The key to making sure your flooring performs well is to maintain a relative humidity in the building of between 30-50% year-round. It is important to control the climate and humidity, as wood is a natural product that reacts to changes in moisture.
A Real Life Example
One customer built a lovely brand-new home. They had Somerset flooring installed on two entire levels and were very happy with the product and results. They had not sold their current home (which was out of state), so they continued to live in the current home, while letting the new home sit empty in the humid summer weather (Ohio Valley) with no HVAC system running. Their beautiful brand new floors cupped and buckled...to be expected....and they were very disappointed. This could have been prevented with some knowledge and care. It was not due to any manufacturing problem, and obviously was not anything that we could or should control, so it was not covered by the Somerset Limited Warranty.
Our hope is that through information and sharing common issues and experiences, that Somerset customers will know what to expect when they choose the beauty of natural wood flooring.
Please see the reference map below (courtesy of the National Wood Flooring Association). It shows the optimum moisture content of flooring by location in the USA.
