Flooring
Hardwood Flooring Installation
Solid hardwood, fitted for a climate that moves it.
Solid hardwood, fitted for a climate that moves it.
Quick answer: Hardwood Flooring Installation. Southeastern Renovation is a licensed South Carolina general contractor (CLG.127339) serving the Charleston Lowcountry and York County, SC. Work is coordinated by Southeastern Renovation as the general contractor. Licensed trade subcontractors handle work requiring their trade credentials; permit responsibilities depend on the project scope and jurisdiction. Call (843) 718-8177 for an estimate.
It moves with humidity. That is not a defect, it is what wood does, and every part of a good installation is built around it: material acclimated in the room it is going into, expansion gaps left at the perimeter where the skirting will cover them, and fastening that lets the boards move as a floor rather than fighting each one.
Over a crawl space, what is under the floor matters as much as what is on it. A subfloor drawing moisture from a damp crawl space will move the finished floor above it no matter how carefully the boards were laid, which is why the crawl space is worth looking at before the floor is ordered.
On a slab, solid hardwood needs a moisture barrier and often a subfloor between the two. Fitting it straight to slab is where most of the failures we get called to look at started.
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Long enough to reach the moisture content it will live at — days rather than hours, and longer if it has come from a cold warehouse into a humid house.
It is the cheapest step in the job and the one most often skipped.
With a moisture barrier and usually a subfloor, yes. Straight onto slab, no — and a slab that has not been moisture tested is not a slab anyone should be laying a wood floor on.
If it is damp, yes. A subfloor pulling moisture up will move the boards above it whatever was done at floor level, and it is far cheaper to fix before the floor goes down than after.