Oak Floors Online emphasises; An oak floor needs to be looked after and the surrounding conditions monitored and maintained

An Oak Floor Is For Life… And Prevention Is ALWAYS Better Than Cure

Due to the recent announcement that March 2013 was the coldest in 50 years, we at Oak Floors Online thought we should emphasise again just how important it is to maintain your oak flooring after purchase, and especially after installation.
Our high quality products ensure that the vast majority of our customers never experience any negative issues or problems at all with their oak floor after installation, so here’s some information to help you join that group of happy people…

On-going Maintenance is Required
Although all our oak flooring products are of high quality and are dried to provide excellent stability after installation, please understand that they're constructed of all natural materials, so the surrounding conditions during installation should be maintained as consistently as possible thereafter for optimum performance and to minimise dimensional movement of each board within the finished floor.

Because wood is hygroscopic (moisture absorbent) its moisture level will vary when forced to adjust to any changes within its surrounding conditions, and this variance can cause dimensional and structural changes within the boards themselves.

An real and natural oak flooring plank does not become anything different when installed within a finished oak floor.
 

Due to the fact that as the relative humidity changes above the oak flooring, so does the moisture content of the oak flooring (thus changing its dimensions), we recommend that humidity is maintained between 40-60%, and keeping it at this level will help to avoid problematic changes within your finished floor.

Incidentally, health experts recommend this level as being the best for our own bodies too.

The 2 most common causes for oak floor problems are either an increase or decrease in moisture content after installation; an increase making each oak board swell and expand in size, and a decrease making them shrink and get smaller.

Winter months are when most problems with oak flooring usually present themselves, simply because the air becomes drier during cold periods and most of us will turn our heating systems up and run them for longer during the day. These understandable actions increase temperatures and reduce relative humidity but if we do nothing to compensate for these changes that we cause by taking these actions, then we will experience dimensional changes within our wood floors that may be costly to rectify and repair.

In situations where Under Floor Heating is present, maintaining conditions becomes even more vital because the heat source is directly beneath the flooring.

Maximum heat output should be controlled to no more than 27 degrees (this may seem low but remember this is an all-floor ambient heat system) and room conditions should be monitored and consistently maintained to avoid dimensional movement and potential floor failure. Correct and sufficient acclimatisation before installation begins is vital when UFH is present, and moisture readings are essential to prove suitability.

Even after correct acclimatisation, the combination of UFH and low humidity can cause the oak floor boards above to ‘dry out’ after installation because they can ‘hold’ heat (especially boards over 15mm thick), and this heat retention can cause the board to change dimensionally and structurally, sometimes causing floor failure unless conditions are controlled. Obviously this situation becomes worse, the lower the humidity gets.

Although our 21mm engineered oak flooring has been used successfully many times over UFH, because of the failure of some people to monitor and maintain conditions, we have now decided to recommend using our 15mm oak flooring in this situation unless the UFH is only to be used as a secondary heat source for that area, and the UFH usage will be minimal.

Summary notes;

• As the moisture content of oak changes, so does its dimensions, even after installation
• Room humidity and temperature changes can have an effect on the dimensions of your oak floor boards, even after installation
• Winter months cause most problems because the air becomes ‘drier’ and we turn our heating up for longer periods, which forces the relative humidity to drop too low – these actions must be compensated for to avoid floor problems (humidifier units are advised)
• Special consideration is needed when UFH is present and proper acclimatisation is vital for the oak flooring to perform successfully and effectively.

Prevention is always better than cure;
The above information isn’t meant to alarm anyone, but to be aware of these potential issues is to be well prepared and ready for when, and if, such challenges arise.

At Oak Floors Online, we believe that when a homeowner is investing in a beautiful oak floor, consideration should be made for providing suitable conditions for that floor to ‘live’ in for the next 20-40 years, so installation of humidifier units is the advised approach. These units will enable the humidity to be controlled and maintained appropriately throughout the life of the floor and during the different seasons of the year, enabling the oak flooring to perform as most people expect and prevent such costly challenges from occurring.

As responsible suppliers, we want to help you monitor and control the conditions that surround your beautiful oak floor by providing you with a Thermo-Hygrometer that will show you accurate digital readings of relative humidity and temperature, two of the most common contributing factors of floor problems.

Details of this device are available at www.OakFloorsOnline.co.uk by clicking on the link; ‘Our Range of Tools’ or 'Care & Maintenance'.

If you have no monitoring system of your own in place and would like one of these clever little ‘floor saving’ devices, please send an email confirming your request to; Sales@OakFloorsOnline.co.uk and we’ll send one out ASAP.

If you are already a valued customer of ours, we can supply one to you for just £15.00 including Vat (usually £23.94 plus postage) and you can pay via cheque through the post or via card over the phone.

We would also like to take this opportunity to explain that in some situations, dimensional changes and movement of natural oak floor boards cannot be prevented and so should be expected and accepted as being normal for such a natural product (examples would be a holiday home that’s only occupied during some summer months or a cellar with varying moisture levels).

It should be understood that we as the supplier cannot be held responsible for dimensional or structural changes within any of our oak flooring products after installation because those changes will have been caused by the conditions surrounding that floor, which have been allowed or forced to change since installation.

Hopefully the above information will enable you to keep your floor in pristine condition for many years to come and also help you to understand and remember that your beautiful new oak floor is a product of nature and so will continue to react/respond to its surrounding conditions throughout its lifetime.

Here’s to an ongoing successful relationship between you and your oak floor for many years to come.

In appreciation of your custom,

The Oak Floors Online Team
Sales Tel: 0845 459 3073
Email; Sales@OakFloorsOnline.co.uk
Website: www.OakFloorsOnline.co.uk