Relative Humidity For Hardwood Floors

Just like humans wood is most comfortable within an ideal range of temperatures and relative humidity.

Relative humidity for hardwood floors.

In non scientific terms relative humidity rh is how much water is in the air. Relative humidity levels of 35 65 other lauzon engineered hardwood floors relative humidity levels of 35 55 lauzon solid hardwood floors. These are the safest conditions for most types of wood between 60 and 80 degrees fahrenheit and 30 to 50 rh. Dew point is when the air is 100 saturated at a given temperature.

A wood floor that is exposed to a relative humidity change of just 30 percent moving from 30 percent rh to 60 percent rh can experience enough dimensional change to affect the appearance and performance of the floor. In this chart you can see a small highlighted section. Relative humidity and hardwood flooring posted on march 28 2014 by flooring professionals administrator as we try and escape the grip of one of the hardest winters ever in the mid atlantic region gapping of hardwood continues to be an on going issue for hardwood installations. The illustration below will make it easy to understand.

When hardwood flooring is too dry the below slide is a typical winter day with an outside temperature of 10 f 12 c and rh of 70. Cupping occurs when the edges of a wood plank become higher than its center. This creates a concave u shape in the board. As you can see engineered wood flooring is more stable than solid wood flooring.

Temperatures should be kept between 60 and 80 fahrenheit. Relative humidity was monitored two months before the flooring was considered. What is the best relative humidity for hardwood floors. An example of cracking in hardwood floor due to high relative humidity.

With summer quickly approaching rising humidity levels can compromise your wood floor installations if not accounted for. In terms of your flooring excessive relative humidity can cause several issues. The builder waited for all windows and doors and finished most of the other work that can affect wood floors such as painting concrete work and the like. Ideal temperature humidity for wood floors.

One of the reasons for this is that the bottom layers are made of cross sided layers that move on opposite. This chart highlights the ideal levels of moisture in wood at various temperatures and relative humidity rh levels. In general relative humidity in the building should be between 30 50 percent year round for optimal wood flooring performance. Crowning is the opposite of cupping.

How this change affects wood flooring depends on several factors.