Weatherization and Kiln-Drying of Hardwood Floors: What You Need to Know!
Wood flooring is a delicate product as it is a natural product that expands and contracts with seasonal changes and is also affected by the moisture content of the air. It is important to remember that it has nothing to do with other types of flooring, such as mosaics or carpets, since wood is an organic material that will be affected by the surrounding climate.
Acclimatization is making sure that hardwood floor boards are ready to be installed safely, it is the process of allowing the moisture content of hardwood flooring when it is supplied to partially equalize with the moisture content of the surrounding environment where wood will be installed.
The moisture content of wood can be defined as the percentage by weight of water present in the wood compared to the weight of the wood with all the water removed. The moisture content of a wood varies with changes in temperature, the humidity in the air in which the climate of the wood is found. Small seasonal changes in hardwood floors are considered normal and small gaps that open during dry spells are not considered a defect. In theory, tables that can be opened in the warmer times of the year will be closed in the cooler and wetter times of the year.
wood supply
Many customers of hardwood flooring companies can fall victim to purchasing wood that has not been kiln dried and set, so the road will result in inevitable shrinkage or cupping depending on whether the wood is too thin. dry or too wet. To minimize movement of your hardwood floor caused by swelling with moisture absorption and shrinkage with moisture loss, it is important to lay boards that have a moisture content close to the average of the environment in which they will be laid. This can only be achieved when the supplier properly kiln-dries the wood, which takes a lot of time and care to ensure that the boards have dried as naturally as possible and are not unstable, which occurs when drying. of wood is accelerated. some larger corporate companies.
When choosing your lumber, request authentication certificates for moisture content from your flooring contractor or builder to make sure the lumber you’re paying for is worth it.
Engineered (prefinished) wood flooring is sealed sooner and tends to be much more stable when it comes to changes in humidity than raw organic solid flooring that has not been sealed. Therefore, acclimatization is not needed when installing engineered boards.
site evaluation
All construction or residential sites require a climate assessment prior to the installation of a hardwood floor. It is important to know the long-term relative humidity for the area where the flooring will be installed, for example, if you acclimatize a hardwood floor for a house in the rainy season, you will find that in hotter seasons the flooring will dry out and shrink, so it’s good to keep a fair balance. Relative humidity (RH) is the primary influence that determines whether hardwood floors will absorb moisture from the air and swell, or lose moisture and shrink.
For some, if the moisture content of the wood floor is close to the long-term average relative humidity for the area, subsequent seasonal changes will be minimal. However, if the area’s long-term relative humidity is significantly different from that of the wood floor, seasonal changes in the floor’s moisture content can create problems. Sometimes your state weather bureau can find the local site weathers for your area. For example, for Australia, the site climate can be assessed using data from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology website at http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/data
Where seasonal variations are greater, seasonal movement (shrinkage and swelling) can be expected to be greater as well. Areas that experience high levels of seasonal variation require a higher tolerance for floor expansion at the time of installation.
The construction site or job site should also be evaluated for adequate subfloor ventilation. This is a very important factor in reducing the expansion and sagging of hardwood floors. When the humidity under a floor remains high, the boards will cup at the walking surface as a result of the wood absorbing moisture from the humid air below. Wood is like a sponge, absorbing water and spitting it out just as quickly.
Moisture content percentage of their states
It is important to note the correct moisture content percentage for the geographic location in which you are located. Generally, the wood flooring contractor you employ knows a base or general figure, and it varies between 6 and 10% from state to state in the US. In Australia, the moisture content of wood also depends Whichever state you’re in, for example, residents of Western Australia should expect a humidity percentage of around 9-11%, in the Eastern States that figure changes to 11-13%, which is pretty big. Amount. When the supplied average moisture content of the flooring is close to the expected moisture content of the area where you live, it is not necessary to acclimate your flooring. As the process has already been completed by the wholesaler.
Where conditions are drier, such as isolated interior areas or air-conditioned buildings, or where conditions are humid, such as coastal areas or higher regions, it may be necessary to acclimate the flooring in place. The proper time frame for acclimating the wood for that job is 2-4 weeks, not 3-6 days as some may think.
Board stacking to ensure acclimatization to humidity
When storing hardwood floor boards to acclimatize for that job, if the wood is stacked on top of each other, the wood in the middle of the stack will not be able to breathe, therefore only the outer boards will change their moisture content to adapt to the environment. humidity and conditions. Please note that the rate of moisture absorption varies from species to species.
A criss-cross method is recommended to ensure all boards receive good air ventilation so that when the floor boards are installed they are all ready and not unstable in their surroundings.
