RESIDENTIAL FLOORING A SMART SOLUTION
Jason Wright, business development specialist for new products at Wagner Meters, advises on how to protect wood flooring installations with real-time data logging.
One of the best ways to add value to your home is to install wood floors. Flooring represents the culture of your home, and changing the flooring might seem like an intimidating, costly project up front. But with the help of a few tools, flooring installation can be a worthwhile investment that can improve aesthetics and boost the value of your property.
Once you’ve decided on the exact wood floor you want, it’s crucial to protect the installation by using a real-time data logger to detect potential moisture problems before they cause any issues.
WHY MOISTURE MONITORING MATTERS IN RESIDENTIAL FLOORING
Moisture can ravage residential floors before, during, and even after a flooring installation and can cost more than you’ve set aside for the flooring project. During the installation process, environmental conditions and surrounding moisture can cause warping, cupping, or buckling in hardwood, laminate, and LVT floors, especially in homes with varying humidity levels.
Moisture being released by a concrete subfloor is a natural process, Too much moisture can lead to warping, cracking or cupping where floor boards become uneven, and even gaps as floor boards shrink and shift in your flooring.
Wood flooring needs to acclimatise to its environment, meaning it needs to reach equilibrium moisture content (EMC) – the point at which it stops absorbing and releasing moisture from the environment it’s in. The relative humidity (RH) in the environment affects this process, so it’s important that the contractor understands how the humidity fluctuates in a particular area or home.
Senior flooring technician Larry Loffer said: “Manufacturers typically require a range between 35% and 55% ambient RH, but those guidelines can vary. Some manufacturers may have a range of 40-60% RH while others may require 30-50% RH.” For this reason, it’s not recommended that wood flooring is installed in high-humidity areas of a home, like a bathroom or laundry room.
Floor Sentry offers long-term durability since it’s hidden away within a floor board.
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www.tomorrowscontractfloors.co.uk
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