Welcome to part four of our “before you lay your wood floor” series. At this stage your room should be completely ready and prepared for your flooring to be delivered. Read our previous stages by clicking on the relevant number 1, 2, 3. Whether you have opted for a brushed and oiled finish or super matt lacquered, you should ensure you acclimatise your wood floor. This allows it to adapt to the environment of the room.
Acclimatise Your Wood Flooring
When your wood flooring arrives you will need to open up all the boxes and let your wood acclimatise to the area/room they will be fitted for at least 72 hours before it is due to be fitted – so make sure you book your fitter for at least 3 days after your woods arrival date!
Whilst the wood flooring is acclimatising, the room temperature should be kept between 15ºc and 25ºc, to allow the wood to settle. Wood is very reactive to moisture in the air and as a result it naturally expands and contracts throughout the year depending on the weather conditions (engineered boards much less so than solid). If the environment's heat and humidity levels fluctuate too much the wooden boards can’t acclimatise. This can lead to distortion and warping.
Create a lattice shape with your wood floor boards. This allows the room's air to flow freely around them for at least 72 hours and allows them acclimatise. Create a lattice shaped pile, separated by blocks with your wood floor boards. This is one of the best ways to acclimatise your wood as it allows air to circulate. Each board can then adapt to the room’s atmosphere. Wherever you leave your wood to acclimatise, ensure the environment is easily controllable. This means you should discount areas which see fluctuating temperatures.
Once It's Acclimatised
Once your wood flooring has acclimatised for at least 72 hours, it is advised that you re-test the moisture content of your subfloor and new wood floor planks as mentioned in our part 3 guide; The Room's Environment. Using a suitable meter you must take several readings for both the sub floor and the floor boards. The moisture level of the sub-floor should be below 12%. The floorboards should be within 2-4% of the subfloor moisture level. Doing this test enables you to double check that the rooms moisture level is correct, there have been no environmental changes in the room and that the flooring hasn’t been exposed to any excessive moisture during delivery.
Once this process has been been completed to acclimatise wood, it is now time to lay your floor. But how are you going to lay it? Read our next post to find out about your options!
