Acclimating T&G Pine Before Installation

[Andrew Pow]

I'm installing 1x6 v-groove tongue & groove pine on the ceiling of my off-grid cabin, and having the lumber delivered from the yard this week (700sq. ft. of it). Considering I don't have a temperature control system/heat/AC/electricity at the cabin, what would be the best practice to acclimate the wood before install. Current forecast for the next couple weeks has temps as high as 77 and as low as 37. Relative humidity is around 40% inside the cabin right now, but that'll likely change up and down.

Should I sticker it inside? Leave it in bundles? Bother waiting for it to acclimate at all, considering the somewhat extreme condition fluctuations?

Thank for your help. It would be a nightmare if this wood got ruined by warping before I could put it all up.

[Bob Cooper]

I’d say sticker it and run a dehumidifier for a few weeks. When I did my ceiling — cypress— I stained and poly’ed it before it was hung

[Andrew Pow]

I’d say sticker it and run a dehumidifier for a few weeks. When I did my ceiling — cypress— I stained and poly’ed it before it was hung

No electricity, so no dehumidifier. I have a generator, but currently only spend weekends there so I wouldn't be able to (or want to) run it constantly.

[Eric Schmid]

What is the moisture content of the wood being delivered? Kiln dried or something else? If it’s kiln dried I would leave space at the perimeter for expansion, especially in the direction of board width.

I would be more concerned with the present moisture content than acclimating. You’re going to have big swings in temperature and humidity, so build for expansion (and contraction).

Personally, I would rather install KD material in a 40% RH environment than bring green lumber into a dry environment.

Are you sealing this wood? If so, seal all sides before installing. You don’t want one side taking on moisture while the other is sealed.

Also, consider the conditions in which this material is presently stored. Most lumber yards around here don’t store their wood in a climate controlled warehouse. It may already be acclimated in other words.

[Andrew Pow]

Thanks, Eric. All good points and questions. The wood is kiln dried, though I'm not sure of the storage conditions at the lumber yard or moisture content - I'll certainly be measuring that when it arrives. I'm leaving the wood unfinished, no sealing on any side.

[Richard Coers]

Nail it up ASAP. Lumber like that could easily be 19% and sitting around will make installation a real chore with long bows in the wood. I would suggest applying the finish before installation as just seasonal movement will reveal a color difference on the tongue when it shrinks. There is even a good chance you will have to cut the length in half as some boards will have already moved. Edge knots don't help that stuff stay straight at all. Unless you ordered clear stock of course.

[Bill Dufour]

Depends on your climate not the weather this week. Will humidity be below 20% or more then 65% lots of the time? Will it freeze inside the cabin in winter. Sounds like it may if you are in the northern Hemisphere where it is starting to cool now. If it is spring down there then freezing is probably not an issue.
Bil lD

[Michelle Rich]

I actually have vast experience with off grid/building my own cabin in a far north climate. I lived and built my home for over 24 yrs without electricity. Only difference is my ceilings are aspen. Since you know they are kiln dried, leave them in bundles. Only open them when you have time to put them up. I have massive extremes in humidity. Heavy humidity in summer, and drier than a desert in the winter at 40 below zero& a woodstove going 24/7. I put mine up and never put any finish on them at all. They have darkened some and look fabulous after what is now 35 yrs. None have cracked or turned into pretzels. I did tho leave 1/4 inch gap all around the ceiling. Didn't get trim on for years, and I never saw the ceiling move into that 1/4 inch gap.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Forget about acclimatizing it, what you are trying to do with this stuff is construction so different rules. Once you undo the straps, it starts moving, so install right away, like Richard said. Once installed, it's range of movement is limited so it won't matter if it moves. It is fairly flexible stuff though, so when you inevitably end up trying to put up a board with a long warp, you can usually bend it into place. It'll find it's equilibrium while hanging on the ceiling.

[Tom M King]

I've put up thousands of square feet of it. "Nail it before it rots", as the saying goes. It also really doesn't need a finish for a ceiling. I've built houses with it that sold for over a million dollars with unfinished YP on the ceilings. We have it in our house, and there's never been any finish on it.

edited to add: Picture is sideways, but is in our house, now 40 years old

[Jim Becker]

Let it acclimate and if possible, install on a warmer/more humid day. That permits it to shrink slightly when it's colder/dryer which works well since the groove side can be left to float on the tongue of the adjacent piece.

