Therefore it s advisable to have a floor tested for moisture content prior to installing flooring or moisture barriers.
What is normal moisture content for hardwood.
The fastest way to measure moisture in floors is to use a moisture meter for wood.
Of water was lost in the drying process.
Your subfloor should be within 4 moisture content of the hardwood flooring.
Here using a thermo hygrometer to check temperature and humidity can be invaluable.
Measuring moisture in wood flooring.
By measuring and assessing concrete and wood moisture levels separately builders and homeowners lower the potential risk of future moisture related problems when combining the two materials together.
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.
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.
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.
Seasoned firewood typically won t drop lower than around 10 moisture content because of the humidity of the atmosphere.
See the moisture content of wood chart on page 66 which lists acceptable moisture contents for wood at certain temperatures and relative humidities.
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.
Wood moisture meters for flooring applications come in two varieties.
Often more than one method is used to get an accurate reading of actual moisture content.
These devices can be used to test the moisture content mc of wood flooring in mere seconds.
There are three standard methods for measuring concrete moisture.
We talked about taking moisture readings.
By documenting your moisture readings you now have a reference point to go back to should a problem happen.
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.
Percent moisture content in wood is the ratio of the weight of water compared to the overall weight of a piece of wood.
In fact there are many wood moisture meter products available that can measure the mc of the majority of wood flooring species on the market today.
A 10 moisture content reading means that 10 of a wood sample s weight is due to water in the wood.
Ensuring wood flooring is at its ideal moisture content.
When fully dried in an oven this means that a total of 30 lbs.
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.
