I ordered columbia laminate floor. My contractor will pick them up the day before the installation. Does laminate floor also need to be acclimated? If yes, how long? Is putting in the garage before installation be fine? If I need to put them in the house, do I need to turn air conditioning on? I am living in the bay area and the temperature now is between 63F--83F. Thank you very much. This post was edited by janesylvia on Thu, Jul 25, 13 at 21:42

the box on ours stated to allow them to acclimate before installation by a few days. I think ours were in the garage and we don't run a/c year round, it is more to acclimate them to your relative humidity - if you don't run a/c all the time, you probably don't need to turn it on now.

Steff--The owner decided to meet with me at the houe in the morning with the installer to make sure everything went right. I think he senses I'm being a nervous nelly. Lavender--I'll post some update pics and the status on the update thread from the weekend called something about "special sect of AA for TKO" or similar. There are no pictures of the wood now....see my update below. Idrive--The way he explained it to me was that they could leave the stack of wood sitting in my house for a week, and the middle of the planks in the middle of the pile would not be of the same moisture content as the ends and planks on the top. So even if the pile sat longer, it wouldn't make that much of a difference. By installing the floors and waiting for the sand/finish, it gives those boards that need a tiny bit more drying out the time to do so. Sanding and finishing the few boards that didn't have a chance to acclimatize completely before install is a bad thing I thinkin'. UPDATE: Met the owner and installer at the house early this a.m. to answer any last questions and watch them get started. They took their moisture readings before I could even get the kids completely out of the car. Bad news. The plywood subfloor was extremely damp. The white oak planks were dried out well enough to install, but they can't be put down in a floor that has so much moisture. We were all shocked. The owner didn't think the subfloor would even be ready for planks in a week. He thinks it'll probably take two weeks for the plywood to sufficiently dry. ARRRRGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! I hate to sound so pathetic, but it seems all I do is report setbacks and problems. I now have to reschedule the other trades waiting to come in after the floor went down. And, we have to push our temporary house move-out date back again. The owner will be so delighted with yet another setback. ;)

G&S said it best. You are welcome to ask for an addendum to your contract stating that ANY/ALL installation related issues due to lack of acclimation will be dealt with at the installers expense for the next 'X' amount of years. Normally work/labour warranties are 1 year. Some really top guys go 2 years but that's really the end of it. If you aren't happy with the installer's statement of 'delivery day = day of install' then go ahead and give him/her the option. Either extend the acclimation process (including the moisture readings to be given over to you at the end of the job) or they offer an EXTENDED labour/product warranty over and above the 1 year range (go for 3-5 years....that should be enough to get them to take notice) - the moisture readings to be handed over at the end of the job when final payment is received. Be nice as pie. Offer to pay the extra travel time, make sure you are clear, considerate and willing to offer a snick more (their travel time is probably quite long which is why s/he doesn't want to travel more than necessary to get the wood off loaded and then COME BACK to start install and then COME BACK to start the sanding/refinishing and then COME BACK to FINISH the job). And notice how I mentioned the moisture readings to be handed over EITHER WAY? Right. That's the whole point of this exercise. To get the moisture readings at time of final payment. The moisture readings are what tie VERY STICK OF WARRANTY together. Do not waiver on the moisture readings. Those are non-negotiable.