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I have a situation that has me puzzled, and I’m hoping someone can shed some light on it for me.
About a month ago I had 2000 square feet of 3-inch wide #1 common cherry flooring delivered and placed in my house that I am building. The moisture content of the wood was 5.5%, according to the installer’s moisture meter. The installer said it should come up to around 7-8% before laying it to prevent cupping during the summer months, and since the inside humidity in the unheated house was around 50-60%, and the temperature was between 60 & 70 degrees inside, he thought 2 weeks would be enough time to wait. But after two weeks the wood was still at 5.5% moisture. We then laid out about 30 square feet on the sub floor (over 15lb paper) without nailing (the sub floor was at 9-10% moisture), and for comparison put a few pieces in our greenhouse, which has 70-80% humidity, and waited another two weeks. All of the flooring (in the stacks, on the sub floor and in the greenhouse), is still at 5.5% moisture. I, and the installer, who has not had much experience with cherry, am completely baffled. I am reluctant to have the flooring installed when it is this dry, but don’t know what to do next. Has anyone got any advice or suggestions?
You can reply to me either here or to my E-mail address which is [email protected].
Roy Graybill,
Heathsville, Virginia
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href="http://www.hoskinghardwood.com/">Hosking Hardwoods.
Roy - you might post this question at
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Let me suggest the obvious - is the meter working? Exposed to 70 -80% RH it has to gain moisture if it starts at 5.5%MC. Just last week I inspected a commercial drying operation and they were accepting zero % MC for undried lumber! I suggested using another meter and huh! it recorded higher! Meters go bad every now and then.
If you send me a sample wrapped in plastic, I will be glad to determine the present MC using the oven dry weight based method.
Jim
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JB, I'd be going with the broken meter theory... James is correct, or that "cherry" is thermoplastic!
*yeah, it has to be the meter. Wood is hygroscopic; it takes up and gives off moisture,you can't stop it, and it will equilibrate itself to wherever it's at; if it isn't showing movement in the greenhouse, it's the meter.
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Regarding Cherry Flooring. It was the meter, in fact two meters, both lignomats. Apparently the hard mill finish on the cherry didn't allow the pins to penetrate deep enough to get an accurate reading. I finally ran a few pieces through the drum sander in my shop and then had the installer read it again. It came out around 7 -8%, which was just right. Thanks for the advice and comments.
Roy Graybilll
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Jim is potentially half right in that the meter was probably not working correctly. The other option was that the calibration setting was incorrect for the species. I am a firm believer that the most accurate measurement techinique is true oven drying and that everyone who has a moisture meter needs to do a comparative sampling at a regular interval to insure the meter is correct. If variability is too great, the thing is next to worthless.
Hi Jim long time no see Am I right?
*Talking of meters... read once that the pins should be inserted parralell with the grain, not perpendicular as an incorrect reading may be given .... something to do with resistance across the grain.. any thoughts??
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Mark,
yes, that is correct. It will be off by about 1/2%. An additional piece of information, don't use it on pressure treated lumber. The salt will give a higher than true reading.
Jim
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I have a situation that has me puzzled, and I'm hoping someone can shed some light on it for me.
About a month ago I had 2000 square feet of 3-inch wide #1 common cherry flooring delivered and placed in my house that I am building. The moisture content of the wood was 5.5%, according to the installer's moisture meter. The installer said it should come up to around 7-8% before laying it to prevent cupping during the summer months, and since the inside humidity in the unheated house was around 50-60%, and the temperature was between 60 & 70 degrees inside, he thought 2 weeks would be enough time to wait. But after two weeks the wood was still at 5.5% moisture. We then laid out about 30 square feet on the sub floor (over 15lb paper) without nailing (the sub floor was at 9-10% moisture), and for comparison put a few pieces in our greenhouse, which has 70-80% humidity, and waited another two weeks. All of the flooring (in the stacks, on the sub floor and in the greenhouse), is still at 5.5% moisture. I, and the installer, who has not had much experience with cherry, am completely baffled. I am reluctant to have the flooring installed when it is this dry, but don't know what to do next. Has anyone got any advice or suggestions?
You can reply to me either here or to my E-mail address which is [email protected].
Roy Graybill,
Heathsville, Virginia
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I can practically guarantee you that his moisture meter was broken.......