Wood Floor Acclimation

As a consumer of flooring, I wish you the best of luck getting a straight answer from anybody in my industry addressing the topic of acclimation. Not that my industry is full of dishonest people...we will just say that their is a lot of "riff raff" out there. Riff raff, of course is a broad term that describes folks that are lazy, uneducated, or both.

If you call 10 different flooring companies and ask them how long you need to acclimate your wood before installing it, you are likely to get 10 different answers...and each one will be WRONG. Wanna know why?

ACCLIMATING WOOD IS NOT A FUNCTION OF TIME. IT IS A FUNCTION OF HUMIDITY.

So there it is. It is that simple. Your wood is properly acclimated when the humidity levels in the wood are +/- 3% of the humidity in the subfloor. That could take 2 minutes, 2 hours, 2 days, or 2 weeks.

I suppose if you can't get your hands on a moisture meter, you should be safe waiting 2 weeks, but there is simply no guarantee. Just a few weeks ago, I met with a potential customer who had purchased prefinished bamboo flooring off the internet and had it shipped to her home. She rightly had the wood delivered into the home (not outside, not in the garage). After 4 weeks, she was certain that the wood was acclimated, and I suggested, just to be sure, that we test the wood. Well, the wood was tightly packed in boxes and sealed in plastic wrap, and, as I suspected, it was 6% more moist than the subfloor.

To speed up the acclimation process, we decided to strip off the plastic wrap, open up the boxes of wood, and spread the flooring across the subfloor, and, voila...2 days later the flooring was ready to roll.

So here is the deal: No matter what you have read or what you've been told, trust me, and please measure the moisture content of the wood and subfloor before you begin installing the floor.

If you interview a contractor who tells you the wood needs to acclimate for 2 weeks inside the home, here is what you should ask: "How are you going to be sure that the wood is going to be ready?" If he/she doesn't get it, then that is the riff raff I was talking about earlier. These guys are either too lazy or too stupid to get a moisture meter and properly test the wood.

If you are anxious to install your floors and you would like to speed up the acclimation process, here are a few tips from the example above:

1: Make sure the wood is delivered in the home, on the same level and in the room(s) you are going to be installing in.
2: Remove all plastic and cardboard containers and spread the wood out, face up, directly on the subfloor.
3: Don't mess with your humidifier or climate controls - leave them where they would normally be.

Finally, when the wood floor is within 3% of the subfloor, it is safe to install the new flooring. Definately make sure that you are using 15# felt paper underlayment. The reason this is critical is because the subfloor will naturally remain 2-3% drier than the flooring, and the felt paper will ensure that the drier subfloor doesn't "wick" moisture out the wood floor and cause it to shrink more than normal.

Hope this helps, and as always, feel free to email me if you have any more questions: matt@proworksflooring.com