I live in Southeast Kansas and am currently building a new home. We will have central heat and air and the house environment should stay fairly consistent as I work from home (thus, we won't be turning the air/heat on and off during the daytime hours).

That being said, is it still unwise to install a wider plank floor such as the Kahrs mega strip (which run 4" to 5" widths)? I'd prefer the 5" simply because I could avoid the glue-down process that way, but I don't want to go with 5" (or 4 for that matter) if it's just plain unwise from the get-go.

Any thoughts or suggestions appreciated!

Dakota

The mega strip I have seen has the comventional T&G, not a glueless design.


I could be wrong as I have only seen it once and it wasn't wide plank, it was narrower 3", I'd say.


Believe me, when the client said Kahr's and I saw mega strip for the first time, I was a little taken back looking at the narrow board, while glancing at the T&G. The price went up!

Floorguy: thanks for the response. I just rechecked the HardwoodInstaller site as well as the Kahrs website. They have two "wide plank" products. One is a 9/16" x 5" engineered plank (one-strip, not three-strip made into one, if that makes sense) that can be stapled, glued or floated. The other is a 7/16" x 4" product that is two-ply engineered (again, one board, not multiple planks in one board). This one can only be glued.

Does that change your thoughts? I'm not sure I understood why your price went up. Obviously there was something about the job that had an increased difficulty. I've heard nothing but good things about the Kahrs products. Was this a product issue or just a specific job issue? Or are wide planks a harder install in general?

Thanks a bunch, I appreciate your input!

When you go in with the assuption it is going to be Kahrs, and a glueless rotating lock floating floor, which I don't charge as much to install as I do a glued floater, or especially a gluedown installation. Yes, the price jumped .50¢ a foot to install it.

Before Mega strip all Kahrs was a glueless T&G floating design.

Gotcha. Assuming this product to be either a T&G gluedown (4") or a staple (5") job, and disregarding pricing differential, would you recommend against installing such a wide board floor in a mid-west location, assuming a house kept at fairly constant temps? If it's not contra-indicated, would you recommend one installation over another in this area? I prefer not to glue, and if that would be recommended over nailing, I would probably just go with a board with less width.

Thanks again!

The five inch floater will be the way to go imo. floaters require a moisture barrier between the subfloor and finished product so make sure it goes down between. I think what Perry was getting at is some floaters require no glue to hold the seams together they simply rotate and lock into place(ideally). Some floaters require you glue each and every seem together maually which means more time and more money.
Now you say you are building a new home and plan on running the hvac all the time, this is typically not the case while the house is under construction of course, but this is when most flooring is installed(no hvac). The floor can do a number of things at that point, what you need to make sure is the flooring installer has a moisture meter and knows how to use it effectivly. I fthe readings are within industry standards you should be fine, most of the time there is some adjusting of the material to better suit the inviroment its going into. If the house is hot and humid it probally is still full of moistue brought in by the air and from the drying of other wet trades like drywall and paint. A wood floors moisture content will increase or decrease untill it has reached an equilabrium with its surrounding counterparts ie( the air around it and the floor its sitting on). Put a wood floor in a damp inviroment it will swell and grow untill the moisture is removed or the saturation point is met. Put a floor in an overly dry inviroment and it will shrink down and have cracks and possible some checks. What I have been suggesting to people as of late is to install a humidistat on there hvac, it will keep both the humidity and the tempature in youor home in check year round, thats what you want with a wood floor.

Thanks Kevin, I now see what Floorguy's actual point was. I will find out on the T&G glue.

It's tough to find installers in my area, but I have found one that seemed to know the right answers when I asked about moisture readings and letting the wood acclimate. Thanks for re-affirming that.

Great idea about the humidistat, I'll check into it!

Thanks a bunch,

Dakota

make sure you do not open the containers to acclimate the wood. Open and install because the tongue and groove swell with moisture making it difficult to install. Many folks make this mistake....

Ray, Mega strip is not like the Kahr's we are use to seeing. It looks almost identical to WFI

Perry & Ray: Will the product come with instructions on how to acclimate (i.e., remove from box or not)? Ray, were you thinking of a different product when you advised against removing from the box? I figured I would have to open the box to get a moisture reading, but I would perhaps not have to remove the product from the box. Is there a "general" way to acclimate, or is it very product-specific? If product-specific, how much can one count on the manufacturer's recommendations?

Leave it in the box, persay.

Cut the end of the box open, and slide a board partially out and take your moisture reading in several places in the middle, down the back side of the board. Slide it in and grab another, and slide it out partially and stick it to get a reading on it, and then slide it back in the carton.


The carton keeps the boards straight. Once out of that carton and loose, they have a tendency to bow, twist, and warp, unless they get fastened to the floor to hold them. Gaining and losing moisture does funny things to wood.