i still have a question that needs some more clarification. the installers of the hardwood flooring are telling me that the flooring is stored in their warehouse which is temperature and humidity controlled, so timing is not an issue, nor is the humidity when installing the flooring into the new house as long as the sub floor is in good shape, ie; no buckling, level, etc.

first, i find that hard to believe that their warehouse is the equivalent as the home setting. second, the humidity the day of the installation was very high, above 50% outside with windows and doors open.

my question proposed to the builder and installer is this. sure the floor looks great now, it may look great 5, 10, 15 years from now. what happens 17, 20 years from now if the floor buckles. is the warranty still good on this 25 year warranty?

also, to the hardwood professionals out there, is this appropriate installation. the old rule of thumb that the product needs to sit in the house for 3 days is no longer needed? the humidity is not a factor?

Acclimation has more to do with the moisture cointent of the finished floor when compared to your subfloor thats to be installed over. flooring needs to be within about three to four points of each other, closer for wider planks and less stable species of wood. If your subfloor is 9 percnet and the flooring shows up at 7-8 then you can start nailing it up right off the truck. If there is a conflict between moisture content (usually a damp subfloor in new construction) the drier of the two substrates will wick the moisture out thus causing it to swell.

Kevin's rignt about this, but I also would like to mention. If you read your "warranty", it will exclude damages from water, moisture, accidents and pretty much everything and anything. Warranties are fairly useless and I'll explain why. The manufacturer tells the buyer/installer to examine the flooring carefully BEFORE installing it and to moisture test it. If the flooring is flawed, the installer MUST NOT INSTALL IT. He is to inform the distributor to arrange for replacement. If the installer installs the flooring, he just bought it and is most often held responsible for any problems with a few exceptions, like finish peeling or veneer delaminations. So, really, the only warranty is for manufacturing defects that are not readily visible at the time of installation. All these 25+ warranties are just marketing tricks and if you read them carefully, most problems are excluded.

Actually, 50% RH is about normal in most places. But it needs to be normal to YOUR PLACE. Most manufacturer's recommend no lower than 40% and no higher than 60% RH. If your place is lower or higher, then you need to address that with humidification equipment.


Some very good distribution centers are temp and humidity controlled. But most wharehouses are not. BUt as Kevin points out, it is the MC that matters most, then the RH as well.