Hardwood Flooring comfort levels

Wood flooring will perform best when the interior environment is controlled to stay within a relative humidity range of 30 to 50 percent and a temperature range 60 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Fortunately, that's about the same comfort range most humans enjoy. The chart below indicates the moisture content wood will likely have at any given combination of temperature and humidity. Note that equilibrium moisture contents in the recommended temperature/humidity range (shaded area) coincide with the 6 to 9 percent range within which most hardwood flooring is manufactured. Although some movement can be expected even between 6 and 9 percent, wood can expand and shrink dramatically outside that range. See page 6 of NWFA Water and Wood handbook.



Chart taken from Wood Handbook: Wood as an Engineering Material, (Agriculture Handbook 72), Forest Products Laboratory, U.S. Department of Agriculture