How can I fix pinewood flooring that got skewed after oiling?

Question

I oiled my pinewood flooring a few days ago, and now after it has dried up the flooring is skewed. It bends up close to the edges, on both sides of the room. Each plank is straight lengthwise. It's the joints that seems to cause the problem. The flooring lies freely upon a concrete surface. One of the walls is concrete while the others are drywall / plasterboard. The concrete wall is on one of the sides with a single board all the way over (and not a side with many edges).

Before oiling the floor, the skriting was nailed to the drywall on three sides, and into the floor on the concrete walled side.

Now I'm afraid the nails in the drywall won't hold, and nails in the floor on the side with concrete isn't really an alternative, as that won't make it stick to the ground.

Does anyone have a suggestion as to how I can fix this?

The first picture below is how it looks now, while the second one is how it looks if I hold the planks down to the ground. As you can see, there is big difference.

Answer 1

First thing is to try and remedy the situation. Adding finish to one side has caused an imbalance in the woods ability to absorb and release ambient moisture, causing it to twist. If at all possible pull up the offending members and oil the underside as well to help mitigate this affect.

Once that's done reset your base moulding by shooting finish nails into the studs where applicable. In the areas with the cement wall, use a quality construction adhesive and (if possible) spring board the trim in place off the opposing wall until the adhesive cures.

Otherwise try a combination of adhesive and double sided carpet tape to secure your trim. Hopefully the tape has enough oompf to keep the trim held down and there by keep the flooring where it belongs. Cheers!