Versailles Classic Oak Floor Panels Brushed & Unfinished 600 x 600mm

How Do You Acclimatise Wood Flooring? Wood is a natural product that expands and contracts with seasonal times and in summer changes in humidity. Being a hygroscopic material, wood releases moisture during the winter and may dry out more due to the heating when humidity is low, it also absorbs moisture during the humid spring and summer months. This is also why we do not recommend wood flooring for bathrooms, where the humidity levels are higher in a bathroom area. Does Wood Flooring Need To Be Acclimatised? A question we get many times is whether wood flooring needs to be acclimatised prior to being installed. So here is what you need to know about acclimatising your wood flooring. What Is Acclimatising Flooring? Acclimatising flooring involves the preparation of your flooring to adapt to the moisture and temperature conditions in its environment before installation. Acclimatising wood flooring gives it time to get used to a rooms natural temperature and humidity levels. This ensures optimum stability by increasing the longevity of your floor. Why Do You Need To Acclimatise Your Flooring? As a natural product, wood floors exhibit inherent expansion and contraction tendencies. Each room maintains its own unique temperature and humidity levels. Considering that your flooring may have been stored in a spacious warehouse, the environment there significantly differs from the one it will encounter during installation. In humid conditions, hardwood flooring absorbs moisture from the air, leading to expansion, while in a dry environment, it releases moisture and contracts. If you lay your flooring without letting it acclimatise, the wood will react to these changes in moisture and temperature by contracting or expanding which can lead to unsightly gaps, buckling, and warping once the flooring has been installed. In order to avoid this, you need to acclimatise the wood so that any changes in shape have taken place before the boards are fitted. What Happens If You Don’t Acclimatise The Flooring Failing to acclimatise your flooring can result in warping, buckling, cupping, crowning, or creating unsightly gaps in your flooring. Warping – This gives you a twisted board with raised edges that are no longer straight. Buckling – Here the wood plank starts pulling away from the subfloor. Cupping – The edges of your flooring curl up higher than the centre, giving it a cup-like look. Crowning –The centre of the flooring is higher than the edges, creating a crown or a speed bump. How Do You Effectively Acclimatise Your Flooring? To acclimatise flooring, leave it within their packs for 2 to 3 days in the room the floor will be fitted in. This allows the floor to equalise with the room’s temperature and moisture levels. The individual boxes should be stacked on top of each other and opened at each end to let air circulate through the packs. The packages should be stacked so that the air and humidity can be distributed equally, making sure that roughly every half metre is supported to prevent bowing. Using spacers between the layers will help increase air circulation. If the lot is for more than one room, it should be broken down into individual room quantities and stored in the respective rooms. Make sure everything in the room, such as concrete screeds or plastering, has completely dried before acclimatising your flooring. How Long To Acclimatise? Ensure that your room's heating or air conditioning systems have been running for a minimum of five days to facilitate the acclimatisation process. The same applies to underfloor heating. If any recent work has been carried out in the room, such as plastering, it is essential to allow it to thoroughly dry before beginning the acclimatisation process. Next, you should patiently wait for the flooring to acclimate to the room's temperature and humidity. This process typically spans 5 to 7 days, although in regions with extreme moisture conditions, it may extend to 7 to 14 days. It's crucial to commence the installation when the moisture content between the flooring and the subfloor is within a 3% range. Acclimatising Times For Wood Flooring Types Various flooring types need different durations for acclimatisation: • Solid & Engineered wood: 72 hours • SPC (Stone Plastic Composite): 24 hours Factoring In Under Floor Heating If your floor has underfloor heating, you may need extra acclimatisation. And if you have under-floor heating set within a new screed, make sure the underfloor heating is turned on (as per suppliers’ instructions) before any flooring is fitted or left to acclimatise. Often, when underfloor heating is turned on for the first time, moisture can be driven up and out of the floor. This moisture can be absorbed by the wooden floorboards. Run the heating for at least a week at a normal running temperature before you bring the flooring in. Ideally, maintain the water temperature inside the underfloor heating pipes within the range of 18-20°C throughout the flooring and finishing process. The heating should be turned up by 1 to 2c each day after the installation is completed, until the desired temperature has been achieved, but not more than 27c. Acclimatised Well, That Ends Well. Acclimatising your wood flooring will ensure longevity and prevent damages such as cracks, gaps, or warping. Feel free to get in touch with us should you have any further questions on this topic.