[Bill Dufour]

I would take the plastic off but leave it banded so it does not warp as it dries and a climates to the cabin. I would wait a month or so for the weather to warm up closer to the summer season you will be using this unheated cabin. You hit spring just this week so give it some time to warm up.
Bil lD

[Andrew Pow]

Wow, lots of different opinions in here. Thanks for the insight, especially from those who have installed a lot of this stuff. I'll likely keep it packaged inside the cabin and just open when I'm ready to install (which will probably be in two weeks).

Bill, if your location really is California, I think you have your seasons backwards. I'm in Rochester, NY. It just hit fall, and is only going to get colder here in the northeast.

[Tom M King]

I use a 2-1/4, or 2-1/2" finish nail shot from a nailgun, right above the tongue. I used it in every new house I built one of for each of 33 years. We used to be able to buy it off the rack from local mill/suppliers, in any normal length. It was cheap then, but people always loved it here on the lake. I would say it's a safe bet that I've put up over 50,000 feet of the stuff.

Sometimes you will need to help to one pull up tightly to the last one. I'd screw a block to a joist/rafter up the wall a ways, use a lever stick, and a push stick that can be cut shorter as needed, as you work your way across the ceiling. Pull the lever with one hand, and shoot the nail with the other. Cut some of your scrap pieces to use the groove as part of the pusher, so you don't bruise the V. There are commercial tools for the job, but they don't really save a whole lot of time, and for one job, I wouldn't bother to buy anything special.

[Andrew Pow]

I guess I'll toss one more question in here while I have your attention. The T&G is not end matched, and I was planning on straight butt joints throughout the install. I know most expansion/contraction will happen across the width of the boards and I'll be nailing close to all the joints, so this should be enough to ensure large gaps don't appear, right? Keep in mind this is a "rustic" cabin, so joints don't have to be perfect or invisible.

[Robert Engel]

I wouldn’t worry about it too much. T&G is installed with movement anticipated to occur.

Only nailing one side like a shiplap back allows expansion/contraction in and out of the groove.

The wood is kiln dried you’re not going to get much shrinkage in 6” anyway.

Don’t worry about the butt joints.

I have installed this type material before over black roofing felt just in case of a gap.

[Andrew Seemann]

I say nail it up before it warps. The entire point or T&G is to accommodate movement, that is why you only nail one side of the board. The northern half of this state is pretty much all T&G, and I doubt much of it was stickered and acclimated before it was put up.

You can get some shrinkage along the length of a really long board, say 12 or more feet, if the MC is high enough when it is put up. If you are worried, just 45 the ends so they overlap.

[William Hodge]

You need to know what you're dealing with before you decide how to proceed.

The important numbers are the moisture content of your wood, and your wood width. Buy a moisture meter.

https://www.amazon.com/Lignomat-USA-LTD-mini-Ligno-Mini-Ligno/dp/B000VIMGIA/ref=asc_df_B000VIMGIA/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=309760780746&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=11766180730989984998&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9001768&hvtargid=pla-569207802380&psc=1

If you are using Eastern White Pine, the wood will expand and contract 3/16" per foot, wettest to driest. (Understanding Wood, Hoadley). If your wood is 5%, and it's winter, that wood needs a little more room so that it won't buckle in the summer. If the wood is 17%, expect some shrinkage. Check the moisture content of other objects in the building. If everything is pretty dry all year, you will know what to expect.

A moisture meter could save you a ton of work. If you buy the lumber, and every piece is 9%, you're good to just install it without months of stickering. Whenever I leave a lift of stickerd lumber in the dining room, the Mrs. is sure to say some thing like "What do you think, we live in a saw mill?" It hurts my feelings, because in fact, we do live in a restored saw mill. She knew it when she married me, and everything was all back to the land lets live in a saw mill and grow rutabagas for a living. Having a Chase Machine Portable Sawmill running the length of the house was "Groovy". Then little things started happening, like we had a kitchen, and tobacco spitting was no longer allowed in it. A few "oopses" later and now we have three kids and their friends, and the sawmill got put out in of all things a barn. Stickering wood in the living space would be as bad as me going back to having a weird beard and running the sawmill in sandals. I'm sorry, but the stickering the woold in living space just triggered me into talking about the way things aren't anymore. So, buy a moisture meter, nail the wood on the ceiling, and be done with it.

