I have some questions. My engineered walnut was delivered last week. It is currently in the garage, while they finish the texture on the drywall. The plan is to move it into the house on Sunday after the drywall is finished. Then let is sit there until the following Monday. My question is, will this be adequate? The wood will be in there while the drywall texture is drying. Is this OK? For what its worth, I live in Utah were it is extremely dry. Thanks!

Get a humidistat. Cheap at $18.00 at Wal-Mart. Measure the relative humidity now and a few days after the texturing has been done. Sometimes, after texture and tape and mud, they will run fans and open windows to help dry things out and get rid of the moisture. You should be running your HVAC at normal conditions prior to having the floor delivered and installed. Acclimation isn't about how long but about equalibrium. Flooring should be acclimated and installed under "normal living conditions". If the conditions that exist in the house now are not the norm, then don't install it until they are.

your flooring installer should have or have easy access to a moisture meter. Check the flooring and the subfloor its planning to be put down on. If they are within 4% then you can proceed with the install. Also a good idea to check the temp and relative humidity in the house. This is where most people screw up. They think acclamation is bringing the wood into the home before its installed constitutes aclamation, not true. especially in new construction. What you arte tring to do is achive a level similar to which the house will be once it is occupied. Normal for my area is about 72% and 50% rh. yours is diffrent i am sure. typically in a new consruction like yours there is hundreds of gallons of water used in the construction, so they tend to be "wetter" while under construction then after they are completed and dried out so to speak. So often times floors are installled in a wet inviroment, pull in abiant moisture and swell compressing the sides resulting a cupped floor while in the wet stage and gaps once the moisture is removed it will shrink back down leaving cracks.

The conditions now are definately not what they will be when the house is occupied. We don't have any HVAC on now--although we won't have AC ever, and heat is not necessary now. The drywall is just being finished up.

The reason we were trying to install the floors now is that I want them installed before the kitchen cabinets are installed.

What would you do?

This is going to be an "old school" installation, like they did back before HVAC systems where invented. Even though it is an engineered, expect some movement, gapping and swelling. If it is Black Walnut, it is pretty stable, but that is not necessarily what the core species is and could act different.

because you are in that situatuion dont be shocked if the floor moves a bit after install. try to ventelate as much as possible the more moisture that is removed or given time to do naturally the better. you could also fir up the cabinents to accomadate the flooring thickness. I tell people using prefinished floors to wait as long as possible to install the floor, less traffic the better imo.

A little off topic, but based on the same question...

Everyone here is saying that all wood floors (solid and engineered) should acclimate to the environement.

From the Mirage Website:
"Boxes of wood strips should remain sealed until the time of installation, since they don't need to acclimate to the room's humidity before they're installed".

From the WFI website:
Engineered wood floors do not need any moisture equaliziation prior to installation and should be installed from just opened boxes. Do not open more more than a few boxes in advance of installation and only the number of boxes which will be installed within the next few hours.

What's the proper course of action prior to installation?

wow I am going to have to look at that myself. I wonder how they warranty against cupping/gappping with a statement like that.

Now you can see how easy it is to be confused as a homeowner!

http://www.miragefloors.com/en/pdf/en_m ... -guide.pdf


http://www.wflooring.com/Downloads/inst ... ltiPly.pdf

As I shop around for engineered floors, I've noticed quite a few that are now saying that there is no need for acclimation. They often tout the fact that their use of multiple engineered layers eliminates the need for acclimation. One (LM Flooring) even states that if you open the packages prematurely, the tongue may swell, creating difficulty for installation.

As someone who is planning to do the installation myself, I've recently been wondering what the best plan of action is: follow the manufacturers' instructions (to ensure warranty) or follow historical precedence. I'm interested to hear the thoughts of the experts!

Todd

The flooring will gain & loose moisture while in the cardboard carton.

If the flooring has a fingerboard core, it helps tremendously if not eliminating with end peaking of engineered, because of a moisture gain.

Read all the way through there specs and see if a temperature and humidity level is stated to be kept or maintained. oops, there it is..

I see on the Mirage specs it says...


Boa-Franc Inc. warrants to the original purchaser its Mirage Engineered prefinished hardwood
floors against delamination [separation between plies], buckling, warping, twisting
and cupping in normal environmental conditions, as suggested in the present guide.
Normal environmental conditions mean that heating and ventilation systems should be
designed to maintain interior relative humidity level [in the air] between 40 to 60% RH all
year round, to ensure the best performance of the Mirage Engineered hardwood flooring
and other wood furniture or wood cabinets.




On the WFI page it says...


WARNING: Our flooring is well manufactured and is designed to perform within the typical residential environment. We are not responsible for site conditions, as we do not control them. Only you, the installer can test and correct for too dry or too wet site conditions prior to installation. Note: Wood flooring installed in areas where the relative humidity is below 35% may cup, shrink in width/length, or crack and in these dry conditions a humidifier is necessary to bring relative humidity above 35%. Flooring installed on top of wet sub floors may crown, (and then cup), swell, (and then shrink), buckle, telegraph, or edge/tip raise. Flooring that is soaked from above will do the same. DO NOT INSTALL THIS FLOORING ON WET SUBFLOORS OR IN OVERLY DRY CONDITIONS without first correcting any deficient conditions.

Then on down it says...


Store the wood flooring, in the UNOPENED boxes, at installation area for 24 -72 hours before installation to allow flooring to adjust to room temperature. Do not store the boxes of flooring directly on concrete. DO NOT OPEN THE BOXES PRIOR TO INSTALLATION! Engineered wood floors DO NOT need any moisture equalization prior to installation and should be installed from just opened boxes. DO NOT OPEN more than a few boxes in advance of installation and only the number of boxes which will be installed within the next few hours.

My impression is that the manufacterers of some engineered floors are "pre-acclimating" their flooring and sealing it up in cartons not to be opened until installation. This makes sense in some circumstances, especially when trying to float a floor. If a T&G swell from a damp environment, it will not fit together. If they shrink from a very dry environment, then the T&G will be too loose fitting. I think it is always best to follow the manufacter's instructions. I can see where an engineered floor may or may not benefit from acclimating. The bottom line is no one lives in a home that is constantly out of "normal living conditions", which translates to 65 to 80 degrees and 35 to 60 % RH. That is what the flooring was "pre-acclimated" for and what the environment should be. If the home now has those readings, it would be safe to install an engineered floor that has been sealed if the manufacterer does not require acclimation. It then becomes the homeowner's responsibility to maintain proper conditions for that floor to perform correctly.

Most Hardwood floring is manufactuerd between 6 and 9% moisture. This is because "on average" it is what is typical of a floor that is in a seasoned home where they keep the temp about 73 and the rh about 50%.
As i read through the Mirage info it sounded to me that acclamation is not neccesary "if" your home falls between the specified moisture temp and rh. Well yea, what I got out of it was, your house needs to acclamate so your floor wont have to. which I guess is what is really ideal.