Does this make any sense...at all?

[Chris]

Today our new patio was finished and there's a lot of new wood. Here's what just happened. I was outside walking around on the patio. My dad comes outside, and freaks out, because I'm not sitting down. "Because the wood has to settle, idiot!" in exact words after I asked what I had done wrong. Now, to me that makes absolutely no sense - the wood is nailed in, and there's some stones, why does it need to settle? I try to say this, and no one explains why and then other unnecessary arguments surface. Does any of that make ANY sense?

[J-Stop]

If you apply pressure to newly cut and worked on wood before it settles you can end up warping it, which makes certain parts look uneven. Many companies (if any) won't cover you if the wood gets warped that wasn't done because of their employees.

[Chris]

Ah. Haha, funny thing is, I found out the deck part of the patio is still the same wood, and I was right. But thanks anyway, I had never heard that before.

[Artie]

yea, most of the time when building the lumber has to settle in and become more stiff and such. it usually doesn't take much time at all, maybe a day or a bit more before it is totally usable. But with how you described it, you are not the idiot, your dad is for freaking out like that. It's a totally over reaction that was uncalled for seeing as nothing can be damaged from just walking on it a bit.