Trimming the Right Way: Does Humidity Matter for my Floors?
Imagine with me. You are in the process of buying a new home, and you are walking through an open house of a recently renovated home—a home that had hardwood floors installed when it was originally built and are now brought back to life, glowing as the new coat of stain reflects the natural light beaming through these large windows by the entrance of the home. The home is your dream home and is at a price range you can afford. There is enough space for you and your loved ones, the perfect space to gather to celebrate the holidays in, and the right space to curate new and lasting memories. However, you look down to admire the craftsmanship of the restored hardwoods and notice there is a gap appearing between a couple of the planks. Or maybe you see other boards by the laundry room starting to warp and bubble. Is there something wrong? Why are there gaps forming in the floor? And why are other boards warping?
Perhaps you have seen similar phenomenon going on with your own floor. In their own right, either of those problems can be nerve-racking to think about. When installing a new floor for whatever reason has not crossed your mind, the sudden urgency and concern may feel overwhelming, especially if you aren’t sure what is causing the root problem in the first place. Maybe you recently had new LVP installed within the last 6 months, and now with the gaps appearing, you are questioning if you went with the right flooring option or the right installers. No matter your situation, seeing gaps or warps in your floor is daunting.
If you have or are dealing with either of these problems—or are in the market currently to purchase new flooring in your space—try not to stress yourself out. In our experience, there is a solution that works most of the time, and it comes down to the humidity of the area having problems. Not a lot of homeowners or contractors are aware of humidity’s impact on flooring, but we believe anyone who lives or works with any planked flooring should know how moisture in the air affects your floors.
Think of Planks Like Skin
To help illustrate the affects of humidity on your floors, let’s compare planked flooring like hardwood and LVP to skin. When humidity is low, skin dries out and starts to crack. There is no moisture for the skin to absorb and maintain its soft, yet durable characteristics. Without intervention by either adding moisturizing lotion or increasing the humidity, the skin becomes more itchy, more flaky, and is more likely to crack, which then also makes the skin more prone to cuts, infections, or other problems. On the flip side, when you are getting out of the shower or had a nice afternoon of swimming, your skin expands and becomes extremely wrinkly. Your finger tips are pruney, and for some people, it hurts to touch anything because the nerves have moved around due to the increase in water and consequential swelling. In both cases, neither sensation feels great.
The same idea is going on with your planked floors. For hardwood floors, since the planks come from trees, something more akin to the skin analogy is going on. The cells from the tree within the hardwood still naturally absorb water; too much, the cells swell, and too little, the cells shrink (See diagram below. Left is too little water, right is too much water.). As such, humidity matters in the same way humidity matters for our skin. As for LVP, without diving into how LVP is made here, the ridges of the planks, where the planks can be clicked together, undergo a similar principle due to how sensitive that part is of the board and what materials build the ridges. Furthermore, WPC—a type of LVP that uses wood scraps as a part of the material—still has wood within the planks, which will naturally have a similar situation as the hardwood going on.
Essentially, if the floor has gaps forming between the planks, then there may be too little moisture; if the floor is warping and has bubbles forming, then there may be too much moisture. Unlike our skin, there is not a lotion we can use on planked floors because there is a coat that seals the material, making it harder for the floors themselves to absorb moisture when needed. Humidity differs in the fact that it is a constant and is always there for the floor to absorb. Furthermore, humidity can also be present under the floor boards themselves, right around the subfloor area. If lotions or conditioners for post-installation did exist (there are conditioners used on hardwood before a stain is applied to help the wood absorb the stain better), going under the floorboards would be difficult and likely impossible without going in-between the floor boards. On the flip side—like our skin—there is not a product available on the market to remove too much moisture absorbed. We can only wait out for the skin, and the planks, to naturally handle the excess water, and in the meantime, resolve the increase of moisture problem.
Let’s actually take a look at what humidity does to planked flooring. We have the analogy and science behind why humidity impacts flooring, so now we can see the concept in action. The picture posted below is a hardwood sample we have in our showroom, which has an extremely low humidity, likely reaching around 20-25% on average. This sample board is one of our oldest boards and has been through various tests , including different cleaning, staining, and durability, to show our clients the proper way to maintain their hardwoods post installation. Though the board itself has seen it all, cleaning materials, staining, and intensive scratch tests does not cause the planks themselves to separate and leave massive gaps—the lack of humidity does. The floor, being in a showroom and warehouse setting in the state of Utah, is dry and is not receiving enough moisture to keep the planks healthy and connected to one another. If we were to put it in a place with a consistently higher temperature and humidity, around 60-80° Fahrenheit and 30-50% humidity, the planks would slowly start to expand again and fit together properly. However, with how extensive the damage is, there is a likely chance the gap will still be there, though not as severe. In that case, if the gaps are still there and are causing concern, we would have to do repairs or ultimately end up replacing the entire section, but since this is meant to be our test board and our display meant to show what happens with the lack of humidity, this isn’t a concern for us.
Low humidity is causing these hardwood planks to dry out and shrink, causing gaps between the planks.
What to do for Humidity Issues?
Reminder: gaps = low humidity, while warping = high humidity!
