Red Elm drying question

[mygrandfather]

This past week here in Wisconsin I had two old trees taken down and cut into logs; one is a White Oak about 160 to 180 years old, the other is a Red (slippery) Elm, certainly over 100 years and maybe 150.  My sawmill guy has hauled the logs to his mill awaiting my instructions on board sizes.  We intend to build a cabin in a few years and use under-floor radiant heat.  I have visions of the Red Elm being used for the cabin flooring, and have been lead to believe that it will have some grain pattern somewhat like cherry, and that it will be plenty durable for flooring.  But I am concerned about Elm tending to twist, cup, and otherwise warp.  My first instinct is to have both logs quarter-sawn, in part to get the more interesting grain patterns, but also for stability.  I was planning to air dry the rough sawn lumber from both trees, and expected to have them quarter sawn at 4/4 so the finished thickness would be a standard 3/4 thickness.  I also expected that processing the Elm as tongue-and-groove flooring would help keep it stable.  I read the nice article on outside air-drying in Fine Woodworking, properly leveled, stickered, and sheltered with a roof and landscape fabric, and that is my plan.
Does anyone have any concerns or cautions about my plan or expected uses, particularly air-drying the Red Elm?  I was figuring to put the Elm on the bottom of the stack(s), so more weight is above it to help minimize any twisting.

[tyb525]

Narrower boards will cup less. 1/4 sawing will help too. I think once it is dry it should do ok. If you could afford it, you might consider kiln drying.

[WDH]

If you only air dry the lumber, you will have problems.  You will only be able to get the moisture content down to 12 - 15%.  That is not low enough for flooring in a heated building.  You can air dry it, then re-sticker it inside a heated/cooled building for a month or two (say 6 weeks) so that it can dry further to something like 7 - 8% moisture.  Otherwise, if you mill up the flooring and install it at 12 - 15% moisture, you will be shrinkage cracks in all the joints.

Your other option is to find someone to kiln dry the wood after you have air dried it.  The kiln can finish it off in fairly short order.

Like Ty says, narrower boards will be more stable and will twist and warp less.  If you properly dry the wood, I bet it will make a beautiful floor.

[mygrandfather]

WDH and Ty, thanks for the observations.  I have been advised about needing to further dry the wood indoors to get it to stable moisture content, either air or kiln for that final step before processing to finished boards.  Your comments about the narrower boards makes sense so we'll do that.  I am presuming you mean narrower in the final processing, rather than the rough sawn boards, and that with the weight of the oak and other top weights on the stack, the air drying shouldn't need to be cut to narrower boards...

[Dodgy Loner]

You're on the right track.  I would definitely quartersaw the red elm, as wide as the log allows, and stack it underneath the oak.  Properly quartersawn lumber does't have much of a tendency to cup, but the boards will most likely bow along their length.  This will mean you'll either have to cut them narrower to straighten them, or cut them into shorter lengths if you want to keep them wide.  It's your floor, so it's your choice .  Personally, I like wide floorboards, but some people object to them because the additional width results in larger gaps as the floorboards go through their inevitable shrinkage and expanding with the changing seasons.

[WDH]

Also, narrow boards on a floor make the room look larger.  Wider flooring makes the space more initmate  ;D.  That is what I have heard.  No personal experience.

[lonewolf]

mygrandfather where are you at in WI ? A friend of mine has a small dehumidification kiln and does some custom drying. He is near Mondovi send me a PM and I will forward you the info. if interested. I'm not certain but I think it holds about 2000 bdft. It's one of those Bailey's advertises.