acclimating hardwoods, open boxes?
#21
Do you have a reasonably accurate moisture meter? You can bring in a piece of wood now and let it set until you get your flooring delivered. Maybe let it set a week or more so just so you know it's had enough time to acclimate. Maybe use the same species as a little bit of insurance. Acclimation is simply allowing the wood to reach the same moisture level as the interior of the home. A cheap pin moisture meter should give you all the information you need.

When the new wood hits the same moisture level as your benchmark piece, it's acclimated. It's my understanding that it takes longer to dry than it does to absorb moisture. But you don't know if it needs to dry or get wet without knowing the moisture level.

I would still leave the new flooring bundled as I've had problems with bending, especially with narrow planks. Not as much with wider planks. There will always be some warping but you can help control it with keeping the bundles banded. The energy causing the boards to bend is still happening inside the bundle but take a while to move once out of the bundle. Most bent boards can still be installed with a little effort. Generally, I leave several bundles un-banded as I install. I'll lay about 20sq ft and un-band another bundle. I try not to install the bend planks near a parallel wall where you'll use finish nails to install them. It's better to lay them away from a wall where the surrounding boards can keep it in place. You'll want to have several boxes open while you lay the flooring to have plenty of boards to choose from to keep it random looking. Some boxes will have a lot of shorts and some will have a lot of longs. The higher grade (more expensive) flooring will have more long planks and less shorts and have more uniformity between the boxes.
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#22
At the very least open the box tops and ends so air can better circulate through the wood. Even better remove the cardboard. You may even want to put a box fan and set it next to the wood stack. Any solid wood flooring (I've been told) needs to acclimate for at least a week.
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#23
(10-10-2020, 02:20 PM)dg152 Wrote: At the very least open the box tops and ends so air can better circulate through the wood.  Even better remove the cardboard.  You may even want to put a box fan and set it next to the wood stack.  Any solid wood flooring (I've been told) needs to acclimate for at least a week.

I've got the wood in the house now.  The salesman said don't even bother opening the ends of the boxes, but I've done so anyway and also put sticks between the layers of boxes.

I do have a moisture meter, but it doesn't go below 7%.. It's currently telling me that both the flooring and sub-floor are 7% so I suspect I could probably install it right away, but I won't be able to get to it for a week anyway so I think I'll be fine.

(BTW this is pre-finished solid 3/4" T&G Maple, 3-1/4" width)
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#24
If you don't even have to bother opening the ends of the boxes all that's happening is an equilibration of temperature.  Before I would believe that (any) salesman, I would read the manufacturer's installation instructions.  

John
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#25
(10-12-2020, 11:46 AM)jteneyck Wrote: If you don't even have to bother opening the ends of the boxes all that's happening is an equilibration of temperature.  Before I would believe that (any) salesman, I would read the manufacturer's installation instructions.  

John

Moisture content too.
Neil Summers Home Inspections




I came to a stop sign and a skanky tweaker chick in a tube top climbed out of the brush and propositioned me.  She looked like she didn't have any teeth so I counted that as a plus.


... Kizar Sosay





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#26
(10-12-2020, 08:14 PM)Snipe Hunter Wrote: Moisture content too.

Inside the box maybe, but not between what's in the box and the house.  

John
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#27
I think the best way would be to ask the supplier. I believe it depends on more factors. One of those that I have to mention, cause it happened to me personally, is that it's different depending on whether it's soft or hard wood. Really messed up big time with this a few years ago, but hey, we learn from our mistakes, right? Well no, I made the same mistake a second time. And a third time. I'm even kind of embarrassed to admit it now, after all this time. I finally decided to learn more about the topic of Hardwood vs softwood and that's how I find the supplier that I work with now. I mean we all make mistakes right? Even if we continue making them, haha.
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#28
I don't know. We have 3/4" hickory throughout our house, everywhere except the bathrooms. I did it myself over a 3 year period as we remodeled each room we put down more hardwood.  Never acclimated anything just started laying it. It's been about a year since it was all finished and no problems.
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#29
I had some traditional hardwood that "Acclimated" for ten years before I installed it. I just wanted to be safe.
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#30
I had some bamboo flooring that sat in the house for months with the boxes cut open.  When I did the install it was beautiful a few weeks later I went back to finish another project and it was buckled so cut it and got it right.  Then again once more before I was finished with the house
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