How humidity affects your hardwood floors

Hardwood flooring is a tasteful, value-adding flooring option for any home. However, if you live in a humid area, you may wonder whether the humidity will affect or damage your hardwood floors. The short answer: is yes, humidity can affect your wood flooring. However, with proper preparation and care, you can avoid any damage and keep your floors looking as great as the day they were installed. A great option to prevent this is to choose Hybrid flooring, a waterproof option. Available in a range of styles and colour ways.

Wood is a natural, porous material that reacts to fluctuations in temperature and humidity. Wood floors absorb moisture from the air, causing the individual boards to swell and put pressure against the neighbouring boards, resulting in buckling, warping, discolouration or cupping. This affects the structural integrity of your floors and ruins their look! To ensure there will be no issues with water damage, you need a quality product and expert installation. You can opt for waterproof floors such as vinyl sheet or vinyl planking.

Mould thrives in porous, moisture-filled environments. If your floorboards or the areas under your floors are not adequately sealed and treated and are regularly exposed to humidity, mould is likely to build. This will deteriorate the wood over time, create bad smells and possibly detriment your health. If you are looking into what to clean your floors with, we have a range of products suited for almost all flooring types.

Luckily for Kiwis with hardwood floors, our climate doesn’t usually reach the humidity levels that would lead to damage. However, if you live in a particularly damp valley or microclimate, humidity may still be an issue for your floors, making it essential to consider what product will work best in your home.

• Make sure your hardwood floors are installed and sealed correctly by a reputable flooring company.
• Control the humidity levels in your home as best you can. You can use extractor fans and dehumidifiers to help you maintain ideal levels of humidity (30-50%) year-round. Any less humidity may cause dryness problems and floorboard shrinkage!
• Do not use excessive amounts of water to clean your floors.
• Consider alternative flooring surfaces in areas of your home that become regularly humid, such as bathrooms and laundries.
• Avoid drying your washing in small rooms with hardwood floors.

If you want to learn more about caring for your hardwood floors or are wondering whether a new hardwood floor would suit your home, reach out to the experts! The Harrisons team have been enhancing Kiwi homes for decades. We are happy to answer any questions about all types of flooring.