What Is Normal Moisture Content For Hardwood

For example the meter may read 12 percent moisture content which is within the normal range for some regions but which is too high in drier lower humidity areas.

What is normal moisture content for hardwood.

There are three standard methods for measuring concrete moisture. Therefore it s advisable to have a floor tested for moisture content prior to installing flooring or moisture barriers. We talked about taking moisture readings. Percent moisture content in wood is the ratio of the weight of water compared to the overall weight of a piece of wood.

Before you can ensure that your wood flooring is at an ideal moisture content it s important to check the relative humidity of the installation site and compare that to the mc of your wood materials. For instance you take your readings prior to installing a hardwood floor and the subfloor moisture content is 10 and the strip hardwood was at 7. If a board reads 100 difficult to measure accurately then the weight of the water equals the weight of that wood. Hardwood flooring should be delivered to site kiln dried at between 6 and 8 moisture content.

Step 2 is documenting your readings. By documenting your moisture readings you now have a reference point to go back to should a problem happen. The moisture content of properly seasoned firewood should be under 20 as firewood burns its most efficiently between moisture content levels of 15 and 20. The fastest way to measure moisture in floors is to use a moisture meter for wood.

These devices can be used to test the moisture content mc of wood flooring in mere seconds. Measuring moisture in wood flooring. Seasoned firewood typically won t drop lower than around 10 moisture content because of the humidity of the atmosphere. Ensuring wood flooring is at its ideal moisture content.

A 10 moisture content reading means that 10 of a wood sample s weight is due to water in the wood. Plywood is usually at 12 when purchased from a warehouse that protects its inventory from the elements always check that the plywood you are buying is dry. Wood moisture meters for flooring applications come in two varieties. See the moisture content of wood chart on page 66 which lists acceptable moisture contents for wood at certain temperatures and relative humidities.

Often more than one method is used to get an accurate reading of actual moisture content. Your subfloor should be within 4 moisture content of the hardwood flooring. When fully dried in an oven this means that a total of 30 lbs. Moisture content weight of water ovendry weight of wood x 100 for instance suppose that a freshly sawn piece of eastern cottonwood populus deltoides weighed 50 lbs.

Of water was lost in the drying process. Here using a thermo hygrometer to check temperature and humidity can be invaluable.