[Tom M King]

I guess I'll toss one more question in here while I have your attention. The T&G is not end matched, and I was planning on straight butt joints throughout the install. I know most expansion/contraction will happen across the width of the boards and I'll be nailing close to all the joints, so this should be enough to ensure large gaps don't appear, right? Keep in mind this is a "rustic" cabin, so joints don't have to be perfect or invisible.

I built one 45'ing the ends. Some of it is going to shrink lengthwise, especially if the grain is not straight. You can still see some gaps in the one with the overlapped ends, but only from one angle. Neither I, nor anyone else, thought it was worth the trouble. There shouldn't be many butt joints to open up, and people just don't notice them, like we would.

[Bill Dufour]

Wow, lots of different opinions in here. Thanks for the insight, especially from those who have installed a lot of this stuff. I'll likely keep it packaged inside the cabin and just open when I'm ready to install (which will probably be in two weeks).

Bill, if your location really is California, I think you have your seasons backwards. I'm in Rochester, NY. It just hit fall, and is only going to get colder here in the northeast.


Your original post did not have our location, you fixed that, for some reason I thought you were in South America.
Bill D

[Jim Dwight]

Andrew,

Seems like you have a plan. I suspect based upon installing hardwood floors, that regardless of what you do, you will have boards that do not want to go into place easily. I'm sure you know a short piece of scrap will to help when you need to provide persuasion but also protect the tongue. When that was not enough, I found it handy to drive a large screwdriver into the sub floor (in your case ceiling joist) and use it as a prybar to move the wood into position. Your fitup may have more flexibility than a floor but it might also be a technique to think about if you have a problematic piece of wood. I also found the holding power of 18 gauge brads to be insufficient for warped boards. 16 gauge were a lot better but I preferred 15. It wasn't as handy, I have a 18 gauge battery powered nailer but I mostly used a flooring nailer so I had the compressed air there too.

Jim

[Thomas McCurnin]

I too have a wilderness cabin and I too have installed this stuff. I would open it up and let it breathe. I would also pre-finish it, if with nothing more some water based poly. Add some yellow and orange tint to the poly if you want to replicate the old, yellow shellac look. In that weather, it will likely shrink, not expand.

[Thomas Colson]

I just did this. I'm assuming you're buying "Cabin Grade", 6-12$ a board? As others posted, it's gonna start turning into banana's soon. I pre-finished mine, only bought what I could finish and nail in a weekend till I was done. Don't over think this, you're not installing 20$/ft hard wood floors. "Kentucky Windage" it. If it's super humid, pound the $hit out of them to get them tighter than $shit so you don't get 1/2 inch gaps when they shrink. Super dry? Install them loose (don't pound the $shit out of them) so they don't split when expanding. When I installed, one day would be 90% humidity, next day....40%. Just understand the conditions and "knowing that wood moves" and not "trying to make a wall that will be featured in FWW"....a year later, I'm pretty happy. Some minor gaps here and there, but only I can find them. The tongue really accommodates all your mistakes!

As for your "end butts": cut them opposite 45 degree kerfs, and put some wood glue on the end grain. Make sure the ends land on studs, shoot a 18 ga nail through the face, some matching putty on the nail head, rub some saw dust on the joint, then ROS sand when dry. Again, I have to look hard to find most of my butt joints. They really won't expand "that much" across their length, and in a 40 foot long wall made up of 3 T&G boards, expansion will move the 18ga nails before it breaks the TBIII glue joints. Haven't had one joint crack yet.

Disclaimer: I did have one board split/crack near the end, but it was also a "Pith" board (one that was the center of the tree, flat sawn). If you can, place your boards that were from the center of the tree at top/bottom of the wall, where expansion is "less expensive" and keep your tight growth ring boards in the middle. If you can't tell, look at the end grain, google "Reading end grain". Using CA glue and activator, I was able to conceal the split now I can't even find it.

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Most TG car siding and beadboard has ends TG. If your's doesn't and you want them supported, use a biscuit. You can skip the glue on one end if you want the biscuit to float a little.