Installations: Detailed Outside Issues to Address

All installations, whether completed by yourself or a professional hardwood flooring installer, must adhere the National Wood Flooring Association Installation Guidelines. Before the installation begins, you need to pay attention to how outside moisture issues can potentially affect your new hardwood flooring in the months ahead. Addressing these issues now will help you avoid potentially painful headaches with your flooring later on.

Rain Diversion

Examine the gutters, downspouts and eave overhangs of the entire dwelling. These should be in good condition. Meaning, they need to successfully divert the water away from the house when it rains. Broken or sagging gutters and downspouts allow water to drain between the railings and the home, run down the sides of the home and or splatter continually on the ground near the foundation. Eaves in disrepair also should be fixed to aid in proper rain diversion.

If the yard does not naturally slope away from the house, french drains or other drainage options should be considered to alleviate crawlspace moisture. Moisture in the crawlspace can eventually be absorbed by the subfloor and eventually seep into the new hardwood flooring, causing all sorts of problems.

Gardens and Planter Boxes

Review the location of gardens and planter boxes placed near the foundation of the home, including ones mounted in the window sills. Regular watering of these can introduce more moisture near the foundation that could allow seepage into the crawlspace. Although the effect is probably minimal in most cases, you don't want to look back and say you didn't take a look at how it might affect the moisture levels beneath the house.

If there are raised beds or planter boxes butted up right up against the house, check the soil line compared to the line of the floor inside the house. If the soil level is higher than the floor level, you might have problems later on. In most cases a homeowner installed these without thinking about placing a water proof barrier between the soil and the house, allowing moisture to slowly take its effect on that portion of the wall and eventually into the hardwood flooring that will be situated on the other side of it. This can still happen if the homeowner placed wood planks, bricks or stone between the soil and the house. None of these surfaces are immune to moisture seepage issues. Installing a water proof barrier of some sort between the planter box or raised bed and the house can alleviate this problem.

Converted Garages, Patios and Other Structures

Depending on how the construction was done, there may or may not be a proper moisture barrier between the subfloor and the current floor in place. You need to double check this as you inspect the subfloor prior to installation anyway.

Patios that have caulking underneath the doors can mean ugly moisture issues later on. This usually indicates it was converted without proper draining space and most likely also will be absent of proper moisture barriers.

Pools and hot tubs that sit near the house or are affixed directly to it also need to be examined for slow leaks that can eventually seep into the house or affect the foundation.

The foundation itself must have the proper amount of vent spaces placed in its base to allow for “breathing.” These vents must be left open year round regardless of the weather.