I am getting ready to install some new prefinished maple floors in about 2 weeks. They have already been sitting in the house for 2 weeks already.

So the manufacturers instructions specify it be stored and installed at a relative humidity of 40-45%, which seems pretty standard. I have a full-house humidifier, and a instrument to read relative humidity. If the humidifier is maxed out, it can generally keep the house at 38-42%. How much of a real difference is there between 38% and 40%? I would like to keep within spec, but i think I will need to fire up another humidifier to do so.

Keeping the moisture up was working fine until the last week, when the outside temps dropped into the 20's (its cold already in Michigan). When it got cold, I started having major condensation on interior the windows, like water running down them.

So my question is this: Do I need to keep the floor at 40-45% only during installation, or forever? I am worried about water damage on the windows.

Also, I tried turning down the humidifier a bit to see if it helped with the window dripping. Apparently the humidistat is not very accurate. I turned it down just a hair and the RH dropped to 25% in about 12 hours. Even at 25%, there was still moisture on the windows.

Any suggestions? You probably don't have these types of problems in Florida, huh?

Thanks

The idea is to get the floor acclamated in the same type enviroment that will be kept while your floor is in service. This of course is a bit of a task unless you run a humidistat on your hvac to maintain that level year round. Wood Flooring is manufactured to contain 6-9% moisture which is what it should stabilize at if you keep your home at 65-75 deg and about 40-45% rh this is a comfort zone for humans and wood floors as well. When you move out of these levels the floor will normally start to show signs of movement through cracks and or cupping.
If you pump a bunch of moisture into the floor and then install it as such it needs to maintain that level yearround for ideal preformance. Certain times of the year it will not be a problem but next winter if you forget and start to run the heat and dry that house back down you will have some good cracks. Hope this helps...

What you're saying makes perfect sense, unfortunately it doesn't solve my problem. Cranking up the humidity causes problems with the windows. Letting it dry out causes problems with the floors, and drys the crap out of my skin.

And what if the humidifier fails, or gets turned off when I'm not home over the winter and drys it out?

I haven't checked the moisture content on the wood yet, I will do that too.

Anyone else installing floors in cold climates have experience to add? Reccomendations?

Crank it up to get to 40 percent?? Are you in the Gobi Desert or sumpm?

I think you need to set it where you feel comfortable inside your home, and leave it there.

Around here, it is not uncommon to find the insides of homes will only be 60% and they can't get it any lower.

Just remember, if you get the humidity down and the system breaks down or there is a long power outage, what is going to happen to the humidity, and your floor?

Hemlock, do you have a "vent-less" gas fireplace??

They produce an exorbitant amount of moisture into the air and cause water vapors to condense on windows and storm doors. I read somewhere that is is like several gallons a day produced.

"Crank it up to get to 40 percent?? Are you in the Gobi Desert or sumpm"

pretty much. When outside temps drop into the 20's there is pretty much no moisture left. That is running a humidifier full out. I did actually here that the average heated home in this type of climate is drier than a desert.

And we still get 100% humidity days in the summer.

That is part of the reason we all head down to Florida every winter.

I do not have one of those. I do have a whole house humidifier which pumps probably 10 gal per day into the air. That's what's needed to keep the humidity at around 40%