hardwood floors – remove moisture first?
Building a new house. The guy supplying my floors (unfinished 5″ wide new growth Carribean pine) is telling me that i should put them in the house but not to install them until the HVAC can run for 7-10 days to get the moisture down. I told him that i thought that that was kind of unrealistic as the AC isn’t typically finished out till the end when actual power is run to the house. I talked to the HVAC contractor and he told me that “he’s never seen this done” and i sort of agree…i’ve looked at a lot of houses being built and the hardwood floors go in pretty early.
i know it’s optimal to get the moisture down before it’s installed but i guess i’m just not sure i see how this is realistic.
How big of a deal is this?
What about if i just bought a dehumidifier and ran that…would that get the moisture down? any other ideas?
Replies
In my opinion you want to be monitoring and controlling the humidity inside very carefully. First, the house probably gets wet during the framing stages, so you have that moisture. Then, if you're building on a slab, that's giving off moisture continuously (for years). The sheetrockers and painters are adding a lot of moisture to the building with their materials. People working and breathing in the house are adding moisture. And, it's coming in from outside too. If you install 5" wide softwood flooring in a building with uncontrolled humidity you could easily have a disaster.
The last new home I worked on had dehumidifiers running a lot, and the heat was on too. The heating system will not remove moisture as effectively (although you may want the heat if working in the winter) but you should get as close to actual living conditions as possible while installing flooring and trim. You want your subfloor and your flooring material very close to the same MC before the install, and I would wait to install flooring as long as possible, probably do it just before interior doors are hung.
do you not have power? do you not have a electric meter yet from the utility?
Rent yourself a generator(something with some watts, like a diesel tow-behind), and get your sparky to backfeed the panel so you can start up the hvac system.
it is a VERY big deal.
I set up a dehumidifier in the room where the flooring gets stacked and stickers, and I run a fan through the pile. Sometimes for three weeks or so. If it is not correctly aclimated, you WILL have problems and if you do not allow him to work with properly acclimated lumber, don't expect a warrantee.
BTW, pine is not a hardwood. It is less stable than hardwoods so it is more important to be dryed right. Same comment goes for the wide boards.
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I'll second getting the moisture down.
And quit getting flooring advice from the HVAC guy. ;-)
I installed some wide plank pine recently and acclimated for 3 weeks with fans, dehumidifiers and the HVAC system on. I would also wait a week or so after the sheetrock and painting is complete before you bring the flooring into the house. It is alsogood practice to distribute the flooring into the designated rooms when stickering. It is imperative you acclimate your flooring properly or you may end up with washboards. Quality work often takes time and patience.
If you aren't in any hurry another option is simply having the installer come back with a moisture meter every few weeks until the flooring moisture is in line. While that works in our dry climate, it might not work so well in yours without the dehumidifier if the humidity level in the house isn't low enough.
Bob, the good flooring contractors here will not warrantee the floor install if the ac/heat is not on. They'll do moisture tests all over the subfloor, and then, the flooring material may sit in the house anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks.Most HVAC contractors don't like seeing their systems turned on during construction because of dust compromising their airhandlers. I'll put a regular filter in the return, then tape another over the outside. I real easy to see any build up...no problems yet. I need a dump truck, baby, to unload my head
OK...well i'm glad you are all in agreement. Very common in this forum :).
So, it seems that i must get the moisture out and sounds like i'll need to run the air to do that <-- i'm just not sure a dehumidifier would be good enough to get the moisture down.
I've just finished all my rough in's and drywall should start soon. Should i plan to run the hvac as soon as the drywall is done?
Also one more question. It seems that all xxxx would break loose if the hvac unit broke and the home's humidity went up <-- seems like all the wood would buckle. Which to me could almost be a bigger issue than the floor shrinking after the wood drys out if installed humid. What am i missing?
The ideal thing is to maintain a relatively constant level of humidity forever. It's pretty hard to do, of course, but you can install a dehumidifier on your central air and take some of the summer moisture out. Otherwise, live with shrinking and swelling floors, doors, and wood trim. Installing materials that are stable to begin with is a good idea. The wide softwood you are using does not qualify. A more stable wood flooring would be something like rift white oak 2-1/4" wide.
I have a painter friend who is making a career out of one large house. The trim is all painted softwood with miter joints... it's hemlock, a terrible choice for paint. The owners go away for long period and turn off the heat, and then come back and crank it up to 80 while they are there. The trim moves all over the place and needs repainting in their absence.
I've just finished all my rough in's and drywall should start soon. Should i plan to run the hvac as soon as the drywall is done?That's what I do. I get the electrician to set up the house so we can get off of the temp pole. A working GFI in all areas where they're necessary: baths, kitchen, garage, crawl, decks...eliminates running cords out windows and doors.Get the mechanical inspection. Our inspectors will give us the ok if we tell them we need the HVAC on for the floor warrantee.Thoroughly clean the house after the sheetrock finshing.Make sure all subs understand the filters need to be changed if they're dirty...An added bonus is that work is so much better when workers are comfortable...I'd also much rather have the system go out during construction than after the HOs have moved in...they might want to move in with me<G> I need a dump truck, baby, to unload my head
Alright Snort...i'll see if i can make this happen.