Not every mark is a disaster. Melbourne floors go through dry heater winters, sticky summer stretches, and kids tracking grit in on their shoes. Here are the problems people call about most, and how to tell when you actually need to ring someone.
How to diagnose before you panic
Walk the floor. Note when the problem started, what the weather was doing that week, and whether it’s getting worse. Photos from two angles are worth more than a vague phone call.
Rough urgency bands:
- Act this week — active leak, soft boards, finish blistering in patches after water, musty smell under a floating floor.
- Book a pro soon — cupping that’s spreading, sudden wide gaps after a flood or a week of heating an empty house, persistent squeaks on a new install.
- Watch through a season — fine winter hairlines that tighten in humid months, light finish scratches that don’t reach the timber.
Industry guidance for occupied timber floors usually sits around 40–60% relative humidity. Melbourne winters with the heater running, especially in an empty house, routinely drop below that, and a closed room over a damp slab pushes the other way. Once the indoor RH leaves that band, the timber responds.
Gaps
Fine winter gaps on solid timber in heated homes are normal. Boards shrink as moisture leaves the wood. See what to expect from solid timber.
How to read them:
- Hairline, seasonal, closes somewhat when humidity rises → normal timber movement, and nothing a warranty covers.
- Gaps that opened after a leak, flood, or weeks of heating an empty house → get a pro out with a moisture meter.
- One board or one room much worse than the rest → a local moisture or install issue, not a whole-floor failure.
Floating floors need expansion gaps around the perimeter, often about 8–12mm depending on the manufacturer. If that gap has been filled with silicone, or the skirtings sit hard against the boards, or cabinets are trapping the edge, the boards can buckle because they have nowhere to move.
Cupping and crowning
Cupping means the edges sit high and the centre low. It’s usually moisture reaching the bottom or edges of the board harder than the face — a wet slab, a spill under a mat, wet mopping engineered joins, or bathroom splash that never dried out.
Crowning means the centre sits high. It’s often the reverse: the face gained moisture, or the floor was sanded flat while it was still cupped and then dried.
Stop the water source before anyone talks about sanding. Sanding a floor before it has dried out usually means paying for the job again later. Engineered wear layers are typically about 2–6mm, so there’s only so much timber available for a rescue sand.
Noisy boards
Some creak is just building movement. Houses move, fasteners work loose, and humidity swings tighten and loosen everything.
New noise after a big humidity swing is often nails or clips moving. Floating floors that rub at doorways usually need a clearance check — undercut jambs, trim height, or boards rubbing on the underlay lip.
Persistent squeaks on a new install are worth a call to the layer now, while warranty goodwill is fresh. Don’t wait twelve months hoping it settles.
Scratches and dents
Grit and chair legs do more damage than kids running around. Finish scratches sit in the coating; dents crush the timber fibre underneath. They need different fixes.
Felt pads and mats prevent most of it — see floor care. Hardness only helps so much — see timber flooring hardness. Softwood dents more easily, but hard Australian species still mark under grit and heels.
Light scratches in the finish film often buff out or recoat. Deep dents in solid timber can be filled, or left as character. On engineered boards, don’t sand through the wear layer chasing a perfect surface.
Peeling or flaking finish
The usual causes are contamination at coating time, moisture under the film, the wrong cleaner attacking the surface, or coats applied too thick or too soon. Ghosting is related but looks different — pale footprints or traffic patterns — see floor ghosting.
Don’t keep coating over a failing film; diagnose it first. Peeling that lifts in sheets after water points to moisture. Peeling in traffic lanes after years of use is normal wear-through, and that’s a recoat conversation.