Ready For Your DIY Flooring Project? Don't Forget About Acclimating The Floor Boards!

You have finally received your hardwood flooring that you’ve been impatiently waiting for.

You are anxious and want to start your huge DIY flooring project that you had planned to complete over the weekend. You’re very excited at the thought that you’ll do everything on your own and save money.

However, before getting started, bear in mind several tips that we offer you, as without them your flooring project may turn out to be a slight failure, if not a complete disaster.

Acclimating The Floor Boards

First, you need to remember about acclimating your hardwood boards. If you want the floor to be stable, don’t ever leave this step out. This will guarantee your satisfaction with the final result and will help you avoid damaging the floorboards that you’ve been waiting so long to get.

Before fitting the boards, ensure they got acclimated – they have to get used to the new environment. The hardwood boards need to have the same temperature and humidity level as their surroundings. If that is not the case, you may fail and the boards can contract or expand too much, buckle, cup, or get damaged. You can acclimate your wooden boards in two different ways. Either store them in the boxes in which they arrived, or take them out and spread all over the room.

Keeping Them In Or Out Of The Boxes?

When keeping the boards in the boxes, ensure that the boxes are slightly opened. Put them flat on the floor in the room they will be fitted in. You can also store them on top of one another. In the case the boxes are stacked, leave spaces between them to allow the circulation of fresh air.

If you’ve decided to keep them out, put them on the floor throughout the room in a way you want to fit them.

When deciding on the method to be used, check the attached instructions, which will give you appropriate information concerning the species and grade of wood. Moreover, take into account the interior that you’ve got available.

Maintain The Right Room Temperature

Read on to learn tips on how to acclimate hardwood boards when keeping them in the boxes. Ensure that the room or level where you want to install your floor is enclosed. A week or so before the installation make sure that moisture and temperature are at their usual levels. It’s advisable to keep the temperature between 16°C and 26°C, while moisture level should be approximately the annual average in the given area.

We would recommend you using air conditioning or heating, so that humidity and temperature reach certain levels in the given interior. Avoid storing your floorboards in a room in which heating or air conditioning has not been on for a minimum of 5 days. Then store them there for up to 10 days, before you start the fitting process.

Put the boxes, which you have previously opened, in the interior where you’re planning to install them. If you have no room to lay the boxes flat, try to store them in such a way as to allow fresh air get into them.

If you can get the boards from the boxes in which they arrived, follow the above guidelines, but instead of putting them flat on the floor, take the boards out, laying them on the floor in the same way as you want to install them. Fit them together, as in this way you will be able to see the transition lines, thanks to which the process of nailing down the floor will take much less time.

Taking the boards out of the boxes is the best method to acclimate them. In this way you ensure the maximum possible flow of fresh air.

All in all, acclimating your wood boards is a very important step preceding their installation. It can have an enormous impact on the final result and help you avoid disappointment, lost time and money.