Humidity For Installing Wood Floors

Moisture levels can be read with a meter like the wagner mmc 220 this is a pinless meter and allows you to get an accurate reading without sticking pins into the floor and creating pinholes.

Humidity for installing wood floors.

The most viable way to reduce such movement is to install humidity controls and ensure they are functional before installing the flooring. This can lead to dimensional changes in the. Controlling moisture before installation. This expansion and contraction can result in the loss of structural integrity of the boards to cause cracking.

Hurricanes humidity and wood floors. These erratic swings in humidity make wood change in size and if not properly installed can easily buckle. Relative humidity levels of 30 80 expert engineered lauzon hardwood floors relative humidity levels of 35 65 other lauzon engineered hardwood floors relative humidity levels of 35 55 lauzon solid hardwood floors. First test the moisture level of the subfloor.

Yes humidity does affect wood floors. Short of installing a humidifier dehumidifier to control relative humidity indoors the best. During warm and humid summers wooden floors will expand during dry winter weather wood flooring contracts. Essentially if there is a disparity between humidity in air and moisture in the floor the wood will gain or lose moisture until a balance is reached.

Depending on your floor type manufacturers will recommend that humidity is kept between 40 70 rh relative humidity. With summer quickly approaching rising humidity levels can compromise your wood floor installations if not accounted for. One of the reasons for this is that the bottom layers are made of cross. If installing wooden floors these meters can double as a hardwood floor moisture meter.

I m considering putting 5 maple engineered floors on the 2nd story of my house plywood subfloor but i m worried that when the power goes out for a week of two after a hurricane the humidity in the house will cause the floors to be ruined. In general 12 moisture or above is too wet to install flooring. A big increase in humidity is something that can affect wood floors badly. The fastest way to measure moisture in floors is to use a moisture meter for wood.

These devices can be used to test the moisture content mc of wood flooring in mere seconds. Ideally it should be between 7 and 9. As you can see engineered wood flooring is more stable than solid wood flooring. This is why it s important to measure moisture in flooring wood as well as the ambient temperature and humidity conditions before installing hardwood floors.

To determine if your hardwood floors need to be acclimated you can use a wood floor moisture test. Once the wood no longer gains nor loses water vapours it has achieved equilibrium moisture content emc. A humid summer can result in your floor being outside manufacturers guidelines affecting your warranty. Turgon have the skill and expertise to ensure you are protected against this as far as possible and in any eventuality your wood floor is guaranteed for two full years from date of installation.

While both high humidity and low humidity are bad for your floors what ends up causing the worst damage in the long run are the drastic changes in humidity from one season to the next. If so will they come back. Measuring moisture in wood flooring.