Hardwood Flooring in a Humid Environment
Do’s and Don’ts
Southern & Coastal Regions - Alabama, California, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Washington, British Columbia, and the Caribbean
DO
Engineered hardwood flooring is constructed to perform well in a high humidity environment. Other than Quarter Sawn White Oak, Live Sawn Walnut, and Live Sawn White Oak there are very few solid hardwood flooring options that will perform well in high humidity. Solid wood can be acclimated to the environment to pick up moisture and expand but this may cause Width Variations in the boards making it difficult to install in a straight line. The installer could also use spacers between the boards to allow them to expand.
DON’T
Installing standard solid hardwood flooring directly to concrete or in a high humidity environment is generally a bad idea. If the wood isn’t acclimated to a high humidity environment you will get Cupping which will most likely be permanent. Cupping can also result in the boards Checking and Cracking. Our flooring is kiln dried between 6-8% which is meant to be in an environment between 30-50% relative humidity. If the relative humidity where the flooring is to be installed will be consistently above 50%, standard solid hardwood flooring is not recommended.