Just had beautiful hardwood floors installed in my Gulf side Florida condo. Now I hear that I have to control temperature and humidity to best take care of them? Can't I just leave all my doors and windows open if I want? Want is recommended for the "best life" of these beautiful floors? Thanks!

I would shoot for 65-70 deg at 45% rh.

Ken - That seems "perfect" but as you probably know, in the summer in FL we see temps of 90+ degrees and humidity levels in the 90% range. Even the best of air conditioning units won't get it that low. Is there a compromise or can't people on the coasts of FL have hardwood floors? Thanks again!

idealy your floor should have been aclimated to "live in conditions" If the humidity was present prior to and during the installation thats where you need to be at year round to minimize the amount of movement. So if your floor was installed at an average temp of 75 and a rh of 75 then it needs to consistantly stay in that range year round for optimal preformance. The summer is normally not much of an issue because if your a/c will take care of it, spring and fall when you dont want to open the windows all the time letting excessive amoounts of moisture into the home.

Dpepin,

I have worked restoring historic homes in Florida for a while now and the answer is yes wood floors can withstand the humidity of Florida but in saying that there are so many variables that it is just easier to shot for the same side and say no keep the humidity at X. The only original species of wood that where found in Florida where live oak, southern yellow pine, eastern white pine and cypress. By far the most common are the pines. Pines present the unique characteristic of hardening over time due to sap content (this is not so much the case now days). So an old pine floor would harden over time and become more stable. To an extent all woods due this but some more than others. Extremely oily woods will sometimes do this. The problem is that there are so many products now both domestic and exotics that do not perform as well under Florida conditions. As well the longer wood is installed in a home the more personality it develops with that home. Eventually, it will have expanded and contracted so much that it looses cellular elasticity. The problem is no one has done extensive testing on species as well as time durations that work better. It is really just a lot of ancillary evidence via observations on the part of installers. So to answer you question as time goes on there is less of a chance of damage to your floor from humidity, depending on the species of wood it may be more resistant to humidity but there is no way of telling. So the answer again becomes, don’t risk it regulate the humidity as much as possible.

Hardwood floors are everywhere on the coasts of Florida. Winter Rh rarely gets high for any extended period of time and 7-8 months out of the year we run the AC. Humidity stays around the 50-60% range from what I've experienced.

My home tends to have a high RH, so I purchased a dehumidifier. It was about $170 (cost will very depending on sq/ft of the space) from one of the big box stores and I have it set to keep the humidity at 50-55%. Yes, our hardwood floor manufacturers say that the floors should be between 45-60%, but mold cannot grow below 50% so I try to keep it right there.

Before the dehumidifier, even with my air conditioning on full blast during the summer months the RH in my home rarely dropped below 55%.

Background info - I live in a two story townhome with hardwood on the first floor and carpet on the second floor. I purchased two hygrometers and I have one set up downstairs and one in my bedroom upstairs.

Just my two cents...I live in Tampa btw.

- Jeff

I have hardwood flooring in several houses on the gulf coast. When the temperatures allow for it, the houses are always open. It's not a problem.

Regarding your other issue: air conditioning units have no problem maintaining proper temperature and humidity but they are hard pressed to cool efficiently when the house is regularly opened up in the cooling season. Before they can cool effectively, they have to remove the humidity. If you open your house every night, your air conditioning is forced to invest most of it's effort toward removing the excess moisture. Same thing if you leave your condo shut down for a while then go in and fire up the ac when it's hot and humid. It may require days of running before it can operate at peak efficiency. It's much better and cheaper to fire it up well before personal comfort requires it and leave it running throughout the summer

Don

Jeff,

It sounds like your ac is undersized or in need of work.

Don