I’m along the coast in San Diego – generally high humidity. I received an estimate to install ¾ X 2 ¼ White Oak Select with oil-modified satin finish.

The estimate mentions the need to acclimate 30 days. That’s ok but I would rather the estimate just read “until the difference in moisture content of hardwood and subfloor is less than 4%”.

What really caught me by surprise was the estimate also read “An additional 24-30 day after install before it may be sanded and finished”.

If the wood has acclimated, why the wait before finishing? I hope some of the experts on here will weigh in with your thoughts.

I know that if you talk to the National Wood Flooring Association, they recommend installing, and then waiting 2 weeks before refinishing. My guess would be that once the floor is down, it also needs to acclimate to the actual subfloor / crawl space conditions that are present, now that it's in direct contact with them.

thanks for reminding me. I got out my NWFA 2012 guidelines and re-read chap2, part 2A2a.

"For site‐finished wood flooring, after installation and before sanding and finishing takes place, allow the flooring to acclimate (settle‐in) to the controlled environment, and to stabilize for a period of time. Some flooring professionals suggest 5 to 7 days."

I checked in with the NWFA today, because I wanted to see what the latest thinking was on this subject. Tech support was saying that once you had the differential between the wood and the subfloor at 3-4%, you were good to go. Speeding up that side of the acclimation cycle was not a big deal; if the test results were within range, you didn’t need more days.

He was suggesting that at least a week of acclimation after the install was important, because that’s when the problems could show up. Shortening that side of the acclimation was counter-productive, even though the general contractor and the homeowner can feel inconvenienced by it.

Your estimator sounds like he’s been bitten by moisture problems. If you hire him, you’re probably not going to get him to compromise on those wait times, even though they seem excessive. That’s his comfort zone on the issue.

Memory can play tricks, but I'm fairly sure I heard two weeks when I called before, because it surprised me--I didn't think it was practical to hold up the job for that long. Our climate is fairly consistent all year around, so a week's wait has worked fine for me.