Crowning — centre higher than the edges. The inverse of cupping, and usually what happens when a cupped floor is sanded flat before it has finished drying.View full size — Oak floorboards under raking light whose centres have risen higher than their edges, forming shallow domes across the floor.

Crowning is the other half of the same failure. It commonly appears after a cupped floor has been sanded flat too early: the high edges are removed while the board is still swollen, and when it equalises the centre is left proud.

Like cupping, it is permanent in the sense that matters — the material removed to correct it is gone.

CuppingA board whose edges sit higher than its centre — the visible record of moisture entering the floor from below.
Moisture differentialThe difference between the moisture content of the flooring material and that of the subfloor, which must sit inside an acceptable range before installation.
Belt floor sanderThe primary material-removal machine in a refinish: a continuous abrasive belt over a drum roughly 200 mm wide, handling around 80% of total removal.

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toronto hardwood climate moisture protocol — failure modes

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Crowning

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