Wood Flooring Moisture

With winter upon us, brings a change of climate inside as well as outside of your home. The humidity in your home drops from 70% to a dry 20% in most homes during the winter months.

This is due to the dry forced air the furnace generates while heating your home. Wood Floors are especially vulnerable to humidity changes. Wood Floors will actually shrink in width leaving seasonal cracks between boards, this is especially noticeable near vent opening’s in the floor.

The mid-west experiences 50% – 60% swings in relative humidity the opposite is noticeable in the summer with the notorious Indiana humidity reaches 80% – 90%. This moist air is transferred to your living environment, this added moisture is absorbed into the wood floors and expansion in width occurs which will raise the corners of the boards.

This is commonly called cupping. These changes can be over come by keeping temperature and humidity levels constant at 70 degrees and 50% humidity, this will keep your floors stable, flat and trouble free for years to come.