Hi. I’m rebuilding my house in New Orleans, a very humid place, and am nearing the point of installing pre-finished bamboo plank flooring. The bamboo has been in the house for months, but the house had no heating or air conditioning during that time (still doesn’t). So, can I install the flooring now and then subject it to air conditioning for the remainder of the summer, or should I get the air fixed and use it to dry out the flooring before installation?

Thanks for your help.

Acclimation doesn't start until you have the home with HVAC up and running, maintaining a temp and humidity, just like your going to live in it. That means your HVAC unit needs to be running 24/7 for at least 2 weeks, before acclimation can even start. Then after the HVAC unit has been pulling the moisture out of the building, for those two weeks(you may want to run the heater at night and the AC all day, seriously) the bamboo can start it's acclimation process, with a wood moisture meter, to measure the moisture content in the bamboo and a hygrometer to measure the temperature and humidity.



If you install it now, when you get moved in and in about a month or two, your going to have massive gaps between each board.

Thanks for the informative response. It appears we’ll be waiting a bit longer to escape our 8’ X 27’ temporary residence.

If I might follow up on your response, we don’t run our HVAC system year round, opening the windows during the reasonable months here. Since the humidity can get pretty high even when the temperature doesn’t require heating or air conditioning, how will the bamboo respond? Will it expand sufficiently to cause buckling at the end joints if it's installed with low moisture content?

Thanks again.

I would rather have gaps, then a buckled floor.

Expect it to move.

I agree; gaps would be preferred over buckling. So, at what point (or moisture content) do you think I should install the flooring?

Is the acclimation still essential in So Cal? My HVAC has been down for 3 mos. and I want to install now...?? Do you think I could acclimate in the un-controlled climate after laying out the approx. 5/8" horizontal carbonized bamboo?

I had no idea this would be so complicated...

It is not a buy it and slap it on the floor, investment. That's a gamble, and you have better odds in Vegas!!!


Proper acclimation is essential with any wood, or bamboo, in any region of the country.

Humidity is moisture. Add humidity and it grows(cups & buckles), remove the humidity, and it shrinksGaps and cracks.

You better have the interior ambient conditions consistent.

Well, I suppose I need to wait before installing...

Thanks floorguy

My house stays at 70 year round (spoiled wife). My crawl space is completely sealed because I have no duct work (hvac and furnace dumps into the crawl space which in turn comes up through the registers). I know it's kinda weird, but it works. My question is, being that my crawl space is bone dry, and I have no idea where to get a moisture meter (not to mention, I don't want to buy a $200-$400 piece of equipment that I'll use once) would I be safe to assume it's alright? Or should I knuckle down and buy a moisture meter?

NOFMA states that in a "plenum" type crawl space (where there are no outside vents and the crawl space is sealed and part of the HVAC system) that the "floor" of that space needs to be sealed off with a minimum of 6 mil polyethylene plastic sheeting. Plenum crawl spaces often will have concrete as a "floor" and concrete wicks up moisture. With no vents to carry it out from under the house, it exhausts into your house. Hopefully, if you have concrete in your crawl space, the contractor placed a vapor barrier UNDER that slab before he poured it.

So your HVAC is in the crawl space, and the return air vent is in the floor, along with all the registers.

No duct work??? When was this home built???

As I understand it, the system uses a standard down draft forced air furnace. But instead of a large metal plenum and a series of ducts, the crawl space plenum design eliminates those and uses the entire crawl space as the "duct" or air delivery device. The returns are in the normal locations for a down draft furnace. I have only seen one system like this in 30 years and it was on an older 1960's custom home.

Gary is right - it uses down draft. They did istall a vapor barrier under the pea gravel and then on top. I accidently poked a hole in it one time and the pea gravel had no moisture in it ( I patched the hole back up). I actually like the sytem because I never have to worry about pipes freezing and, because there is no duct work to carry sound, our house is very quiet. So, do you think I'll be alright without buying a moisture meter?

If you want to play it safe, a moisture meter is the correct way to go. But if you're a betting man, you could bring the flooring in the home, set the HVAC to that 70degrees F, buy a CHEAP humidistat ( $20.00 ) and when the humidity typically registers around 45 % for a minimum of two weeks AFTER the floors been in the house, you're more than likely be OK. This is assuming you keep the house in this condition year round (it can vary a little) Turn off the AC in summer with the humidity at 80 %+ for weeks on end, the floors will cup a little, maybe a lot. Check the humidity level in the crawl space plenum as well. If it's high ( 70% or more ), you need another vapor barrier.

The flooring requires acclimation, but more important is the acclimation of the home.
Homes without HVAC can get wet. The entire home requires acclimation prior to the installation of Natural Products, and the Wood Flooring requires acclimation to "The acclimated Structure". Failure to acclimate the home will result in cupping, gapping, buckling, panelizing and more.

So, Acclimate the Structure then acclimate the material inside the acclimated structure.