Replies

1. 
   Michael_Shortreed | Feb 23, 1999 12:54am | #1

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   Hello All.

   I have enjoyed the discussions so far. This is my first post to this list.

   My wife and I are planning a new home construction. We have decided to use wide plank pine floors in the entry way and hall to the kitchen. Recently, while chewing the fat with a local floor installation fellow, he stated "never put a wood floor into a new construction without first dehumidifying the whole place". He went on to explain that most construction lumber was 15-20% moisture content and that kiln dried floors are 6-8%. The combination is a disaster. Now I am woodworker enough to know that I never work on a new piece of lumber until it has acclimated to the climate of my shop. That usually means about a month for me. Now I doubt seriously that I will be able to hold off the bankers that long when I build my house.

   What I want to know is if others have a similar understanding of the situation. I should point out that I talked to other installers who have not worried about this issue. BUT, there is an old cooking proverb that may apply to that "Just because you cooked a hundred chickens doesn't mean you can cook a chicken". Enough said. Thanks in advance for your help and guidance.

   -michael

2. 
   Guest_ | Feb 23, 1999 08:27pm | #2

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   The acclimation process should be as long as possible. As you point out there are compelling reasons to get done quickly. You will never have time to "dehumidify" the house entirely. In new construction this process can take a year. What is more important is to adjust the house and the flooring to temperature before installing it. Make sure the house is fully enclosed and heated to normal living conditions. Then sticker and store the flooring indoors for as long as you can. I would suggest no less than 2 weeks.

   I don't have much experience with pine flooring, but I laid 2" t & g oak flooring that had acclimated for over a year in my house . The house was almost 20 years old, so all the latent moisture should have been long gone. Seasonal gaps in the flooring are still visible. I have laid similar floors in new construction with little acclimation, that have been no worse.

1. 
   Guest_ | Feb 24, 1999 09:35pm | #3

   *Mike with the wide pine you have to spend more time letting the wood meet your house.Regular flooring(2" stuff) spents a week in before I put it down. With your wide pine you should wait as long as possable turn up the heat and run a dehumditer running. Just the taping and drywall loads a house with wet air. Best of luck on the house

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   Guest_ | Feb 25, 1999 06:20pm | #4

   *Hi Mike,I've had mixed results. Two years ago I put 8/10/12" random width pine down in a loft above a garage. The structure had been up for nearly a year, but not heated. It had been recently rocked and painted. I brought the pine in (which was fresh out of the kiln that week) and started laying it the next day. The mill I get my flooring from stores the pine outdoors under an open shed, however, so it picks up humidity pretty quickly. I almost always experience shrinkage in my trim stock from them. I warned the homeowner to expect gaps up to 1/4" with seasonal movement. Two years later, it looks like the day it was laid. The client is even a little dissappointed that the gaps haven't opened up! We should all have such problems.On the other hand, Several years back I laid a salvaged 100-year-old floor in a new addition with a full concrete cellar that always has a de-humidifier going in it. The cellar was about 9 months cured. All rock was in and dry and painted. The boards were about a foot wide. I expected the old-growth boards to be pretty stable. I laid them as tight as I could get them, as it was still summer. I was there to build a bathroom for them recently, and the gaps were 1/4" and then some. Maybe because the old house had been unheated for so long, they were a little fat to start with.I think some of the key factors are the time of year that the boards are laid, and the humidity swings you can expect in the project. I hate to lay boards when it's really humid or really dry. I try to do it in a stretch when the RH has been about average. My floor finishing sub-contractor has told me that he has seen bad buckling of floors that were laid tight when it was really dry, but I've not seen such a thing.I'm a one-man restoration carpenter who doesn't do a huge volume, but I do get the chance to see how my work holds up over time. Of course, because it's just me, it takes me much longer to build things than a full crew could get the same work done. Maybe that works in my favor in this instance.For what it's worth,Steve

3. 
   Michael_Shortreed | Feb 25, 1999 09:01pm | #5

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   Thanks for all the feedback guys. This is all pretty new stuff for me. I feel pretty comfortable installing pine because it is so dimensionally stable in comparison with other common wood flooring materials. I guess I will order my wood early and let it sit inside somebody's house until I'm ready for it.

4. 
   Michael_Shortreed | Feb 27, 1999 05:57am | #6

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   Should the moisture content of wood flooring be adjusted prior to installation in a new construction?

5. 
   Guest_ | Feb 27, 1999 05:57am | #7

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   Michael, if you're talking about southern yellow pine (which seems to make up most of the new pine flooring), it's not nearly as stable as oak or maple. Wider boards will have even more movement, like Bill suggests. Acclimation is good. Have the heat on in the winter or /AC in summer.If over a crawl space, put down a vapor barrier on the dirt, if it's a basement with a new slab, go for a dehumidifyer down there. Get your subfloor and pine to around 12%. Make sure the subfloor is well fastened and glued (don't forget the groove), no squeaks or any kind of movement. Lay down asphalt roofing paper. Back prime the pine flooring with poly and then nail the hell out of it, every 8" with the barbed T nails. I've had good luck with this method, but, hey, wood is always going to move a little.