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Don Phillipson[_3_] Don Phillipson[_3_] is offline
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Default Best wood floors in dry climate?

"Chris Shearer Cooper" wrote in message
...

I live in Colorado, and a few years ago had a bamboo floor installed
in my kitchen and living room, and have been very disappointed.
Despite the whole-house humidifier attached to the forced air heating
system, the "planks" (is that the right word?) contract in the winter,
and then kitchen debris finds its way into the cracks, and we end up
with ugly black lines where the planks touch. . . .
There are some nice-looking engineered wood products, but we're
concerned about the odors ... the off-gassing from a lot of those
kinds of products gives us headaches


Both topics viz.
-- expansion/contraction of wood flooring with changing humidity,
-- health effects of varnishes, manufactured flooring, etc.
are research topics at the US National Bureau of Standards
(building research division, or whatever it is called.) I.e. you
can get expert advice there, probably free (because US
taxpayers paid for it in the first place.) You may find no
wood is wholly free from either effect.

--
Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)