Scott Taylor
Scott Taylor
Milwaukee
It's helpful to start by asking: "What are your experiences with wood floors?" Are they used to old red oak strip and now they want to put in 6-inch Brazilian cherry? That way you can help set their expectations. Do they have a humidifier? Do they understand what can happen when a consistent environment is not kept? I tell people that a wood floor has its comfort zone typically between 30–50% RH and 60–80 degrees. If your flooring is 3 inches wide, it will stay that width if your home is in that range. Once you leave that "comfortable" range, your wood floor will expand (potentially cup if there is too much moisture) or contract (gap or, if too dry, fracture or split).
Lenny Hall
Lenny Hall
Endurance Floor Co. Inc., West Park, Fla.
One of the first things we talk to customers about is that the wood floor has to be placed in the same environment they are going to live in, and we battle the old mythology that the flooring has to be on the job site for "2 weeks." Wood mills produce products with a MC of 6–9%, and for South Florida it needs to be 8.5–10% for slab construction, and 12–15% for wood joist/plywood subfloor that are over crawl spaces. By the time wood gets to me from the distributor, it's about perfect for slab houses. Nearly all homes and apartments here are actually very climate-consistent because most people run their AC year-round.
Toby Merrill
Toby Merrill
Walk on Wood, McHenry, Ill.
I try to be honest about what you can expect from a wood floor in our environment. In winter, humidity can drop down to 20 percent, and in summer, we can get RH in the 90s. So I explain humidification and dehumidification, and how they can control humidity levels in their home to some extent. We also talk about the fact that the wider the plank, the wider the gaps will be. In our area, if you are installing in the middle of winter or summer, you're guaranteed to have movement in the floor. For me, it's just about educating them about what they can expect and not delivering false promises.
Jason Elquest
Jason Elquest
Blackhawk Floors, Scottsdale, Ariz.
People will tell me we can't do wood floors here because it's too dry, and I just have to explain the acclimation process. We are relatively stable. The low end of our relative humidity is in the 20s, and we have a rainy season where it gets maybe 70–80 RH during a thunderstorm overnight, but the average at that time of year is probably around 50 percent. Inside it's lower because people are running their air conditioning, which is pulling humidity out of the air. Some engineered products do experience problems with delamination in our dry climate, so we're careful about which products we install.
