Preparing Your Decking for Installation
The first step in any cumaru deck-building project is to prepare the wood through acclimation. Acclimation is getting the deck boards used to your local climate, equalizing the moisture content of the wood with that of the surrounding air.
Wood expands and contracts with changes in moisture levels. Such changes are triggered simply by moving the wood from one place to another, for instance, when we ship your order of cumaru decking to your job site. If you do not give the wood time to adjust, it will attempt to expand or shrink after being installed, resulting in warps, buckles, and cracks.
To prevent these problems you must:
- Store the deck boards outside in an environment similar to the final build site.
- Allow for good air flow along each side of every board by keeping them elevated off the ground and using scrap lumber spacers to keep the boards apart.
- Leave the boards open to the air. This means you must not cover them with a tarp.
A key thing to remember when letting your cumaru decking acclimate is to not do anything to the uninstalled boards that you would not do to the finished deck. The whole point of acclimation is to get the wood used to its final installed conditions. Are you planning on keeping your finished deck under a tarp 24/7? If not, then don't do it to the uninstalled boards either.
If you have any questions about the acclimation process, feel free to ask.