Installing wood floors in winter… To use or not use a humidifier? - GreenBuildingAdvisor

Installing wood floors in winter… To use or not use a humidifier? Emel | Posted in General Questions on February 13, 2026 06:29pm We have an engineered white oak floor that we are hoping to install soon. The company recommends a minimum of 35% humidity for their product, however in winter, our home gets down around 28%. (Currently it’s stable at 30%).  I’ve read a few articles here and it sounds like if our home is above 25%, using a humidifier in general could do more harm than good, so is it best to not use one prior to install? Even if we did use one prior to install, our hope would be to not use one ongoing in the future. The thing I wonder about is whether we’ll have problems if we install it during the lowest seasonal humidity and if we’ll have problems when it reaches its highest level of humidity in the summer time and if that would cause issues like buckling when the boards expand.  Does anyone have experience with this type of situation?    Answer GBA Detail Library A collection of one thousand construction details organized by climate and house part Search and download construction details Join the leading community of building science experts Become a GBA Prime member and get instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field. Start free trial Related Questions Whole-house humidifier sharing duct work with whole-house dehumidifier? (Z5) Question about humidifier and de-humidifier Any new data on ceiling fan use in ...