Wood Flooring Moisture

It doesn’t matter if you’re installing your wood flooring yourself or hiring someone–wood flooring moisture is something you need to think about.  Every guide you read, every set of product instructions will say, “Let the wood floor acclimate in the house for 3 days” or whatever time length they specify (1 day? 5 days?).  How long should you let it acclimate, and really, do you need to care about any of this?

Wood Flooring Moisture Does Matter

Like the saying goes, “It’s a living, breathing thing,” this wood flooring is.  Though its life in the forest is long over, its new “life” in your house has begun:  wood floor is porous and is subject to expansion and contraction.

Install wood flooring before it has acclimated, and your new floor may end up with severe gaps or buckling, and there ain’t much you can do about it then–other than pulling it out and doing it again.

How Long to Wait?

Guidelines vary according to the wood species and type of flooring.  I say that no time is too long.  Five days is about the bare minimum; seven days even better.

How to Let Wood Flooring Acclimate

Don’t just toss the bundles in the house and let them be.  You need to unpack your bundles and lay the floorboards out flat.  Got pre-finished flooring?  Then lay down a blanket, turn the first layer of boards upside-down (so that the bottom, porous side is most exposed); and stack succeeding layers cross-fashion.  Keep room between the boards (think of it as building a fire–let the oxygen flow!).

Option:  Moisture Meter

If you’re a DIYer and feeling serious about this stuff, you can get a moisture meter.  You stab the meter’s pins into the back side of the floorboard at several places, and get an instant digital readout.  How you’ll know if the wood flooring moisture has stabilized is to keep checking day after day.  When the readings are fairly consistent over the course of three or four days, the flooring is ready to install.

Wood moisture meters can be had for as little as $25.