Do I need to acclimate engineered wood flooring with heating?

10 years ago

We bought engineered hardwood floor for our new house.
Link to the floor we bought
http://duchateaufloors.com/product/olde-dutch-2/

The floor installer tells me it needs to be acclimated for a week at the temperature that it will "live" in. So, if we set our thermostats to 70 degrees when we move in, he suggests that we let the wood sit in its boxes for a week at that temperature before installation.

Well, we dont have heating installed yet. To get heating in before flooring is a big change to my contractor's plans. Also, I would have to turn on gas much earlier than planned. Contractor says this level of acclimation is not necessary. I am not sure who is right and who is wrong.

Looking for advice from you all. Is it really necessary to acclimate engineered wood flooring at 70 degrees for a week before installation?
Can we just acclimate the wood at regular room temperatures without heating?

By the way, the house is in the San Francisco bay area. Average day time temperature is in the mid 60s these days.

Please help.
Thanks

Here is a link that might be useful: Link to the floor

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Comments (6)

geoffrey_b
10 years ago
If you go to your link, and you look under technical it gives the information you are looking for. Also you could contact the company directly.
User
10 years ago
Installer is correct. All finish woodwork, cabinets, and flooring should be installed in a climate controlled environment after that climate control has been on enough to start the dehumidification process. There is a LOT of moisture in new construction that you don't want swelling up your wood products.
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ar3045
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks Geoffrey_B and HollySprings,
I think I will contact the company to understand more about this. The website does say it needs to be cured for 3 days at 65 -75 degrees.

Just an awful lot of changes to the build plan if I have to get heating done before flooring. I was honestly hoping the installer was being paranoid.

Thanks
Vertise
10 years ago
Follow the manufacturer specs for their product! Acclimating the wood is SOP. You will have no recourse for a failure otherwise. Not with the installer and no product warranty either. Your builder should know this.
User
10 years ago
Your builder wants to do things the easy way for him, not the best way for you. Just look on the Building A Home forum for a gazillion posts from threeapples about her saga with her wood floors that a year later, she's still not happy with. Climate control is essential in drying out the moisture in all of the studs, sheathing, drywall and other moisture producers in your home. Wood of all kind, even engineered will soak up that moisture and swell. Engineered less so, but cabinets and other woodwork that is solid wood will absorb all of that moisture and swell. When it dries out, it will shrink. That's the normal behavior of wood. If you want to minimize the cupping and gaps in your wood, you keep it happy, you always keep it in the same climate controlled conditions as people enjoy. If you would be hot or cold, or clammy from the humidity (or dried out because it's too dry) then your wood will be in a position to change sizes due to those issues.
Vertise
10 years ago
Follow the specifics for acclimating. My manufacturer specified stacking boxes 2 or 3 tall. Don't make large piles to get them out of the way. Have the subfloor checked for moisture content. The floor and boards need to be within a certain percentage of each other. Read all the directions yourself.