: Mold & Fungus In the Crawlspace. Hope that helps. Typically, allow about 3 weeks for hardwood to acclimate in the environment. The purpose of the vapor barrier is to keep moisture away from materials that expand and contract. When determining the acceptable moisture levels in wood flooring before installation, the NWFA states that the flooring professional should establish a baseline for acclimation. Thank you for the well described article. Its never constant. Very educational! It depends on the size of the project, but anytime you put a waterborne urethane on the wood you are adding moisture to your project. To achieve this, Acceptable Solution E2/AS1 says that, on near-level sites, the floor level must be no less than 150 mm above the crown of the road or the lowest point of the boundary. Colorado is cold and dry. Take the readings in at least 20 spots per 1,000 square feet of flooring and average the results. Im still not sure that whatever they do will produce a good, long-term result, but I need to know what they should be doing to the wood. If the water leak was bad enough, dry rot can occur causing possible structural integrity issues. Mobeen, If a wooden sample gains moisture, then the sample will increase in size. The chart below will clear things up. However, a general rule of thumb is that the basement's humidity level is not over 30 - 50 percent. Again, the correct moisture content will depend on the surrounding conditions. . So, i had one installed a few weeks after we met. If humidity levels in the crawlspace with all these measures taken place is above 60% the joist and the subfloor will have a high MC reading. I dont know what type of floor you have, but if it gets wet enough, about 25% moisture content or higher, mold can grow. He wants to install his companys system, seal all external openings around connections, etc. I am not familiar with the particular moisture meter the plumber was using, but assuming it is correct, that moisture content is way too high to install new flooring. This app will tell you the percent moisture content that a given temperature and humidity will equilibrate to. i did not waterproof the outside of the curb (kerdi), so the wood got wet. It is best to replace the particle board subfloor. Even at this, the estimate would be the high end of MC% prior to shipment, but only rough estimate. They are now saying that they will replace whatever boards are bad and resand and finish the floors, however Im concerned that there is an underlying issue that will resurface here? Above 90% RH or 20% WMC, mold can grow on the wood. Any suggestions to this being possible to correct? Repair is often required when WMC readings are in this range. Sorry that this is so long-winded and I thank you in advance if you are willing to address this question for me. Sorry, that time of year. We are shipping some acacia chopping board to colorado ( US) with moisture ranges from 10-14% while shipping from India but once product received all get cracked . The excess moisture source should be corrected immediately, and monitored until the WMC returns to the 12-16 range. A wood moisture content of 47% is too high. Hi Larry, thanks for the great knowledge sharing. Thanks for any help you can provide! For severely rotten joists though, you're going to want to remove the rotten section. This means the weight of the water exceeds the weight of the wood by itself. our question is do we need to replace the floor to avoid fungal problems? Example: 1.2mm Hickory wear layer 9mm thick plywood compose of 7 layers, 2 layers acacia, 4 layers of Eucalyptus\2 layers Acacia and one layer Poplar. During my visit, I crawled to the four main corners of the crawl space and probed the floor system with an electronic moisture meter during this traverse. Wonder if they are trying to cover themselves. Should I remove more foam to be sure. Not using the correct procedure. Good luck. A good moisture content is between 6 9% for Colorado. Also, please feel free to provide us with the number that you called so we can make sure that all of our phone numbers are printed/posted accurately! There is only so much moisture a piece of wood can give up, over time, before a failure occurs. Were looking to replace the floor in an old (unheated) hay barn with treated tongue & Groove 26 flooring and need to know if the advertised 19% MC will be ok and not shrink too much. Position plywood panels at a 2-inch offset from the structural subfloor seams. RH where they were built is about 29-30%. We have started to import teak outdoor furniture from Indonesia into Europe. Wall Corners-Perpendicular within 1/4" in 10'. Hi Larry, So a friend of mine has some pine and oak blabs at MC levels of (oak 11.5%) and Pine 13-14%. Remember that the meter assumes it is reading timber. Your subfloor moisture level should be no greater than seven to nine percent when you are installing flooring. Seattles EMC ranges from 12.2% to 16.5%. For a wooden subfloor you will need to use a 2-pronged moisture meter. The solution seems to be drying the wood longer & bettter, to a lower measured MC. The typical moisture content for hardwoods that will be indoors is 6-9 percent. >V@Ica4R%f%l&/R*liDqx/nB*?1MH}Su>VeyZ3?>vMLqcwY^U. Phil, what are you making with the cedar, and in what type of environment will it be? A moisture content of less than 20% indicates that your joists and beams do not have the necessary moisture content for mold or fungus to survive. Also, there is a risk of mold. Here's a good rule of thumb: Notches should be no deeper than 1/6 the depth of the joist. Like all wood materials, I-joists are susceptible to moisture. Because the moisture content of wood is equal to the weight of the water in the wood divided by the weight of the wood without the water, its possible for the moisture content to exceed 100%. If a wooden sample has moisture content range of 2-6% only and if it has moisture content of 9 or 10% then what does this mean?? In their warehouse, and perhaps partly also in the container. Both slab-on-ground and suspended concrete floors for wet areas: are deemed impervious when steel trowel finished or polished. You are correct, furniture grade hardwood is typically dried between 6 to 9%. As far as the oil finish, the manufacturer of the oil will specify the correct moisture content for an application. Floor joists come in dimensional lumber lengths from 8 to 16 feet or more. Is this accurate? Yes, it is possible to have a moisture content reading of 99.9%. This will drastically speed up the drying process. I live in michigan (humid summer, long cold winter). For example, a 26 Southern Pine joist can span 12'. 