Best wood floors in dry climate?
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From: Chris Shearer Cooper on 16 Feb 2010 20:45 I live in Colorado, and a few years ago had a bamboo floor installed in my kitchen and living room, and have been very disappointed. Despite the whole-house humidifier attached to the forced air heating system, the "planks" (is that the right word?) contract in the winter, and then kitchen debris finds its way into the cracks, and we end up with ugly black lines where the planks touch. So now we're wanting to replace the 20-year-old carpet in the upstairs with some kind of wood floor, and are not sure which way to go. The other complication, is that we need to live in these rooms while we're putting in new floors - we'll move all the furniture out of the unused bedroom, redo its floor, move my daughter into that bedroom, redo her floor, etc. so we whatever we use, it needs to be prefinished. There are some nice-looking engineered wood products, but we're concerned about the odors ... the off-gassing from a lot of those kinds of products gives us headaches, which pushes us towards solid wood, but then with solid wood you can't install a floating floor, so I'm worried we would get the gap problem again. And then again, I'm wondering if it's maybe the offgassing from the prefinish that gives us the headache, in which case for the headache it wouldn't matter if we chose solid vs. engineered vs. laminate. Was the guy at Home Depot right, that the more traditional woods (oak, for example) do better in the dry climate of Colorado? Thanks, Chris
From: dpb on 17 Feb 2010 09:31 Chris Shearer Cooper wrote: > I live in Colorado, and a few years ago had a bamboo floor installed > in my kitchen and living room, and have been very disappointed. > Despite the whole-house humidifier attached to the forced air heating > system, the "planks" (is that the right word?) contract in the winter, > ,,, > > So now we're wanting to replace the 20-year-old carpet in the upstairs > with some kind of wood floor, and are not sure which way to go. > ,,, > ...whatever we use, it needs to be prefinished. > > There are some nice-looking engineered wood products, but we're > concerned about the odors ... the off-gassing from a lot of those > kinds of products gives us headaches, which pushes us towards solid > wood, but then with solid wood you can't install a floating floor, so > I'm worried we would get the gap problem again. ... > > Was the guy at Home Depot right, that the more traditional woods (oak, > for example) do better in the dry climate of Colorado? .... Fact -- wood moves. Solid wood moves more than some of the engineered, composites less. Sounds like you would only be really pleased w/ a solid-surface flooring instead. As for how much, there are nominal shrinkage data at the US Forest Product Laboratories site that you can compare and there's undoubtedly information from the manufacturers of the various products as well. Installation instructions will cover how much spacing to leave. As another said, acclimation is important but it won't eliminate movement entirely. If material solid flooring is installed extremely tightly at the very driest condition there's a possibility it may actually buckle during a prolonged damp spell. But if you're expecting to never have a joint line open in a wood flooring product you had best be thinking something else is my recommendation. --
From: Swingman on 17 Feb 2010 09:33 On 2/16/2010 10:01 PM, ransley wrote: > If a wood floor is installed without opening up packages and allow to > aclimatize to the lower humidity of your home this can happen, its not > a bamboo problem its a installer problem, a real pro has a moisture > meter handy. For all you know the floor was stored in a very humid > place before you got it, it can take weeks to aclimatize wood to a > house before install. Did a store install it that sold it to you, then > there was a warranty, id call the manufacturer and ask. Well, you start off on the wrong foot ... bamboo is NOT wood, it is a _grass_. :) And the OP's is most definitely a "bamboo problem" (related to "climate"), and more than likely NOT an installation problem. Bamboo is notorious for having wildly varying degrees of moisture content, some of which has not been observed to change for months no matter how long the acclimation period ... unless in an extremely dry client, like where the OP indicates his is installed. With regard to moisture meters ... once again, bamboo is not wood, and moisture meters are calibrated to use on WOOD, and furthermore, specific species of wood. AAMOF, I can personally attest that as of the summer of 09 there were no moisture meters currently on the retail market calibrated to accurately and consistently determine the actual moisture content of bamboo flooring .. which was the last time I was asked to have on installed. Unless there have been very recent changes, the only way to approximate a usable MC reading of bamboo is by _comparison_ with a known sample, using the same meter, thus your "real pro" is basically at the same loss to give an accurate MC for installation as any DIY'er without a moisture meter would be. Most important thing when contemplating using bamboo flooring is the quality