I have borrowed the Tramex Moisture Encounter Plus Non-Destructive Moisture Meter from my friend and tested the moisture of both the subfloor and some of the hardwood Braz Cherry strips (3") I am planning to install.

Background

1. My subfloor is 3/4" OSB over full basement that has no water problems.

2. Hardwood to be installed - 3/4" x 3" BR111 Brazilian Cherry

3. I purchased 20 boxes of this hardwood at least 6 weeks ago and put them in an adjacent room that is also climate controlled to where it will be installed. I left the hardwood in the boxes and stacked it 5 rows by 4 boxes high. I opened one end on each box to help get air into the boxes.

I tested the moisture of the subloor and the average was about 11-12% however it did range from as low as 9 in a couple spots to about 13/14 in a couple spots.

I tested the moisture of the hardwood and the average was about 14% however it ranged from about 10-15 percent.

I did not realize I would have such a range in readings when testing

My question is after 6 weeks or more do you think this hardwood is acclimated yet or should I have taken all of the strips out of the boxes and stacked it? Did I mess up?

I also for some reason thought that the hardwood was supposed to read a lower % of moisture than the subfloor.

Please let me know what to do.

I was planning on installing this beginning Saturday.

A wood floor at 14% moisture is high. You will have some serious cracks come winter if installed now. You need to get the floor with in 2-3 points of the subfloor. Is this new construction? sounds as there has been some wet work being done while the floor has sat there. Most floor are manufactured at 6-9 percent mc. A wood floor at 40-45 rh and at 70 degrees(human comfort level) will have close to that 6-9 percent. Be careful.

Someone said that the moisture meter I am using could be part of the problem. They told me that I needed to use one with the points that you actually put into the wood instead of the one you just lay on the wood. THey said the one I am using basically measure density and not moisture.

Also, this house is 3 years old.

I just tiled about 200 sq ft of floor in adjacent rooms.

It has rained about the last 5 of 8 days or so and the outside RH is 90%. Inside is 65% (I need to get that down).

Hardwood has been in house for at least 6 wks with one end open on each box. BR111 said that is fine.

I am going to try to get a different meter and drop the RH in the house to 50%.

Any other suggestions?

those surface meters have diffrent calibrations for diffrent species with diffrent densities. Most are set up out of the box for dug fir which is a far cry in density compared to b.cherry. You may have to go on line to the manufactures web site get the cross reference table.

I just called the manufacturer because the person I borrowed this from had no book.

They told me that you must know the specific gravity of the species (in this case Jatoba) to be able to figure out the correct moisture content.

They looked it up for me and based on a resource they have the specific gravity of Jatoba is .71-.82.

According to them this makes a reading of 14 on their meter adjust down to between 10-11 moisture content.

Is this a good estimate on the specific gravity of Jatoba?

I saw one source that said .91, which would then make 14 coorespond to a percentage of 9.

Assuming the SG is anywhere between .71 and .91, my reading on my Braz Cherry is somewhere in the range of 9-11.

The reading on my subfloor is in the range of 9-12.

Do these numbers sound good to you?

Am I ready to install?

With the pin type moisture meters do you have to drill holes for the pins to go into?

I can't get them pushed in far enough into my hardwood Braz cherry.

The meter starts at 7% but I am not getting any reading at all.

I drilled a couple tiny holes into a sample piece of hardwood with the smallest bit I had and then inserted the pins and still got no reading.

However, the pin meter read my 3/4" osb to be at avg of 8%.

Does that sound like a pretty decent reading.

It is a cheapo harbor freight meter.