wood flooring-acclimatising time with underfloor heating??

twinkletoes

Hi,
Does anyone know how long you should leave wood flooring to acclimatise?? We have underfloor heating and our fitter is recommending that we wait til after xmas to fit because we will be laying a wide board and with uderfloor heating the board can shrink.The standard time is two weeks and with underfloor heating longer-anyone know how long???We'd love to get it done before xmas but we'd prefer not to take any risks!!

rooferPete

Hi,

I would go with the man who knows the board and your floor, the fitter would want your floor to last and will be taking into consideration the length of time your floor is finished as well as the possible conditions the new floor was stored in before it arrived at your home.

A floor that shrinks or expands especially a wide board can look terrible and be almost impossible to fix, waiting the couple of weeks could be the saving of your floor and your hard earned cash.

.

patrido

what brand is the flooring? i would check with the manufacturers before doing anything as they may have specific instructions... for example with junckers there should be no acclimatisation. you just have to ensure that the temperature and humidity of the house is at the level which will be normal when you're living there. there is also a specific requirement for the moisture content of the screed.

you normally acclimatise solid floor boards with ufh, by laying out the boards loose, and then turn on the heating at a low level. then gradually increase the temperature a couple degrees each day or two until you reach the normal room temp. even if you only increase it by a degree every two days, it can still be done in less than a month. he's talking about leaving it to acclimatise for nearly 10 weeks, which sounds excessive in my view.

he may be unsure of himself and wants to cover his ass. or he may not have time to do it until after xmas.

8-10 weeks is a long time to have your ufh going 24/7 while you're not living there, especially during the winter.

rooferPete

Hi,

I didn't notice the house was not being lived in yet, that could be a completely different job.

I expect the drying out of the slab could cause moisture to form on the underside of the floor meaning the boards are likely to expand.

Maybe junckers have changed their guidelines but the last time I used it the product had to be stored in the room for a minimum of seven days.

I agree you could ask the supplier who will be the one you call if the floor gives problems, sometimes it can be a good idea to get the suppliers own staff or recommended fitter, that way there is one person responsible.

.

patrido

rooferPete wrote:

I didn't notice the house was not being lived in yet, that could be a completely different job.

that was an assumption on my part, possibly incorrect. i tend to assume that everyone is doing as I am doing

however, regardless, the ufh needs to be on 24/7 during the acclimatisation period, and doing this for up to 10 weeks is expensive, and probably unnecessary.

rooferPete wrote:

Maybe junckers have changed their guidelines but the last time I used it the product had to be stored in the room for a minimum of seven days.

i don't know what they have recommended in the past, but this is from their current literature...
"Solid boards and wide boards should always be laid immediately after delivery.
The packaging should not be opened until just before laying begins."

yop

The crowd who are supplying our timber flooring said the same thing about not opening the packing until laying begins also, not sure why!"

squire1

Because most timber flooring is vacume/shrink packed at factory stage. If you open the packs before the wood is acclimatised, the boards will tend to warp. By keeping them tighly packed there should be no warping.

patrido

yeah the seal is supposed to keep the wood at the same low humidity as it left the factory. however, i've seen lots of supposedly sealed packages, with torn plastic wrapping, that would definitely let moisture in. wonder what's the best thing to do in this scenario??

squire1

patrido, as far as I know the packaging is not meant as a moisture barrier. Quiet the opposite, the timber should be allowed breath. The packaging would mearly keep the timber tightly bound so as to prevent it warping so any small rip in the plastic should not affect it.

However I stand to be corrected.

twinkletoes

hi there,

We've decided to wait until after xmas to lay floor,we reckon it would be better to go with fitter's advice for the sake of a few weeks....we too were wondering was he just covering his ass or else too busy before xmas!!! ....but we 've decided to trust him as he came well reccommended!!

Our floor isn't junkers but just a solid wide board maple,and as regards the underfloor heating..the way it is with ours anyway is that it is actually on 24/7 anyway-uses thermoatats,(by the way we are living in the house!!)

The fitter and shop where we bought the wood reccommended that we open both ends of the boxes to let air in....but not to open the whole box as this would cause the timber to warp-its tightly fitted in box-i dont think the plastic on it has anything to do with it warping or not warping...

Thanks for all the advise everyone......by the way anyone know if the "search" system on boards is going to be reactivated...a bit of a bummer that it isn't working....!!???