![]() The fifth way of controlling wood movement only works for wood used inside a building, but it is critical to wood's performance: controlling the temperature and relative humidity of the building environment.The design of wood joints is important to accommodate cumulative movement in large pieces of wood and to manage the visuals, so to speak, so the natural movement of wood is not problematic.Finishing the wood to seal the grain can also help, but protective coatings will only slow down dimensional changes in wood, not prevent them.If you install these woods dry and well acclimated to your site, you have an excellent chance that movement will be minimized. ![]() Most of the usual suspects - including spruce-pine-fir and Douglas fir for framing and white pine, poplar, white and red oak, maple, or cherry for trim - are familiar to carpenters for a reason: These woods tend to be fairly stable under normal environmental conditions. Selecting a stable wood is also key this becomes an issue when you opt for unusual or unfamiliar woods.This requires an understanding of how to condition wood, and it helps if you actually measure moisture content on site. The most important is to use dry wood and to condition it to near equilibrium moisture content.The degree to which wood changes dimension is dependent on the structure of the wood, which varies by species.Ĭarpenters have essentially five ways to manage wood movement: The moisture exchange between wood and the air depends on the relative humidity and the temperature of the air, and the amount of water in the wood at any given time. When it absorbs moisture, wood swells, and when it releases moisture (dries), wood shrinks. Wood is hygroscopic, meaning it exchanges moisture with the surrounding environment.
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