I purchased 3/4" cumaru flooring in 4" width. Each piece seems to vary from 4" to 3&7/8th. So 1/8th difference in some of the boards. The wood has been in my garage in northern CA for close to 1 month acclimating to the climate. I've opened 3 of the boxes. The flooring was ordered from TRB flooring in NC.

What is an acceptable variance or should all of the flooring be 4" wide only? Thanks!

1/8" is over the standard of .05%.

Call your retailer and file a claim.

Thanks for the information. Is there some place that lists the standards for milled hardwood floors? I'm going to talk with the vendor on Monday (I'm in CA, they in NC).

1/8th" appears to be WAY over standard. What would cause the boards to be that far out? I would have thought the manufacturer would have MUCH better controls.

This is going to set us way back, and now we are living on the subfloor! At least it won't look too dirty in one spot over another!

The kiln operator was in a hurry!!! The lumber was not consistently kiln dried before it was milled. Boards milled at different moisture contents, have different dimensions, when the boards reach what is called moisture content equilibrium, where it is no longer gaining or loosing moisture content, and is acclimated. 1/8" tells me there was a 5-6% difference in MC at time of milling.

teekaa, you are storing the floor in the wrong place unless you will be installing this in your garage. When you get new flooring you must bring it inside the house to acclimate to the inside environment. Be sure you do that.

I was wondering about the garage vs indoors difference also. Since inside is air conditioned and the garage isn't. Even if there is a huge humidity difference between the two, I wouldn't expect to see the size difference within 20 minutes of bringing the boards inside.

I'm bringing it all in the house today. How long should it (the cumaru, very hard wood) take to acclimate to indoor humidity? From the variances of 1/8th" differences we are seeing would that make a difference?

This turn of events has really bummed my wife & I out. The flooring and shipping was VERY expensive. I hope the vendor in NC will do what is right.

Thanks!

Are you seeing a width difference from one end of a board to the other end of the same board? I have seen that, and I am pretty sure that is not a cause of MC when milling, but just sloppy milling. Or perhaps,, do you see a pattern of widths, where a bunch of wood is X width, and another bunch is Y width? If so, perhaps you got two milling batches, and each batch was slightly different than the other. I have some unfinished solid IPE which I am still in stalling, and the widths do vary a bit. I am having to measure every end with a caliper and mark them, so I can "end width match" them when installing. It really sucks.

I would think the main issue is how to address your problem.
Contact the flooring company, explain your problem, and they will give you the information on how to file a claim and the steps needed to satisfy you. I'm sure the company wants you to be happy.
To aid you, I have contacted TRB concerning this issue, providing a link to this thread. Hope this helps you.

Thanks Ray for the link. I should clarify I purchased the flooring through Internetlumber.com and they sourced it to TRB. I wasn't aware of the sourcing until the boxes arrived. I have spoken to Beth on possibly purchasing some landing treads but not this flooring issue since it just came up yesterday. Beth was very helpful.

So I've measured 35 different boards with a dial caliper I purchased yesterday evening from Sears. It measures in increments of .001" so 1/32" equals .0313", 1/16" equals .0625" and 1/8" equals .1250" on the dial.

I measured each board twice, once at each end. Here are the high and low of the measurements:

Largest width variance on a single board between top and bottom = .014"
Smallest width variance on a single board between top & bottom = .000"

Within the group of 35 boards:
Largest width variance from 4" = .055"
Smallest width variance from 4" = .000" (spot on!)

So if I'm reading the gauge correctly (I'm having a neighbor (general contractor) come over and check my numbers just to be sure since I may be reading it wrong) my flooring contractor appears to have stretched the issue somewhat. I haven't found any that were 1/8" off as he mentioned on Saturday (right before I went and puked!). He says there should not be more than a 1/32" (.0313") difference between the widths. I clearly have boards above that range.

In the small amount of flooring that has been laid (maybe 15 - 20 sq. ft), there are couple of areas that clearly have small gaps that can be seen by a blind man. Most of the floor looks to fit nice & tightly together. But in those areas, there clearly are gaps. He said the problem would get worse as the flooring was laid across the room. So we've stopped all work at that point.

So I'm even more perplexed after my morning of measuring. Do I have bad wood or a bad contractor?
What are acceptable variances between single pieces top to bottom and from 4" width?

Thanks,

You need an inspector.
Now you are asking about board widths and thickness.
.055" in 4"? Yet you have gaps visible from a standing position?
Something else may be coming into play, so it is time for you to call an inspector to find out what is really going on.

Inspectors:
www.NOFMA.org
www.NWFA.org
www.FloorReports.com
www.QuestInspect.com

Maybe Floorguy has a better suggestion..
heck;; Gary lives right there and can maybe stop by and install the floor for you if the wood measures correctly.

Thanks for the advice. My contractor neighbor came by and said there is something definitely off about the variances. He suggested I get an inspector also or just measure each board before it goes in and match each row to the same width. Said it would be a HUGE pain but you could do it.

Thanks, teekaa