6/4/2009
6:11:31 PM 

There was this debate going on at a hardwood forum the other day...exclusively a hardwood forum which I will avoid mentioning which led me to write this in my blog.

It seems this person bought some Anderson Hardwood and it checked...cause....she claimed no one warned her she needed to keep up the Rh in the house

Now after Anderson replaced the floor it is checking again a couple years later. They used a humidifier in winter but not in summer so......the blog.

Humidification of Hardwood in Arid Zones with AC.

A common complaint about hardwood floors in arid zones is checking and splitting due to low humidity. Many people believe running a humidifier in arid zones in summer is futile. This is largely due to the fact that an AC unit is a de-humidifier. These will counter act each other but not totally as your AC does not run continually and this counter reaction by the AC unit can be neutralized to a point. However some checking should be expected in your wood flooring as nothing can be 100% effective. I see more and more manufacturers putting requirements in ink. Even right on the outside of the boxes.

The old school of thought was to acclimate the wood out in the open and either dry it down or let the wood gain moisture and equilibrate with the surroundings.

Now this is changing and you bring your home to the woods comfort zone, especially with the prefinished flooring, so the wood is stable and the hard finish will not check, and the wood is less likely to split.

In my zone anyway (Southern Arizona) it is still very dry during the summer months down into the single digits until the rains (monsoons) come in mid July to August. Even though one may think it is useless, a humidifying system attached to your HVAC system is still working to keep up the Rh in your home, lessoning the chance your hardwood floor will check and split.

Let it be know the checks and some splits are actually already there depending on the kiln drying and type of manufacturing ie rotary, cut and sawn. The idea is to keep they from visably showing up to the naked eye.

There are other options such as using a stand alone humidifier with the one in installed with your HVAC system, or even two or three stand alone humidifiers depending on the size of your house. Speak with a qualified HVAC salesman. I have a stand alone that covers 200 square feet and keeps my house at 30% rh very easy without running every ten minutes. Once the unit runs for awile it is easy for it to stay in the upper 30+ % range.

Also, quite a few houses like mine have dual cooling systems. I am able to run an evaporative cooling system (Master Cool II) which easily raises the Rh of the home to any manufactures requirements. Then when the rains come I switch to AC.

Humidification of your house in arid zones like Arizona will also help your wood furniture as well as your sinuses. In fact it is very healthy and typically called a comfort zone, which runs anywhere between 30 to 55 %.

After a discussion I had with a consumer who had a bad experience with their wood floor checking I called a Steinway Piano dealer I put a hardwood floor in for last fall. He humidifiers his entire store, winter through summer. In fact he freaked out when I was installing some solid maple in his showroom cus I left the door open when transporting tools in and out. His $100,000 Steinway he had near the entrance needs a constant ambient temp and Rh or the wood will__________ you fill in the blank.

Needless to say I don't have to worry about that maple hardwood flooring. And there really is no excuse for not maintaining your hardwood floor close to manufactures ambient zone requirements.

G'day!


Tags: arid, flooring, hardwood, humidification, zone