Now that summer is upon us, lets talk a little bit about how it effects our wood floors. With the increase in heat some parts of our country experience higher humidity as well, like the east coast. Since wood is a plant base organism, it will absorb this moisture and swell. As it swells the floor boards will expand in width pushing against each other enough until they start to lift or cup. That is why when wood floors are installed it is very important to leave expansion around the perimeter or the room. But sometimes even with proper expansion the cupping effect still occurs. Therefor to minimize this you want to either install a dehumidifier or set your AC units to run even when you’re not at home or sleeping. The highest you should set your AC unit to is 78 degrees, at this temperature it will keep the humidity at bay. Now if you have the exact opposite problem, low humidity, then you will notice that your floor boards are shrinking and you’re see gaps between the board. This you might see on the west coast. to fix this dilemma, use a humidifier, which will add moisture to the air and in turn to the floor. You want to keep the humidity in your home to between 40 to 60% all year round so having any or all of the above mentioned items would be helpful. Another issue with summer is those long days, with the sun being out for extended hours each day it causes your wood floor to either become sun bleached or lighter in color or other wood floors will darken. One way to slow this down is to use curtains or blinds the other way is to have your windows treated with UV blocker film. That’s all the tips for now, enjoy you summer. Tommy Lorentz
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