[drnewman6]

We have just removed about 150 square feet of Walnut 1X6X10's from our house. They were the original floors and not tongue and groove. We thought it was probably oak, until I cut the end off of one to see what it looked like. We will removing more, as we remodel other rooms. I think we will plane these and use to make a tongue and groove walnut floor in one or more rooms in another area of our house. What I would like to know, is how do I store these? To the best of my knowledge they were laid when the house was built about 130 years ago. For the most part they are straight and flat (a few have a little cupping but not much). They were the original floor with nothing under them, the house has a crawl space with stone foundation and I would say was fairly moist but the boards have minimum damage.

When we reinstall these, they will not be exposed to moisture, as they will be over a plywood subfloor. Do they need to be dried further for that? I don't want to take steps that may warp or otherwise damage them.
Thanks for any advise!
Angela

 

[Bill White 2]

Let the wood acclimate for a couple weeks after removal by stacking with stickers and adequate air flow, then skip plane (machine plane) lightly, acclimate, then final sizing. Do you have a moisture meter?
When its at 6 to 8%, work away.
Bill

 

[Dandan111]

I would just stack them with spacers in a garage with good air flow for now. As long as they aren't in a big pile I bet you will be ok. It might be cool to use them as a boarder against a new style like bamboo flooring.

 

[drnewman6]

Thanks to you both. I don't have a moisture meter but was thinking about looking at them. I have them stacked in small piles in my barn right now but just worried that I should do something else with them. I did not stack with stickers but will go back and do that, I think I only have them stacked two high, so not a big job.

I also thought that when we are working on them I should bring them indoors to acclimate before we finish them up. Thanks for that advise, or I probably would have been back asking about that!

 

[rayking49]

They sell moisture meters at lowes for less than thirty.