Environmental Control for Joinery Installation

A major contractor has recently undertaken the construction of a new college facility in East London’s regeneration into a creative and cultural hub. High-expense joinery was due to be installed across all 14 levels of the build, but in order to do this, temperatures and humidity levels had to remain within pre-set parameters so as not to stress the wood. Stressing the wood would result in delays on site due to expanding, shrinking and perhaps breaking of the wood.

The Process

Polygon undertook many visits to the site, working in collaboration with the contractor and the logistics team, understanding potential concerns, including other trades being able to carry on so as not to delay the project. Wood is a hygroscopic material which absorbs and emits moisture from the surrounding materials. The wood will always adjust to equilibrium in humidity, conditioned by the air temperature and relative humidity. When the wood absorbs moisture, it expands, and when it emits moisture, it shrinks. The key was to provide perfect conditions on site to eliminate this.

The Solution

Control across all areas was needed, and this was achieved with over 400 pieces of equipment, including dehumidifiers and air movers to prevent the wood from becoming unsuitable for use. Our team of engineers managed to have the equipment serviced and ready to go in a very short turnaround, with engineers on site for a week installing across all levels. Remote Monitoring was also installed on this project, with sensors sited throughout all floorplates and measuring the humidity. Each dehumidifier would also provide live information from its in-built sensors. The readings from each dehumidifier would be temperature and relative humidity, on/off conditions, and power failure. This provided reassurance to the contractor that conditions were as required.