Well, summer is upon us at last and humidity is increasing as the weather gets hotter.
Why is this relevant to you as a flooring owner or buyer?
Because humidity is a very important factor when it comes to maintaining your oak floor and keeping it pristine condition.
You see oak flooring will react and respond to it's surrounding conditions, whether it's in single plank form or as an installed floor.
High humidity levels can force your oak flooring to 'take on' and absorb moisture, which will mean that each board will want to expand, even when within a finished floor.
Having said that, here in the UK it's not very often that our oak floors will expand too much because of the humidity levels we experience... even when our weather is up at over 25 degrees, the humidity level rarely reaches over 60%
It's more likely that the cold winter months from November to April will effect our oak flooring because when the weather outside is zero degrees or less, the humidity within our homes can drop to below 20%, which can force our oak floor to 'lose' moisture and shrink, causing obvious challenges.
This is especially relevant with engineered oak flooring because of the way it's constructed... a layer of strong oak heat-bonded to a plywood base.
When that top layer of oak is forced to lose too much moisture... something has to give, and it will usually result in either the top wear layer of oak pulling away from the base or it splitting or cracking.
Whatever company you buy your oak flooring from... this WILL happen if you don't monitor and control the humidity that surrounds your oak floor.
It's just that we at Oak Floors Online prefer to tell you the truth, so that you are aware of what can happen before t does so rather than afterwards, leaving you with not only a negative opinion of the flooring industry but also out of pocket for the remedial work required to put your floor right again.
We recommend that you invest in a method of measuring the humidity within your home, so that you can continually monitor what's happening to the surrounding conditions of your beautiful (and expensive) oak flooring.
We sell a small unobtrusive little device called a Thermo-Hygrometer, which will provide you with all the necessary information, so that you can implement the necessary actions if and when required.
Each one costs less than £25 and they can actually help you to save your oak floor.
More info available at this link; http://www.oakfloorsonline.co.uk/?template=product.html&category=floor-protection--maintenance&productKey=pro-7a393698000104
Please click on the blue Product Info tab above the picture.
I recently bought 6 packs of 15x189 Hand Scraped Vintage Chocolate boards from you. Just installing them today and they look amazing so thank you very much indeed!!We continue to be very impressed with your company for both quality of product and customer service.
Eoghan - Scotland
Eoghan - Scotland
Finishes Available
Self-Regulating 'Intelligent' Under Floor Heating - Safe & Super Efficient
