Hi, I'm new to the forum, and have what I hope is a simple question. We live in the Midwest (St. Louis) area, we are looking at some exotic 3/4 solid pre-finished flooring. This flooring is going into a new build, about 1800 sq/ft of hardwood. My concern is the climate from which these hardwoods came from is not the same as ours. Yeah we have very high humidity in July/August but we are not in the rain forest! What species would this forum suggest.
Thanks vincel.

It will be just fine as long as you take all of the right precautions. Let the flooring acclimate in the house for a couple of weeks prior to installation. Acclimation can not take place if the heating and or cooling system is not in place. Next, be sure to use an expansion gap around the entire perimeter. You can use some wide baseboards or baseboards with quarter round to allow for a larger expansion gap. Another good idea would be to use roofing felt paper instead of rosin paper under the floor.

Humidifier for the dry seasons.

Make sure to find a moisture meter and the proper conversion for the species you are installing. We have installed some exotics that were in the home acclimating for 10-12 weeks during our driest season, winter with about 10-20 r/h. These floor still shrank and gapped. Acclimation is key.

Yup, knowing what your driest rh is and applying like Mickey says helps alot. But getting a humidifier to help keep the rh up in those dry seasons helps those gaps and stresses on the wood which make prefinish check and split. Some cheaper engineered ones will even delaminate.

Most manufacturers these days have requirements for the rh in your home, before, during and after the installation for a reason. It's all that fancy wood science but actually very reasonable if you think about how it is kiln dried when milled and where the specises came from. Some exotic species have larger vessels and move mositure better than others which they are used to where they grow. Anyhow, long story.

Thanks for the great information. It looks like we will be going with the tigerwood. Can anyone give me a recommendation for a quality installer in the St. Louis area??