Wood stove and laminate flooring

[egclassic]

Beginning my 4th or 5th season of heating with wood (not primary source), and I'm still no expert at it.
This summer, we just remodeled our house, all new kitchen, living room etc. I installed laminate flooring in about half of the house. My concern is now with the laminate flooring getting too dried out during the winter with the stove going. I did buy a large, portable humidifier that I plan on running when the stove is running. It will supposedly do up to 9 gallons a day. Tonight I had my first fire since the remodel and after about an hour or two, I noticed the indoor humidity dropped from 51% to about 45%.
Has anyone here had any issues with their laminate flooring using a wood stove for heat?
Thanks in advance!

 

[CenterTree]

I always thought (assumed) that one of the "advantages" of LAMINATE was that it was more stable then real wood. No?

 

[jb6l6gc]

New laminates don't shrink and expand like the old ones did. You should be ok. Source : my brother and law who's been in flooring for over 20yrs

 

[JA600L]

Your humidity is dropping because of the cold air getting in.

 

[Seanm]

When laminate flooring is taken to a home the packaging needs to be opened up so that the flooring can get acclimatized to the new environments humidity before installation but I don't think the humidity will affect it much once its in place. Ive heard this about pianos and other instruments but not laminate. Ill be curious to hear other peoples opinions. I also agree with JA600Ls comment.

 

[rwhite]

1st it's important to understand RH. RH is not an actual measure of water vapor in the air, it's the amount of water that is in the air relative to the amount of water that the air can hold at a given temp. Generally as the temp is increased the RH will decrease even though there may be no change in the actual amount of water vapor in the air. So by starting the fire you didn't decrease the amount of water in the air you just raised the temp. A very general rule of thumb is that RH will be decreased by 1/2 for every 20 degree increase in temp (or doubled for every 20 degree decrease). So if your home generally sees temp swing from 55-75 degrees and you are shooting for a 35% RH at 75 you will see an approximate RH of 70% at 55 degrees with no actual change in water vapor in the air. What gets wood to shrink and swell is wild swings in RH when the temp is relatively stable.

Long way to say that it will be ok. Laminates being a pressed/glued product are very stable and don't react to water vapor unless they remain saturated for prolonged periods.

 

[egclassic]

ok, thanks to all who replied. I, too, have heard that laminate was not as susceptible to expansion and contraction as real wood but I was not sure.

 

[bag of hammers]

Laminate here, been in for a few years, no issues (other than some klutz damage). My 2c - you should be fine...

 

[rwhite]

Another fun science experiment (especially if you have kids!) is testing or calibrating your hygrometer. Turns out that sodium chloride stabilizes RH at right around 75%. And it doesn't vary much with temperature changes (74% at freezing to 76% at 75 degrees). So if you make a salt slurry (snowcone consistency) in a small container like a medicine cup and place the hygrometer and the salt in an airtight container like tupperware or a ziploc bag. Once your hygrometer settles it should read 75% or fairly close. If it's adjustable you can then calibrate it or if not you can compensate for the difference. Usually digital hygrometers react within an hour or two. I have had to wait up to 24 hours for a spring type to stabilize before.

Sorry to derail the thread!

 

[Trktrd]

Many years ago I installed laminate in a previous home. I put some of the scraps together and laid them in my truck bed just to see what would happen to it in the weather. 2 years later they still looked like new. Don't think much of anything can hurt that stuff.

 

[jb6l6gc]

Trust me when dog pee gets in seams it can. Had a puppy ruin some spots lol

 

[Seanm]

Lol, damn dog. Also a mop and bucket is killer on laminate. This causes the lifting of the joints just like what happened with jb616gcs pup. A wet swiffer is the best way to clean laminate floors.

 

[begreen]

This thread's gone to the dogs.