Real air drying time?

[Satamax]

Hi everybody. 

Well, i need a floor for myself. I have a sawmill, planer, thicknesser, spindle molder, bandsaw etc. 

But the problem is the drying time for the larch. Admitting 1"1/4 sawn size.  How long would it take to be completely dry? 

Thanks a lot, and best regards. 

Max. 

[Brad_bb]

Well I'd say between 6 months to a year air drying would get you down to ambient of 12%-15% moisture content.  You can monitor that with a decent moisture meter.  But for in a house, you need it down to 8% roughlym which it will not do outside.  Theoretically you could sticker it in your house til it acclimates down.  I don't know how long that would take. Maybe a year? or two?  Or you could have it kiln dried to get it down to 8% or so, and then let it acclimate in your house for just a few weeks.  Of course your house is going be drier in the winter, so even in a house there are season changes in humidity.

[Satamax]

Thanks a lot Brad. Read an excerpt from a book which was saying 6 to 8 months. 

Well, i might take the chance to do my floor air dried. 

[loganworks2]

I did the floor in my last home with random width red oak 3.5 inch up to 12 inch. It was all Air dried for a year then planed to 7/8 and stickered in the living area in August. Then toung and groved in February. Then installed using screws and pegged. It was still tight as could be years later when I sold the house. 

[WDH]

With fans on the air drying stack, I would say that larch would air dry to 15% in 3 months.  Then, if stickered inside a climate controlled house, it should acclimate in say 8 weeks or so. 

I did an experiment where I took some red oak air dried to 13.5% and planed to 7/8" thick inside my house and stickered it in the corner of a room.  Took measurements with a moisture meter every few days.  This was in March.  Took 5 weeks to dry to 9.5%, and it stayed at 9.5% all summer from March to September. 

[Satamax]

Thanks a lot guys.  I'll see what i can find logwise.