of the product. This is the single most important factor on whether you will have a successful installation ...and, as with all the Pacific Rim shoe merchants and ribbon clerks looking to make a buck these days, that is a most difficult thing to do with this particular _grass_ flooring product. The second is the climate of the locale of the intended installation. In short, bamboo flooring, despite what the retailers will try to tell you, seems to be more suitable when building for what are classified in the trade as "Hot, Humid, Climates", and can be problematic, as the OP has discovered, when building in drier climates. IOW, the single biggest factors in the success of the installation in drier climates is the QUALITY of the product ... a hit and miss proposition at best in this day and age, and one reason why, as a builder, even then I generally discourage my clients from using the stuff. IME, YMMV, FWIW, etc. .... -- www.e-woodshop.net Last update: 10/22/08 KarlC@ (the obvious)
From: ransley on 17 Feb 2010 09:59 On Feb 17, 8:33 am, Swingman <k...(a)nospam.com> wrote: > On 2/16/2010 10:01 PM, ransley wrote: > > > If a wood floor is installed without opening up packages and allow to > > aclimatize to the lower humidity of your home this can happen, its not > > a bamboo problem its a installer problem, a real pro has a moisture > > meter handy. For all you know the floor was stored in a very humid > > place before you got it, it can take weeks to aclimatize wood to a > > house before install. Did a store install it that sold it to you, then > > there was a warranty, id call the manufacturer and ask. > > Well, you start off on the wrong foot ... bamboo is NOT wood, it is a > _grass_. :) > > And the OP's is most definitely a "bamboo problem" (related to > "climate"), and more than likely NOT an installation problem. > > Bamboo is notorious for having wildly varying degrees of moisture > content, some of which has not been observed to change for months no > matter how long the acclimation period ... unless in an extremely dry > client, like where the OP indicates his is installed. > > With regard to moisture meters ... once again, bamboo is not wood, and > moisture meters are calibrated to use on WOOD, and furthermore, specific > species of wood. > > AAMOF, I can personally attest that as of the summer of 09 there were no > moisture meters currently on the retail market calibrated to accurately > and consistently determine the actual moisture content of bamboo > flooring .. which was the last time I was asked to have on installed. > > Unless there have been very recent changes, the only way to approximate > a usable MC reading of bamboo is by _comparison_ with a known sample, > using the same meter, thus your "real pro" is basically at the same loss > to give an accurate MC for installation as any DIY'er without a moisture > meter would be. > > Most important thing when contemplating using bamboo flooring is the > quality of the product. This is the single most important factor on > whether you will have a successful installation ...and, as with all the > Pacific Rim shoe merchants and ribbon clerks looking to make a buck > these days, that is a most difficult thing to do with this particular > _grass_ flooring product. > > The second is the climate of the locale of the intended installation. > > In short, bamboo flooring, despite what the retailers will try to tell > you, seems to be more suitable when building for what are classified in > the trade as "Hot, Humid, Climates", and can be problematic, as the OP > has discovered, when building in drier climates. > > IOW, the single biggest factors in the success of the installation in > drier climates is the QUALITY of the product ... a hit and miss > proposition at best in this day and age, and one reason why, as a > builder, even then I generally discourage my clients from using the stuff.. > > IME, YMMV, FWIW, etc. .... > > --www.e-woodshop.net > Last update: 10/22/08 > KarlC@ (the obvious) Moisture meters measure % of moisture they are not only "calibrated to wood" The one I use Delmhorst, has scales on the screen to use it for concrete plaster or wood. In construction you have to Know when concrete, plaster, drywall, wood are too wet to use and too wet to paint. The floor guys I have used have them, it saves them from doing bad jobs and redoing floors. Inspectors and roofers use them to pinpoint problems, Its one tool that has saved me alot of money over the years from bogus complaints and knowing a products moisture before working with it, like PT, everybody wants it stained now when its new, and it works on Bamboo.
From: Swingman on 17 Feb 2010 10:08
On 2/17/2010 8:59 AM, ransley wrote: > On Feb 17, 8:33 am, Swingman<k...(a)nospam.com> wrote: >> With regard to moisture meters ... once again, bamboo is not wood, and >> moisture meters are calibrated to use on WOOD, and furthermore, specific >> species of wood. > Moisture meters measure % of moisture they are not only "calibrated to > wood" The one I use Delmhorst, has scales on the screen to use it for > concrete plaster or wood. You're shooting yourself in the foot, Bubba ... show me were it is calibrated for GRASS! ;) -- www.e-woodshop.net Last update: 10/22/08 KarlC@ (the obvious) |