Wood Floor Acclimation

Wood floors are wood.

Wood floor acclimation.

It doesn t matter if you use solid hardwood exotic wood or laminate prefinished or unfinished if you want a high quality flooring that lasts for years you need to acclimate them to ensure they do well in your home. The question arises what is the proper way to acclimate hardwood flooring. Best practices for acclimating wood flooring. Please remember acclimation is the process of adjusting conditioning the moisture content of wood flooring to the environment in which it is expected to perform.

Wood floor acclimation with engineered flooring. If your wood flooring sits in your home too long in the winter and dries out it will expand and permanently cup in the summer or when the home reaches normal living conditions. Inside the boxes. Engineered hardwood flooring acclimation steps.

Open up any plastic wrap that may be around the planks. It s installed now what. Maintain your home s climate settings in a normal comfortable state and allow the flooring to sit for 3 days. Make sure the room or level where the flooring will be laid is an enclosed space.

If the manufacturer recommends the wood flooring be acclimated before installation proceed as follows. Cut open the ends of the cartons on both sides. While it s not as important for our engineered hardwoods due to the stability in the way they are constructed solids will expand and contract considerably given the right conditions with wide changes in relative humidity levels. Acclimating your flooring too much to either of these seasons can cause permanent damage to your hardwood flooring.

Even with engineered flooring it is suggested by some manufacturers that in order to retain coverage with the warranty the job site has to be maintained between 30 50 relative humidity and these conditions must also be maintained after installation. Between 5 and 10 days ahead of time check to see if the temperature and humidity of the space is at normal living conditions. Allow wood flooring to acclimate for at least three days. Acclimation to the installation environment for solid wood floors should never be overlooked.

Wood floor acclimation with engineered flooring. Even with engineered flooring it is suggested by some manufacturers that in order to retain coverage with the warranty the job site has to be maintained between 30 50 relative humidity and these conditions must also be maintained after installation. In other words let the heat or air run as it would normally for at least 5 days. Do prefinished floors need to acclimate.

How to acclimate hardwood flooring. Acclimation times vary by species and product but a rule of thumb is to acclimate wood floor products for at least three days. Place the flooring cartons in the area where you plan to install.