New T&G "red-wood" floor boards

[Mike Dodd]

Sister's "new" 140-year old house, floorboards in her bedroom in a bad state after many years of maintenance.

Bought enough new floorboards to re-lay the floor, with the optimistic hope that some of the old floorboards could be used to patch up other rooms.

Now, I'm happy enough with the prospect of laying the new floor, but whilst I've been trawling the web at lunch at work looking for hints and tips, one site recommended a 2-3 week period where the timber should be stacked in situ to "acclimatise".

The plan was for timber to be delivered this Friday (gone) and lay on Saturday, but having read this advice, and having discussed with my sister (who's something of a perfectionist) we agreed to store it - flat, with spacers between each plank, upstairs near her room, for 3 weeks (or whenever May-day is) and lay then.

My question is - is this 2-3 week period good advice?, or am I dragging the job on longer than needed? (note: the floorboards, where they've been left does prevent access to two other rooms - she says this isn't a problem but I can imagine in 3 weeks time it will have become a problem).

Any advice gratefully received.

Mike

[dom]

It's not essential, but it does help to let wood settle to the environment where it will be used - unless you're certain that the temperature and humidity is roughly the same as the storage it came from. Let it settle, then reject any boards/parts of boards that will be too difficult to pull into shape as you fix them.

[dom]

TBH - it matters much more to furniture/windows/doors than it will to floorboards.

[normanwisdom]

You could lay it in finished position but un-nailed and leaving a gap at the edge rather than scribing the last board to fit. Few weeks later do the nails - best after a longish dry spell. Floor board cramp helps as some of the boards will be bent. Finish off the edges with cut boards at this stage.

cheers Jacob

[robgraham]

I think you need to bear in mind that the average CH system makes a house environment actually drier than the Sahara desert. Shrinkage is bound to occur particularly if you think of where the wood has been stored for the past few weeks before delivery.

Rob

[Stuart Noble]

It's reckoned that a typical 150mm board will eventually lose about 3% of its width in an upstairs room. Laying but not fixing is good advice IMHO

[Jason]

I laid some bathroom floorboards a number of years ago. I let them acclimatise for a week before laying them. It was not until another two weeks have passed, that a 5mm gap opened up between the boards. Of course, it was too late to do anything but fill the gap then.

I suspect it matters more on where the boards have been stored previously (my reclaimed boards were outside, under cover) and what time of the year (i.e. what season) they are puchased.

-- JJ

[Jason]

3% sounds small, but 3% of 150mm is 4.5mm, which is a significant gap, and entirely in line with my experience (live and learn...)

-- JJ

[The Natural Philosopher]

Yes.

[Mike Dodd]

Thanks to all that have commented. Looks like I'm stuck in a beer garden for the next couple of weeks :)

[Cicero]

=============================== This general advice (2-3 week period of acclimatisation) is sensible but avoid laying the boards during or immediately after a sustained spell of very hot or very humid weather. There is no 'perfect' time for laying a new floor as it will always be affected by weather conditions to some extent even with central heating.

Cic.