Since we are based in Utah, we face too little humidity more often than too much humidity. Usually, if there is warping, water is someone directly getting in contact with the planks to cause the warping—for instance, in the laundry room under a leaking washing machine. Increasing humidity happens thanks to humidifiers, and decreasing humidity, though less common for us, happens thanks to dehumidifiers. To keep things less repetitive, we will be referring to humidifiers and dehumidifiers as air moisture controllers (AMCs). Though we are not HVAC experts, we do know there are multiple types of AMCs on the market with different purposes, price ranges, and capabilities. We recommend researching for yourself the pros and cons of each type of AMCs and potentially reach out to a trusted HVAC technician for more information. (If you are in the Utah area, we have recommendations for HVAC technicians we have worked with previously. Contact us for more information!) Furthermore, we have created a chart for our installers to measure proper humidity levels prior to an installation we believe may be helpful for some of our viewers. The correct range your home should be in is the darker green box within the table.
Relative humidity should be between 30-50%.
Temperature, in Fahrenheit, should be between 60-80 degrees.
There are portable AMCs that can be used, but if you are going down that route, we recommend getting a whole-home portable size and routinely checking the moisture in the air using humidity indicators. There are bedroom and home office sized AMCs, but those will require more refills and maintenance. Furthermore, you run the risk of the humidity the device produces or removes won’t be enough for the floors. Depending on the layout of your home and where the planked flooring is located, the whole home portable AMCs may not adequately reach everywhere that it needs to. As such, we don’t recommend portable home AMCs in most instances. However, there may be instances where that is your only option, and if that is what you can do, then that is what you can do. Humidity is still being produced or removed, and you can still reap the benefits from having it around.
Thankfully, there are also whole home AMCs on the market that can connect with your HVAC system, typically with the furnace. Thermostats can also control the humidity of your home, meaning you may not need to test the humidity of the space as frequently, for as long as the thermostat is producing an accurate reading and representation of the whole space. Price does vary more with AMCs connected to the HVAC system due to its more complex nature and differing features available, which we highly recommending researching on your own to find what options work with your current system, budget, and needs. There are options you can buy at big box stores and online to install yourself, or you can always reach out to an HVAC technician for assistance.
Please note, once more, that we are not HVAC specialists and are not qualified to give brand recommendation, instructions, or other humidifier or dehumidifier specific information. We can only speak for the flooring benefits in terms of humidity.
Do I Really Need to Get a Humidifier or Dehumidifier?
Depending on your home’s needs, humidifiers can get rather pricey. For some, that may not be a worthwhile investment. However, we want to ensure you make an informed decision and can provide you with all of the information you may need. Know that we are not HVAC professionals and would not be better off financially if you choose to install a humidifier or not; we only seek to help our clients ensure they have long-lasting success with minimal issues for their flooring.
In terms of flooring, we have discussed why humidity can do to your floors when the amount is not within the healthy range. Prolonged exposure or lack thereof is damaging to the boards and can be frustrating to deal with over time. However, we have yet to dive into manufacturer information and warranties. As the industry has become more and more aware of water’s affects on floors, more and more manufacturer’s require the humidity of the space to be within a certain range—constantly. They do not recommend humidifiers or dehumidifiers, per se, but they do highly recommend that the floor is within a proper and specific range of humidity (See the chart above for the specific range noted in a darker green). If issues arise with the flooring and the relative humidity and temperature is not measured within the specific range, the warranty may be voided, and you are left with the costs of repair. Furthermore, installers may also deny warranties for similar reasons, depending on the installer and issues. From a pure flooring perspective, the humidifier is a strong recommendation from the manufacturer, which determines warranty cases, and is a preventative measure from certain types of damage.
Other aspects of the home may also appreciate the correct range of humidity. Wallpaper will adhere better and is overall less likely to crack. Wood furniture will, in a sense, be strengthened and last longer—for the same reasons as planked floors. Houseplants, especially tropical varieties living in dry areas, are more likely to thrive and produce more greenery for the home. Static electricity is less likely to build up over time, and heating bills—specifically in dry areas—due to the warmer feel of humidity, may decrease with consistent humidity. Therefore, other work done, furniture, and other key components of a home will stand the tests of time.
Humidity also prevents numerous health benefits. As described earlier in the article, skin is less dry and fragile with humidity. In terms of beauty, skin will be less likely to undergo acne breakouts with the right amount of humidity and will be softer. Furthermore, with healthier skin, the rest of the body is able to reap the benefits because the first barrier against disease, infection, and other health issues is healthy and doing stronger than without moisture. Respiratory issues, such as dry airways, allergies, sinus issues, snoring, and other breathing difficulties improve. Those with asthma are likely aware that dry air or overly humid air can cause flare-ups to occur more frequently and intensely than more humid air. Overall health is improved, which thus means the immune system is stronger, making common diseases and sickness like influenza a more preventable disease.
However, going too humid or too dry with a humidifier and dehumidifier respectively can also cause issues. Flooring that once had gaps may now warp, and vice versa. Wallpaper may bubble or crack, wood furniture become deformed, plants dry up, too dry or greasy skin, respiratory issues come back—the list goes on. Too much humidity is a breading ground for bacteria and germs, where too little dries everything out and makes everything more susceptible to something. There are pros and cons to both the humidifier and dehumidifier, but for as long as the humidity is within 30-50%, everything should be fine.
Information at a quick glance
≫ Humidity impacts the overall health of your planked flooring
≫ Low humidity causes planks to dry = gaps between boards
≫ High humidity causes planks to swell = warps, bubbles, or bumps in the floor
≫ Floors should be maintained between 30-50% humidity at all times
≫ Some homes may require a humidifier or dehumidifier installed to help