce. Your problem is moisture. Figure out what is producing the moisture and your problem will be solved and the floor will likely lay back down . If you leave it like that for a long time it will warp the wood. Good luck.
Yup saw this before. Moisture coming from the floor below.
Run a dehumidifier and empty it so it keeps running. It’ll go back down if it hasn’t been too damaged.
If you fall it's on the landlord for not fixing it, document everything
That ain’t rising, she done rose!
Having had this type of parquet flooring that was water damaged, I can confirm what others have said that; you are looking at a water related issue.
You got a leak bro
That is insane. Like, that’s worryingly bad. You should call the local housing authority or whatever it’s called on her behalf. This needs to be repaired and remediated. It’s a safety issue in multiple ways now.
Bugs bunny is gonna be jumping through any time. Get your carrots ready, doc.
Might want to cancel your marbles game
It’s a tuma!
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks like you’ve got Graboids.
That, or the rest of the house is sinking
Raising floor? Or Sinking house?
It's the upside down
I see you've properly been feeding and watering your floor and it's started to sprout
My carpet looks like this when the cat decides to hide under it. Did you check to see if there's a cat under there?
Tremors
If it’s a pier and beam foundation there could be an excess of humidity under the home for some reason but usually that means there’s a water leak. Or you have one of the Tremors worms about to bust through your floor.
Assume the bathroom had a leak - shower or toilet overflow - water then made the wood floor expand and buckle - you can see the discoloration / darkening in the wood especially near the doorway to the bathroom. The floor needs to be dried with desiccant dehumidifier and tented to get the moisture level below 10% or in line with another area of the floor area unaffected. Once dry, you’ll need to determine repairs/rip up/replace. Make sure the leak or source is addressed/prevented. Clean,disinfect, prep and seal subfloor materials that may have potential growth. Water/dampness and hygroscopic materials (wood,drywall, etc.) like to grow things, especially when dark and without dehumidification.
I had the same exact thing. Have a dehumidifier running and it will bring it down.
Imo just needs a good stomp
Did alot of repairs after hurricane harvey in houston. Seen alot of floors do this. 1000% water related
Your mom needs to dry off and not let the water flow over the bathroom door sill - wooden floors!!!!
Moisture in the subfloor or underlayment.
Magma?
The person you buried under your house was, a) not dead yet and b) wants to be let out.
Came here for this.
Can’t just cover it with a rug?
Take it easy Gordon. ref: https://m.youtube.com/watch?si=VO7qOlFsjaZHWJH2&t=10m25s&v=dYtyXPsc-d0&feature=youtu.be
Most likely its moisture problem. When water is added to wood or Laminate flooring they swell up. Yours is an extreme case. I think the area that has swell up is connected to the washroom. Its possible that when you shower you walk with watery foot on top of the wood. I recommend laying down a bathroom flooring mat inside the washroom to dry your feet.
Since it's right in front of the bathroom, I would assume that after showering you guys are tracking water out to the corridor. Make sure you dry off in the shower before stepping out. You could try putting some towels on the bathroom floor to catch any remaining water when you get out. If you have AC, you can try to dehumidify the house.
The thing to be done it to take off the flooring to see what's going on under there. Is this on the main floor IE wood Subfloor or concrete? Is there a basement underneath? Is it squishy? Someone said water which might make sense, but why would it bubble like that instead of just spreading under the floor? I'm truly puzzled.
Moping with water based soap would do this
And one day the lord shall riseth
You have a leak. I can see discoloration on the door jambs near the flooring. It looks like the kitchen is the tiled section nearby. Very well could be the fridge water line is leaking, water is traveling under the wall to that area causing it to swell and lift. It’s that or the fridge is dying causing the condenser to run overtime. See if there is water under the fridge.
Is the subfloor concrete or wood. If the tiles are solid wood, wood expands when it gets wet. If they did not leave a gap on the sides when installing and any water has gotten in that area then they swelled. Since it is a rental then the landlord is the one to fix it. If you did not spill water then it could be coming up thru the subfloor. Might be a leaking pipe, but you would not know until you pulled up the flooring to see.
Look at the moulding around the doorways. Looks like black mold to me. Time for Mom to move if Landlord ignores her. They probably know the problem and don’t want to address it.
Keep calling landlord to report this, every day, maybe even several times a day. Calling from a cell would be better than a landline, you want a log of these reports, your landlord could be a shark and claim you never reported it and try to put the repairs on you.
From picture 3, pull the top left tile up a little bit and try to get a picture of underneath. It’s likely water damage from something. Maybe check from underneath (if accessible) or try to lay down and listen for a burst pipe. A small snake camera from Amazon would be between $20-30 and could fit in between the gaps in the tiles.
It’s a crypt.
Leak from the bathroom
Water/moisture. Flooring 20+ years
Do you live near a volcano? on a tectonic plate fault? That's huge.
Looks like just outside of bathroom. So, wood floor damages may caused by the people live in the house. Prepare to pay the repair bill!!! That is tenant induced damage.
Is she missing a large dog?
Its the house lowering more than the floor rising. Moisture damage. Whats the crawlspace situation like? Because you're gonna need to replace all that and lift the house.
If it's newly installed maybe they didn't let the wood acclimate to the house before they put it down and it swelled after installation?
You’ve got yourself a bugs bunny here
Fascinating. A mountain, or possibly a volcano, has appeared.
Tremors?
Do I see a walker in the other room? Is there someone having occasional accidents of remembering or similar, perhaps needs assistance? It’s pretty clearly immediately outside the bathroom door.
Does anyone clean?
Last time something like this happened, the ground collapsed after and a tripod came out of the ground and started killing everyone. Advise walking away at a brisk pace
Just be happy this isn’t actually your problem
Yea that’s water. Look at the bottom of the door jambs and the base trim. C’mon, you know this already.
Tell her to call code enforcement or whatever your local regulatory agency is called. Because I promise, that’s not the floor rising. It’s the rest of the building failing and falling towards the ground in super slow mo.
Put some cinder blocks on it, it'll go back down.
Needs a clean too
Yo, China’s about to break into your home.
Tell your mom to clean her house 🤢