Hardwood Flooring ??

[logan97]

We are days away from being ready to install hardwood flooring. My question is: our house does not have central heat and air so how long should we give the flooring once picked up and moved into the house for acclimation? We will install a wood stove after the flooring is down but it will not be on 24/7, only at times during the random days when I will be working out there.

 

[BWSSR]

3 to 5 days would be great....2 days minimum

 

[logan97]

3 to 5 days would be great....2 days minimum

do you think after installation the wood heat is going to adversely effect the flooring ?

 

[BWSSR]

the flood will expand and contract thru the year..this is why you leave a 1/4" 2 3/8" gap all around the walls, the use 3/4" 1/4 round tacked to the BASE boards so the floor can move...assuming this is a glue down or floating floor.....the naid do floors may not move much....

 

[DennisArrow]

Try to open the boxes and stack the flooring on some stickers. These are small pieces of wood under the stack to allow air circulation around the stack............3 or 4 days is adequate..........longer is better.

My 3/4 oak flooring was put down before I got my stove. Yes, we have heat pumps but we run the stove 24/7 from Sept into April..........No noticeable movement of any kind....Yes, your installer should allow spacing for the flooring to move a bit. They should know this for sure................God bless..........Dennis

 

[Tomtint]

It depends on what type of flooring you are doing. As said previously, minimum 2 days. This time of year the humidity is low so the flooring will likely not be swollen. Some floating floors have a plywood layer glued to the bottom and those are very dimensionally stable. Many of the prefinished options have very low moisture levels if stored indoors before delivery to you.

 

[uglyboywith11fingers]

anybody care to comment on why they recommend the 3/4" space at the walls around the room... at least that's what the instruction were on my 3/4" ash flooring.
with the hardwood nailed every 8" to the 3/4" plywood sub-floor, which is also under the bottom plate of all the walls...
I don't see how that hardwood can move much in relation to the walls.

Pete

 

[fishheadbob]

anybody care to comment on why they recommend the 3/4" space at the walls around the room... at least that's what the instruction were on my 3/4" ash flooring.
with the hardwood nailed every 8" to the 3/4" plywood sub-floor, which is also under the bottom plate of all the walls...
I don't see how that hardwood can move much in relation to the walls.

Pete

I have 3 3/4 inch oak floors installed by a very inexperienced guy (me) who at least read the instructions. After 30 years of wood heating, here's my observations. I gave the flooring a couple of days to acclimate to the humidity in the house; don't know if that was really necessary but what the heck. Seemed like a good recommendation. The floors were tongue and groove nailed to a subfloor. I don't think there was any noticeable expansion or contraction during the heating season or during the humid summers. Since my house is ancient and nowhere near square the 3/4 inch wall spacing recommendation made installation much easier than trying to shave down boards to fit the out of square rooms. Some places the floor is almost touching the wall, other places it is 3/4 inch. Between the baseboard molding and shoe molding the 3/4 inch is easily bridged. I did have a piece of both molding available while installing to make certain the gap would be covered.

Never did a floating floor but have always wondered how they'd do with expansion or possibly even buckling under extreme humidity. When I was a school board member we lost a maple basketball court due to some knucklehead leaving a fire door open for fresh air during a heavy rain. It was up 3 feet in places.

 

[meos1]

Wood would grow linearly. So the run would be the dimension that needs space. The other dimension will grow, just not at the rates the run will. Yes its recommended to let the packs acclimate 2 or more days. The shims between them is a good idea as they sit. Its not cheap so following the best advice is prudent.

 

[MAN IN BLACK]

The wood stove will definitively impact your hardwood floors.
It will keep the boards nice and tight due to very dry air ( low ambient humidity )
The opposite is also true for the summer months...cracks appearing in the floor.