lambris - warped - help !!

[ChrisnJules]

Hi everyone.

Last autumn I spent many happy (?) hours installing circa 50 Sq metres of lambris (pine tongue and groove) on the ceiling of the upper floor of my house. The ceiling on the ground floor already has lambris installed. The bedroom partition walls have all been removed to get at the floor boards that require replacing, so it was an opportune moment to put a new lambris ceiling in place.  The lambris looked spectacular when I had finished.

We returned this holiday to spend our first New Year in our house (virtual camping as we do not yet have beds, cooker etc.) and horror of horrors found that the lambris had warped badly in several places. The lambris panels had pushed away from the ceiling to form what I can only describe as a 'V' shape, which seemed to indicate that the panels had expanded widthways considerably. Short of stripping it all down and doing it all again, has anyone any idea's please ??

Before anyone asks, yes I did take it more or less straight out of the packet and perhaps didn't give the wood sufficient time to absorb residual moisture. The panels are also nailed to the ceiling joists through the joint using a power tacker because I didn't know about the special lambris fixtures. In any case, these look like they simply hide any visible signs of fixing and don't appear to alow sideways expansion either - unless I am entirely wrong (which will come as no surprise ).  Any advice greatly appreciated.

Regards

Chris and Julie.

[Val_2]

Firstly it is not all your fault. We have been laying lambris for over 30 years and last year did a complete upstairs (2 bedrooms and landing)ceilings in a very old damp house for the owners. We came back in about three months later in the spring to do other works and found the same problem you have and this was all fitted correctly onto the proper fittings and it was a real tear-jerker seeing as the client hadn't even seen it yet. My husband did advise the client not to have it everywhere considering the damp building but he wouldn't listen, so we installed some de-humidifiers for him and let the place breathe when working there and slowly it has all gone back into shape. I have seen other places where people have lambrised all the walls and ceilings and not visited for over a year and there is mould covering the lambris because the houses have no constant temperature and are very damp. I'm not suggesting you have a damp house,but shutting it up with doors closed,Velux windows shut tight etc dosn't let the place breathe. Plenty of salt over a bucket will help draw out dampness and is cheaper than buying electric machines.

[ChrisnJules]

Thanks Val 2 !

Seems that you are helping me out left right and centre at the moment

Appreciate the advice once again.  It is comforting to know that it wasn't entirely my fault and I will try your suggestions as soon as I get back to France later this spring - aint life fun

I suppose the fact that the lambris on the downstairs ceiling is Ok gives me some comfort that we can sort this out in time. Hopefully  when I get the partition walls in place and can get the upstairs in use and the house is less damp......

Regards

Chris and Julie

 

[Val_2]

Another tip for leaving an empty property to breathe is if you have good sound shutters upstairs (and downstairs too), leave the main bedroom windows ajar by a couple of inches and this will allow fresh air to circulate but the rain won't come in. Our Parisien friends always do this upstairs and even if they don't come for 8 months, there is never any cold damp feel to the place at all.

[Chris Head]

You never know what you're buying when you buy a product such as this, it's mass produced and the supplier doesn't really give a damn about it's moisture content or the relative humidity level of where it will end up. I'll bet the lambris will be produced from a country or region that has dubious forestry practices at best!

Chris

[Gyn_Paul]

I've had the same problem and it's heartbreaking... I spent all one summer/autumn putting 200mm of isolation in the roof and then covering it with lambris. Backbreaking job but worth it. it looked fabulous.

Went back to UK and came here again in the Spring to find it in the same condition as you describe but also covered with a bloom of mould. My error was to have forgotten that the floor contained 8 inches of new concrete and I was effectively sealing the water into the room.

As we had no shutters at the time, I couldn't have left a window cracked, and suspect that nothing less than a howling gale could have shifted that volume of moisture.

It was so warped (like yours, pulling itself off the nails in 'V' type expansions) I was planning to pull it all off and burn it, but a friend suggested it might shrink as the room dried out (esp. once we were in residence and could keep the room heated).

This proved to be the case: once the heat was on, it all shrank again. It needed pushing back in place and re-nailing (with some persuasion from a clod hammer in various places), and now looks as good as before. The mould also vanished once everywhere was dry.

Step one : Heat and ventilate

step two : 'persuade' it all back in place

paul

 

[Tresco]

How fab is that? From disaster to (hopefully) solution in one page. That's why I like it here.

tresco

[Tresco]

How fab is that? From disaster to (hopefully) solution in one page. That's why I like it here.

tresco

[ChrisnJules]

Thanks Paul,

I feel somewhat reassured that others have had similar problems and found a solution. Several people have told me to just leave it for the time being and see if it shrinks back again in the summer. My problem is that the house is unoccupied a vast majority of the time, and will be until such times as we finish (yet to start !) on the main building renovations. So perhaps I will have several seasons of expand and shrink until we get finally sorted. Should make for interesting visits every winter !! 

I will follow up on all the excellent advice, salt, ventilation and a great deal of hope :-)

Thanks everyone.

Chris and Julia.