In Phoenix, summer temperatures can soar to 115 degrees, putting pressure on air conditioning systems. Unfortunately, these systems are often inactive during millwork installation. According to Design Solutions magazine in 2017, the top concern for the Architectural Woodwork Institute’s technical team is wood movement within built environments.
Wood products are prone to shrink and swell based on their surroundings—be it hot and humid, cold and dry, or hot and dry conditions, which Phoenix frequently experiences. Climate control systems in buildings must be operational year-round, but especially so during millwork installation in the hot, dry months from June through September.
In a perfect world, we (as millwork suppliers) would have the HVAC on at all job sites. The Architectural Woodwork Institute takes this a step further, they recommend that the Relative Humidity be measured and maintained daily, seven days a week to the appropriate level, which in our area is 26 to 35%. Once the temperature and humidity at the job site are stabilized, the millwork should be on site for a minimum of 3 days before installation so everything is climatized and movement of the product is minimized post-installation.
Schedules being what they are, tend to make these requirements more than a luxury, generally, it is an impossibility on many sites to have the temperature and humidity controlled before millwork installation. Usually, three days of onsite storage prior to installation means three days of additional time for trade damage from moving the millwork several times so the other trades can get their part of the job done.
All that being said, having the HVAC functional and running before millwork installation should be a minimally attainable goal that will benefit all stakeholders in the long run. Especially in our area’s hot and dry summers!
