If you bought laminate flooring but are not sure what temperature you need to store them, you are not alone. This brief comprehensive guide shares everything there is to know about the ideal temperature to store laminate flooring.
Laminate flooring is amongst the most durable and aesthetically appealing floor materials to install in your home. Nonetheless, with its beauty comes great responsibility in caring for the flooring. Laminate flooring requires extra care to maintain quality, appearance, and durability. This boils down to how and where, and how you store laminate flooring, including climate control.
Even the slightest climate changes can easily affect laminate flooring. Therefore, it’s important to maintain the ideal temperature pre- and post-laminate flooring installation. To help you hit the mark with storage climate control, we’ve outlined a foolproof guide on the ideal temperature you can store laminate flooring.
What Is The Ideal Temperature to Store Laminate Flooring?
The ideal temperature for storing laminate flooring is 65 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit. This should be coupled with humidity and moisture content levels of around 25% to 65%. Maintaining the ideal temperature, pre-and post-installation retains the structure and look of the laminate flooring.
When you store laminate flooring, you want to avoid significant temperature fluctuations as this may cause structural damage to the laminate flooring. Similarly, you want to maintain moisture content and humidity levels to keep the flooring in the best condition and reduce the chances of water damage to the flooring.
Can I Store Laminate Flooring In The Cold?
Laminate flooring can be left in a cool, dry place. However, this should only be for a short duration. Before installation, you want to acclimate the laminate flooring to the conditions you intend to install it in before the actual installation process.
Without doing so, you will risk damaging the structure of the flooring. On the other hand, exposure to the cold (especially during the winter season) for long periods can increase the risks of water damage.
Does Heat Damage Laminate Flooring?
Storing laminate in a warm room will not necessarily damage it. Therefore, you can store laminate flooring in a warm room. Instead, temperature fluctuations pose the risk of damaging laminate flooring.
Temperature fluctuations from hot to cold and vice versa cause the floor to expand and contract with the same constant cycle. Ultimately, this results in curling, peeling, and eventually damaged laminate flooring. You should also consider the amount of heat your laminate flooring is exposed to, too high and this might affect the durability of your flooring.
What Happens If You Don’t Store Laminate Flooring In the Right Conditions?
Laminate flooring stored under extreme or fluctuating temperatures can easily get damaged. Too much heat causes laminate flooring to expand while cold temperatures cause it to contract. In some cases, while it should contract during cold winters due to heating systems reaching higher temperatures, laminate flooring might react differently—more on this in this article.
Over time, this can cause the laminate floor to peel, curl, and even misalign. This means that you will have to redo the flooring and even purchase new laminate flooring in the worst cases. The flooring can succumb to water damage with high humidity/moisture content levels.
How Do I Maintain The Ideal Laminate Flooring Temperature During The Cold Season?
The easiest way to maintain the ideal temperature for laminate flooring during the cold season is by investing in proper insulation and heating. You can combine different insulation methods to maintain the perfect climate for your flooring.
Here are the key methods for climate control when storing laminate flooring;
The Construction of Your Home
Before you think of equipment, such as the HVAC system or space heaters, you should consider your home’s insulation. The construction of your home significantly impacts its insulative properties. To keep your home warm, especially the floor, you have to ensure the basement is fully sealed and insulated.
Heating Equipment
You can invest in underfloor heating to complement the insulation with a sealed basement. But, if this option is too expensive, a room or space heater will do. You can also make use of your home’s HVAC system. A modern or smart heating system will even track the room’s temperature at all times to ensure you are on the right track.
Interior Design
You can also use your home’s interior design for climate control. Adding items such as area rugs and soft lighting goes a long way to keep the house warm during the cold season.
Take Care of Moisture Build Up
Even with the right temperature, high moisture levels can still be detrimental to the laminate flooring. Therefore, you want to ensure you control the moisture content at all times. You can even use a hygrometer to monitor the humidity and moisture content (some modern HVAC systems allow you to monitor humidity and moisture levels in the room).
If you have laminate flooring installed in your home, you have to be extra careful and avoid tracking ice and snow every time you come into the house. If it happens that you do so, make sure you clean up and dry the area immediately.
You can also set up rugs or mats in high-traffic areas, like your front door, where your soiled footwear can be left or wiped off. Alternatively, during the winter season, you can arrange your house to allow you to leave shoes outside.
Is It OK To Store Laminate Flooring In The Garage?
Laminate flooring can be stored in the garage. However, the garage has to be properly insulated to ensure it has the right temperature, using a XPS underlay and installing laminate in your garage and lastly, drywalling your cold garage can help you with that. . A hot and cold garage can affect laminate flooring, causing it to expand or contract. Once this happens, it becomes difficult to align the laminate flooring during installation.
In extreme temperatures, the garage may also have higher moisture levels, significantly damaging the flooring material. Moreover, if you choose to place your laminate flooring in the garage, you will still have to acclimate it to the room intended for installation later.
Can Laminate Flooring Be Kept Outside?
It is not advised to store or install laminate flooring outside. While some laminate flooring may be labeled as weather-resistant, they are still not equipped to withstand outdoor conditions. Depending on the climate, keeping laminate flooring outside can cause them to expand or contract, leading to warping over time.
On the other hand, wet and snowy conditions can increase the moisture content in the flooring, leading to water damage, and this will in turn make your laminate floor move. The laminated material can also get damaged due to extreme conditions over time. Keeping laminate flooring outside will ultimately impact its durability.
Will The Way I Store Laminate Flooring Affect Its Temperature?
It is a good idea to learn how to store laminate flooring since when done the right way, the storage will not affect its temperature. The best way to store laminate flooring before installation is by stacking the flooring in the intended room with a controlled climate and letting it acclimate.
You want to stack the flooring panels in a criss-cross manner (each layer being perpendicular to the other), automatically leaving enough spacing for air circulation. At the end of the day, in addition to maintaining a proper climate, the setup eliminates the risks of moisture build-up.
Conclusion
Evidently, storing laminate flooring at the right temperature is what enhances their durability. Due to their sensitive nature, laminate flooring thrives in a controlled climate. Rapid temperature fluctuations or extreme temperatures are a sure recipe for damaging laminate flooring. As a general rule of thumb, you want to follow instructions on the manufacturer’s packaging of your laminate flooring – to ensure you store them at the right temperature.