How Inside Air Affects Wood Floors

Craig DeWitt Headshot

Hf 0407 60We build houses (and other buildings) so we can maintain an inside environment different from the one outside. For hundreds of years, we primarily heated buildings.

In the last 50 years or so, cooling has become widespread. Much more recently, we've put effort into intentionally controlling humidity in buildings. The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has published "acceptable" indoor conditions that range near 70 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit (F) and 30 to 50 percent relative humidity (RH). These conditions guide us in determining the expected in-use moisture content of wood flooring.

Wood flooring reacts to the environment it is in. Wood gains or loses moisture and correspondingly gets bigger or smaller based on the moisture content and temperature of its surroundings. Everyone involved with wood deals with this wood-moisture-temperature phenomenon. NOFMA, the NWFA, the U.S. Forest Products Lab and even other publications like Fine Woodworking publish information on these relationships and how to deal with them. We, as flooring professionals, need to know what determines or affects humidity and temperature levels in a house, and how those interactions affect wood floors. Here are some basics every wood flooring professional should know.

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