Normally when moisture is involved cupping happens. I have never had cupping or warping happen when we leave a floor covered for weeks on end with ramboard or any other flooring protection.
I would hire an independent inspector to check the flooring and see if there is moisture coming in from somewhere.

Not likely. There is most probably a leak around a window, due to improper installation, or plain ole wear and tear of caulking etc. Very hard to pin point cause, but that explanation doesn't "hold water" (bad pun I know) in my opinion!

Well said Cancork. I agree, nothing more;)

Thanks everyone for what appears to be a consensus. And Cancork, thank you for bringing to my attention that I need to be more careful in my quick references. It was in fact the retail distributor, from whom I made the purchase, who made this comment. I guess I see him as the voice of the manufacturer to a one time consumer....it is kind of strange though. We installed the floor in 5 rooms and hallway, yet cupping, as per attached photos, only really occurred in one room. We did raise that living room five inches as it was a sunken living room. Now all rooms are the same level, but the living room has the cupping issue. We have a crawl space below all rooms.

That means only one thing: somewhere something went "wrong" with the change in the formerly-sunken living room area. What was the subfloor in the sunken living room (concrete or plywood)? What did they do to raise the floor height?

The biggest reason for "local" areas to cup and yet other areas (older areas that did NOT get a renovation) would be DAMP subfloors. As-in "new" plywood that was NOT moisture tested. That was NOT allowed to "dry out" enough prior to installation of the hardwood.

There are two possible issues here (or a mixture of two...which makes it harder to figure out but not impossible):

1. The sunken living room has issues in the crawlspace/concrete slab that were NEVER addressed properly by the General Contractor prior to building up the subfloor.

2. Damp plywood was used and then the hardwood installed over top without proper moisture readings done on either surface (plywood and hardwood must be within 3% MC of one another prior to installing the hardwood).

I don't think this is a "hardwood floor" issue (as in the material used as flooring). I think you have a "build" issue. That means this should be directed towards the General Contractor who did the work raising the subfloor and then ALLOWING the hardwood to be installed.

Start with the GC. If you don't get much assistance with him/her, then I HIGHLY recommend you work with an NWFA Certified Flooring Inspector. They might cost money....but they will help you resolve this very, very, very quickly. Sometimes just MENTIONING to the GC that you will call in an inspector is enough to get them to move on this sort of issue.

Good luck. I would call someone the first week of January. A few more days won't do you any harm. Happy Holidays. You are several steps closer to a resolution because of Houzz.

We leave ramboard on all of our projects, some lasting 4 months. Not one time have we had a floor cup. Looks like you have a moisture issue. We just finished a remodel with cupping issues and it turned out to be a long term plumbing leak in the crawlspace . Look at my page on here and look for the rach makeover job. There are pics of the original cupped floor there.

BEFORE Ranch Home Makeover Before and After · More Info