I am getting closer to nailing boards but this one has me concerned. I have been keeping the house at 60 degrees for months and have had the hardwood now for about a month sitting in the rooms it is to be installed.

I checked with a pin meter yesterday the first level (ground floor) this is built on a foundation with a crawl space to code with 2 layers of 6 mil poly. The house has been finished since last March (dried in). The reading was 12 (first floor) and on the second floor it blinked between 10 and 12, here is the problem, the hardwood checks 6 sometimes 8 but mostly 6 which is low the meter reads. This is a hand scraped 4" wide X 3/4" hickory board, I am not sure what I can do to get this spread of 6 to 12 any closer, I took the boards out of one box about 3 weeks ago and they check the same.

Greg

Hows your crawl space vented out? Why such a low temp? I'd be running it up to 70 F at least.

It has the required amount of foundation vents for my area I live in (clark county, WA.). The house was designed and engineered by professionals, permits pulled and signed off. The temperature is set to what I thought was reasonable temp for a long term construction project. It is not much fun working in a house when it is 70 degrees, I am much more productive at 60 degrees. I guess I don't understand how 60 degrees would effect the MC since they are both in the house at the same temperature, that being said I am open to turning it up if that will make a difference, I just don't think it will. What are the reasons for turning it up to 70, I talked to the general that I used to do all the construction through sheet rock and he said 60 is good, he puts hardwoods in all the homes he builds in this area (around 15-20 homes a year). Maybe I am just over analyzing all this, which I tend to do....

Greg

Well I just don't understand how anyone expects to dry down wood at 60 degrees. Whats your rh in there? The woods supposed to be installed at YOUR living conditions, not what the GC wants. Unless you live in your house and that is the median temp/rh in which you live. I personally have no idea. Just trying to help.

The house has been dry for months (8), it had the whole summer to dry out. The house has been wrapped & sided, roofed, windows in, insulation placed and sheet rock has been done since April-June, heat on in cool months and warmed by the day during the summer months. This is not a house that has been thrown up in 2 months and hardwoods are going down now when the framing is still wet. I don't claim to know the answers, that is why I am here, I just like to have reasons why to do something. I will try the 70 degrees for some weeks since I am not in a hurry and see if that makes a difference.

It still does not make sense that the hardwood is a 6-8 and the sub floor is 10-12 after a month. I am not sure on the RH but will look into that. Shouldn't the hickory hardwood seek a similar MC as the sub-floor since it is sitting in the same conditions. I checked the sub floor on both levels and the upstairs flashes between 10-12 and the 1st floor is a steady 12 on the meter. I also went into the crawl space where it is dry and I get a 12 on all the floor joists and beams.

Greg

Question, Do you have your meter set at the correct setting? Mine has settings for different types of woods as well as different subfloor materials.

Good call Jeff. Or if you have a Tramex pin meter like I have you use the species correction chart.

I have a mini Ligno S/C, I have never used it before so that could be the problem, although it passes the tests to check for function of the unit. It has two settings: one for lumber, veneer and fiberboards (which covers workgroup 3 of woods) this includes the majority of hardwood and softwood without requiring correction, it covers hickory and fir, so I figured that was the one to use. The second setting is for Building Materials, this one gives colors: green=dry yellow=moist red=wet. When I set it to this setting I get green for dry on the sub-floor, which is 3/4" edge gold, this is used a lot around here when building during the winter rainy months.

Thats what I know, any thoughts?

Greg

You might want to call Lignomat and ask for a conversion chart, or they might be able to tell you what the true reading is over the phone.