Like most mills, we start with lumber that’s been kiln dried to a 6-9% MC (this is often 10% and above for Western woods). However, when you are dealing with wide flooring, this range still leaves too much variance between planks.
For our customers in arid climates, in our own kiln, we re-dry:
This brings the wood to 5-6% MC.
All our stock that is re-dried goes through that process BEFORE MILLING. This means that movement from loss of moisture takes place before the pieces of lumber take on the final shape of the flooring. It also means that the flooring planks are consistently low in moisture – so you don’t end up with a wide plank at 8% next to a wide plank at 5%. What's more, our mill is located in a dry climate zone. Even the material that does not go through our extra drying step acclimates to a low moisture content (8-1/2% and below, and normally about 7%) in our warehouse. We can perform the extra drying step on narrower widths for an added charge.
Because a 3% change in moisture on a 5” Hickory plank can cause 1/16” movement. That means 1/8” movement on a 10” Hickory plank with the same change in moisture! That can spell call-backs and complaints.
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