15% is too high, at least for hardwoods. . Different joinery (currently using pocket holes)? This chart highlights the ideal levels of moisture in wood at various temperatures and relative humidity (RH) levels: In this chart, you can see a small highlighted section. https://www.wagnermeters.com/wood-moisture-meters/. The inspector said his meter reading taken from my basement on subflooring/joists/framing was too high. A 10% moisture content reading means that 10% of a wood samples weight is due to water in the wood. board will move twice as much as a 4-in. In your blog I read that furniture for outdoor is dried to a MC between 9 and 14%. Room size, L-shaped, is 21.5 x 12.5 and leg of L is 8.5 x 11. This is the standard in the construction industry. The plumber said that the floor has an elevated moisture reading and took a photo showing the 99.9% (maximum reading) on the meter while the meter was on the floor. I manufacture ice cream sticks and disposable wooden cutlery from European Baltic birch wood in India. These tools will give you the confidence that you have done everything on your part to ensure the highest quality in the piece you have built. Learn how your comment data is processed. The other was for a $100 retail gift card. Use a wet/dry shop vacuum, sump pump, or rags to clean up standing water or excess moisture from the floor and from the surface of the wood. Yes, the wood can still be read for MC with a stain on it. They many times cite the need for further evaluations by what they call other so called experts. I have seen that 13.5% is high for furniture and you should aim below 12%. Oiling the surface does not control the moisture in the wood. That doesnt make much sense to me. Truss Uplift: Who Would Have Ever Thunk It? Insert the pins into the surface of the wood you want to test. A moisture meter will help verify. In the most serious cases, entire joists may need to be removed, but many times they can be "sistered," or attached to another supporting joist for additional strength. The photo shows a floor that is out of level over four or so boards adjacent to the external wall. My first question is how to determine the MC of eng wood flooring which composite of different species layer, face and different species to form plywood core. i used my dremel with a shaping bit about 1/8 in to cut vertical slits or vents about an inch deep and a couple of inches tall into the bottom 24 and have kept a commercial floor blower on the wood several hours a day for more than a week yet, the number is not going down. Your help for resolving this issue would be highly appreciated . The levels were between 20 and 23%. Request Answer. Building Performance Series No. They delivered the wood one day, and began to stain and install it over the next two days, finishing on the 6th day. of water/day/1000 sq. Just press the scanning plate against the woods surface, turn on the meter, and receive the reading. Specifically in the first 3-4 on one side of the door is 11%, then drops to ~8%. Remove Moisture From The Air - If your crawl space has a lot of ventilation, you should be able to set up a large fan in the opening of the crawl space and leave it to run for 10 to 12 hours. The difference is the moisture meters measurement error. The next question is almost the same as before, if we have various kinds of wood, such as March wood, mango wood, pine. Generally the entire floor is dry. Its hard to gauge anything off of a cheapo meter, but if and I mean if, we were to assume it was reading effectively, the numbers are too high. It does the same for wood, and is especially hard on softwoods, such as pine or fir. Lacquer will not make a reading difference as long as there are no metallic components in the lacquer itself. this is an interesting read I landed upon as I was searching for MC in wood items. Fungus loves wet wood. %PDF-1.2
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What You Should Know About Septic Systems, Interior Slab Foundation Settlement: Evaluations and Cost of Repair. It is best to obtain a wood moisture content that will match the environment. Working with some slabs of spruce. Wood in buildings usually has a wood moisture content of 5% to 15%. The supplier says they dry the wood to an MC of 14%, which is according to them the standard for outdoor furniture. Condensation present on the . Any advice would be appreciated. If the moisture content of the product is well outside the range of optimal MC, the wood flooring should not be accepted because it will lead to shrinkage, bowing, cupping, and other physical problems. The engineered wood floor appears ok. Thanks. The flooring pieces should be removed from the packaging to allow the ambient conditions to equalize the wood. They many times cite the need for further evaluations by what they call other so called experts. I gladly obliged. in other hardwood areas that wasnt close to the water, was measuring about 16-19%. Wood Moisture Content is the weight of water in a piece of wood expressed as a percentage of oven dry weight of wood. The excess moisture source should be corrected if found. Structural flooring for laying direct to joists or battens is a minimum of 19mm thick. While playing around with my pinless meter and checking the interior East and west walls on hot days, I notice the moisture content being very high 60% mc to off scale. Mold growth can be limited if the MC of wood can be kept below 20%. I would have thought that if the floor gave a 99.9% water saturation reading, it would have had to have been noticeably wet. Floors should be: level within a 3mm deviation per 1m for floors up to 6m across (measured at the furthest points across the full width of the floor) a maximum of 20mm out of level for floors over 6m across flat within a 5mm deviation, measured using a 2m straight edge with equal offsets. The general process for using pin-type moisture meters is as follows. In March of this year I had new white oak 2 flooring installed. Hello! A general rule of thumb for the coastal regions of FL would be 11-13%MC. So what do you think is the ideal moisture% I should dry them to before rotary polishing them? could you please guide or on how much should be the Expected Humidity % in high Humid areas like UAE considering these are mostly for Indoor purpose where ACs are on 247 at say 24 Degrees. The thinner veneers wont have much bearing on the reading. Foundation Underpinning Repair: Unnecessary? It is not fair to ask the seller of this home to pay some pest control firm to spray Borate on the floor system.