Hygrometers serve to
check the relative humidity on jobsites.
Maintaining a stable reading throughout the
period in which hardwood is delivered,
acclimated and installed will provide some peace
of mind. You can get by without the use of one
of these tools should the residence have an HVAC
system that monitors all these elements,
providing it's up and running.
Why Use A Hygrometer?
Solid hardwood flooring
will gain and lose moisture content throughout
it's life cycle
even though the material itself
is no longer living. During periods of high
humidity, the cells in the hardwood collect or
gain moisture. Conversely during dry periods it
will be lost.
For a successful hardwood
installation, monitoring the jobsite before the
delivery of hardwood should be considered. Let's
say two weeks prior, an unusually wet period is
encountered and it has rained for days on end. A
few windows were on back order along with the
front door for your new house. You don't think
twice about the effect of all that moisture is
having on the subfloor, after all it looks dry
so what's the big deal?
Comparison
Trust us, it has gained
some moisture. Now the door and windows arrive
and get installed. They were the only things
holding up the hardwood guys, so the contractor
calls them to bring in the flooring to
acclimate for a week. Wait! Acclimate?
Acclimation is a good thing, but the hardwood is
now being acclimated to high moisture
conditions. It's not going to help if the
relative humidity after the installation is
significantly lower. In fact you're likely
to get a gapping floor eventually. This is a
very common occurrence in areas that use dry
heat during colder winter months.
Let's look at a similar
project. Another builder down the street has a
similar situation. Relative humidity was
monitored two months before the flooring was
considered. The builder waited for all windows
and doors, and finished most of the other work
that can affect hardwood floors such as
painting, concrete work and the like. The Rh
reading remained in a safe range or under
60%(most hardwood manufacturers suggest 40-60%
depending on climate norms) The flooring is
brought in, acclimated to proper conditions, and
finally installed.
Without monitoring, your
builder has made two poor decisions. Aside from
a gapped floor in the winter months, chances are
also good you could get some cupping of the new
floor. Reasons being the subfloor moisture
content could have been too high to safely
install the hardwood.
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