Construction-what happens when wood gets wet
 

One our clients is doing an addition and the framing and floor is snow covered.

Besides obviously having to shovel the snow out, what happens to all of the wood?

Does it just eventually dry out?

Snow will not cause the wood to get wet. The carpenters will just sweep the moisture/snow away and finish their job. Snow is not a problem. Rain is more of an issue.

What is the floor made of? Solid wood, it will just dry out. Plywood, will most likely warp and delaminate. Obviously in Houston if we are lucky enough get rain there are a lot of frames that get wet. I had a framer save a bunch of wood by drilling holes in second level floors. Plywood will warp and delaminate if not exterior grade.

Edit: To what MRM said, if it is dry snow, sweep it off and don't worry about it.

It's the repeated moisture events that cause the problem. OSB floors do not like multiple moisture events.

Many moisture events make lumber look like potato chips.

Couple snows = no problem.

Need to check and see what the flooring is made of. Some mfg wood, like Advantech, is very durable and resistant to water damage.

Best thing to do is sweep, drill holes if needed and dry it in asap.

Thanks for the replies.

I have no connection to the construction. I was just noticing the snow covering the flooring as I was doing my job at the facility and I got to thinking about it.

You guys have those problems during construction?


It'll dry out.

Plywood is tough, and will dry out. Even OSB is pretty tough these days, and they all use exterior grade glue now, except for some cabinet grade plywood.

I worked on a project once where an engineered I joist floor was subjected to serious rains from a hurricane grade storm and extreme wet weather to the point where water was leaking through the T&G plywood flooring and dripping down the I joists, which are finger jointed 2x3s and OSB board. It was hard to get an engineer from the company to comment on the effects on the I joists, but I was eventually told that when subjected to fire hoses from all sides for multiple days, the I joists could lose up to 60% of their strength. However, when allowed to fully dry, they would recover over 80% of their rated strength back. We are talking totally saturated OSB here, as wet as if immersed for days.


I don't think you need to worry. 30 + years ago OSB was a problem. Now, not so much, although many builders still prefer plywood for flooring and roof sheathing. Worst case scenario, you dry it thoroughly and put underlayment on top of it to get a smooth surface for linoleum or tile. As has been said previously, don't let standing water puddle for extended periods.

It's exterior grade. A few snow/rains don't matter, happens all the time.

Our place got totally drenched by three days of torrential rain before we got the roof on - by the time we got all the wiring and hvac done it was completely dry. 18 years later and no problems.

Helped my brother build his log cabin this summer.
Just the two of us old geezers so it was a while before we got the roof on. The sub floor (advantech) got wet many times. No problems.

I used to frame houses here in the Seattle area. In winter, the lumber is delivered to the jobsite soaking wet. Then we used it to build while raining.

After framing, the roofer is usually the first subcontractor on the job, so things start drying out pretty quickly. The roof must be completely dried in before the electrician can pull any wire.

There is enough time before any interior finishing is installed to be pretty dry. The furnace is installed fairly early on, so it can be running prior to sheetrock.

The framing lumber is more of a problem. I've fixed several walls after the sheet rock , paint, & carpet was on/in......a 2-4 inch bow is ugly and fixen' em' is even uglier.....but , fortunately, a new home owner never knew there was a problem...a panicked contractor is bad enuff.

When morning wood gets wet, its a good thing ;)