Acceptable Moisture Levels For Hardwood Floors

Hardwood floors the maximum subfloor moisture level will be either 12 or 13 depending upon the manufacturer.

Acceptable moisture levels for hardwood floors. Similar to the hardwood floor the wood subfloor must have an acceptable moisture content to avoid flooring failures over time. 1 in most regions of the country a dry wood subfloor that is ready to work has a moisture content of 12 percent or less or down to about 6 in states with low rh relative humidity. 6 ways humidity can affect your hardwood floor lauzon flooring avoid these mistakes when moisture testing wood floors. At the time of installation as the installer you should know the moisture content of the wood flooring the moisture condition of the substrate and the ambient conditions in the space.

Solid strip flooring less than 3 wide should have a moisture content no more than 4 percent different from the moisture content of your subflooring materials. Businesses use hardwood floors in their offices to create an elegant and sophisticated atmosphere while homeowners use it to create smooth easy to clean surfaces that when properly sealed resist staining and look beautiful. The wagner mmc 220 pinless moisture meter uses intellisense technology to measure the moisture in the wood not on the wood s surface and deliver an accurate reading at an extended range. Flooring specialists can test the moisture content of a wood subfloor using the pinless wood moisture meter.

Acceptable moisture content in hardwood flooring. Then the hardwood flooring moisture content must be within 2 4 of the subfloor moisture. Wait until bamboo flooring adjusts to room temperature and humidity. If the moisture content of wood flooring isn t right then it can warp buckle or even delaminate causing significant damage and ruining the aesthetic value of the flooring.

The determination of moisture content is an essential part of quality control within the flooring installation process. Hardwood flooring can be elegant durable and practical for many interior applications. Wood subfloors are actually easy to check for moisture content just test for moisture at several locations in the room and average the results fig. Testing wood subfloors.

To make sure that the moisture content of wood flooring is in the right range many professionals use flooring moisture meters to test their wood flooring materials and. This process usually takes 72 hours but it can take longer if you are in a region with higher or lower levels of moisture. 2 for plank 3 wide or more hardwood and 4 for strip 2 wide hardwood. Reaching equilibrium moisture content.

You can use the mmc 220 not only to measure the moisture content of hardwood flooring meant for. The mmc 220 uses electromagnetic technology to measure the moisture content of over 150 species.