I have had some time to reflect: What does the word "acclimation" mean to me?
So... I did have a few negative comments about my post "The Three Words I Hate," and no, I will not share who they were from, so do not ask. For me it comes down to a few key facts that make or break the path we take to install wood flooring in this market. Fact one is: No matter how hard you try to make every detail perfect, it is not going to happen. No matter what, each job brings a new set of hills to climb and you know what? Which brings us to Fact two: That is okay.
I did re-read Howard's post about this and agree that Howard is 100% right, as flooring folks we do need to read and study our craft; we need to weed out the Mr. Know It All's as we become better and better at our craft.
Over a week ago we took 600 feet of 3/4 x 4¼-inch factory finish red oak flat-cut flooring to one of my high-subfloor jobs. When I started, the crawl space was just over 22%, with mold covering every inch of the subfloor. When I first looked at this job, over 4 months ago, I told the folks that in no terms would Cardinal Hardwood install flooring in this home. They took my advice and had a company come in and remove the mold and spray for any future trouble, but most of all they had a unit installed to bring the RH down. They did it right and now the same home is mold-free with a subfloor reading at 12-13%. The wood flooring is at the site getting "acclimated." I did the test on the subfloor top and bottom. The crawl space is clean dry and in line with the three words I hate, but—and that is always the killer word—the wood is reading 7-8%, right where the wood came in at from the mill.
Like I said, the flooring is 4¼-inch wide; now that means the wood floor and subfloor need to be within 2% of each other per the three words I hate... folks, it will not happen, not in 3 days or 50 days. If the flooring came up that much, then the T&G would not fit each other.
I asked a great friend and one of the best at understanding wood and wood flooring, Mickey Moore, to drive up and go to the job site. We talked over the home before and now, then he said, "Stop the fear of the numbers and get the house ready for wood, and then get the wood ready for the house." He is doing an article on this whole acclimation thing right now and when it is out I hope we all see through the three words I hate and get to best words I have heard in a long time.
I want to say it again: "Stop the fear of the numbers and get the house ready for wood, and then get the wood ready for the house." Now, where from here? I am not an HVAC man, I am not a builder, I am not going to let the numbers get the best of me. Folks, my new path is to learn more about these three factors as a floor person: job site conditions, install conditions and change conditions.
On a related note, let me put in a word for all and any flooring contractors: I know we do not have the funds or maybe the time to be fully involved with the NWFA education, tech books and overall input of the programs going on, but a thank you to the NWFA for asking me to be a part of the convention team. When I was a sales/tech rep for Clarke American Sanders, the convention was all about showing stuff, but now as a flooring contractor, it is all about education, and I want to add my input… the input of how we say that with PRIDE we, the flooring contractors, can learn and become the best we can be on every job. Please start now to save the funds to make it to the "Big Show"—our NWFA convention in Orlando next April. There are a whole new bunch of folks putting it together this year, and it should be a good one.
So for now I'm done with the reflections. You will be hearing from me again. I'm not going to say sorry for the long delay, as I have been winning the battle.
