Acclimation
The period during which flooring material equalises to the conditions of the room it will be installed in — a minimum of 72 hours, in the actual conditioned space.
The two words that carry the weight are "actual" and "conditioned". Acclimating in a garage, a hallway or an unheated room conditions the wood to the wrong environment, which is worse than not acclimating at all because it produces a confident wrong reading.
Minimum 72 hours is the floor, not the target. It is the first step of the installation sequence and of the refinishing sequence alike.
Related
Terms this one depends on
- Moisture contentThe proportion of water in wood or in a subfloor, measured before installation and used to decide whether the two are compatible.
- Moisture differentialThe difference between the moisture content of the flooring material and that of the subfloor, which must sit inside an acceptable range before installation.
- HygroscopicDescribes a material that exchanges moisture with the surrounding air continuously, rather than reaching a fixed state.
- Relative humidityThe amount of water vapour in the air relative to what that air could hold at its temperature — the environmental variable a hardwood floor actually responds to.
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