Acceptable Moisture Content Of Unfinished Hardwood

Grainywood

Moisture content of hardwood flooring.

I have a distributor who is selling some salvaged unfinished Eucalyptus that was kiln dried to 6% mc. On arrival to the homeowner, it measured 12% moisture.

It's been sitting in her home for a month and it still reads 10 to 12% moisture.

The contractor won't install it unless it's 7% mc. The distributor has sold this to a number of other clients who had it installed and it's fine.

Any suggestions to this homeowner? I'm not doing the job but the distributor thinks the contractor is being too cautious.

dsnAK

I would not install it if the sub floor is 6-8%. I've seen some wood take longer to acclimatize - where and under what conditions was it stored?

When checking the moisture content is the contractor using the proper specific gravity of the wood in relation to the meter? You can not just check any wood w/o adjusting for the species.

Is the wood stickered and in a conditioned space? Are the HVAC systems up? Whats the RH in the house?

Bottom line is if the MC is 12% and the sub floor is 7% - the chances are the wood will shrink. If the sub floor is 10-12% then I would install it. You need the two MC to be w/in 2% to install in my region.

If the distributor would warranty the install then I'd install it and hold them responsible - if not then I'd wait.

Donedat

The contractor is not too cautious. 12% is pretty high and the wood will shrink leaving some nasty gaps.

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