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Wood Flooring in an Unheated Cottage

17 years ago

I have a cottage in Upper Michigan on the shore of lake Superior. My plan is to install solid wood flooring over a crawl space. My cottage is unheated during the winter months and my question deals whether or not solid wood flooring is a very good idea under these conditions. Should I be concerned about expanding and contracting of the floor because of the lack of heat. Also what is a good wood to use. I am considering using hickory.

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Comments (4)

boxers
17 years ago
any wood product needs to be in a controlled environment. You will get lots more expansion and contraction in an unheated and possibly humid condition. Suggest you'd be better with an engineered vs a solid as it tends to be more stable, though you could have problems using any wood in the environment you describe.
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floorman67
17 years ago
agree with boxers.

sold advice.
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floorman67
17 years ago
solid advise, rather
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glennsfc
17 years ago
It's an unheated cottage...not a real problem. Solid wood floors have historically been the flooring of choice for such places and there rarely was a problem with it. They either painted the stuff or used a penetrating stain or oiled the floor (tung oil or equivalent). A film forming finish might be a problem in such an environment, however I have great confidence in the elastic properties of certain commercial waterborne polyurethanes.

Use a solid and finish with what you think will work.
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