water_damage's Journal

Fixing waer damaged floors
Fixing water damage floors is perhaps the most challenging part in any water damage repair project.

Floors can be extremely vulnerable, and the biggest challenge is that repairing different types of flooring require different techniques and materials.

The important thing to remember in repairing water damaged flooring is that you should never take damaged floors at face value. Flooring that doesn’t show signs of gradually developing into dry rot.

On the other hand, water damaged floors that look really bad can sometimes be salvaged without having to replace them completely. But to do the right thing, you need to face the repair methodically, starting with an accurate assessment of the damage all the way to the finishing touches. Here’s an easy to follow step by step guide on how to do just that without having to call a water damaged floor repair service.

A step by step guide to repairing water damaged floors

Step 1: Assess the damage. Although you may be in a rush to fix your water damage floors, try to control yourself and take the time to assess the damage. You need to identify whether the damage is minor, such as water stain, or major, such as warping of the wood.

Warping occurs when the wood is already damaged; in such cases, you have no choice but to replace the damaged floorboards with new ones. In minor water damage, a simple but thorough cleanup process would suffice.

Step 2: Cleaning hardwood water damage floors. To clean hardwood floors that have been exposed to water damage, get a brush with soft bristles that won’t scratch the floor and use it to scrub the floor down with a detergent-water mixture

Be particularly through in corners, cracks and crevices. Make sure to clean up before the mud dries up so the mud and dirt won’t stick; otherwise, they’ll be much harder to remove. Wipe the floor dry afterwards.

Step 3: Cleaning laminate floors. If you have laminate flooring, cleaning will be more efficient. Just mop up all the water and use a dehumidifier to make sure any excess moisture is evaporated.

Laminate floors are not as easily water damaged as wood floors, but if damage is severe and the water is left to long, then don’t expect laminate to still hold up the whole time. Fortunately, laminate flooring is usually made up of many sections that are simply locked together, so you can confine the repair process to just the affected area.

Step 4: Replace warped floorboards. Sometimes, repairing water damaged wood is simply impossible. To replace floorboards those are damaged beyond repair, remove the floorboards using a pry bar and saw. When replacing, make sure to choose the same type and color of wood as your existing floor.

Be careful when placing your order; ask for a sample to be shore. Floorboards are fairly easy to install, especially if you use the exact same kind. They usually have a tongue and groove design that fit perfectly. All you have to do is secure them.

Step 5: Check the subfloor. Do take extra time to check the sub floor underneath the main flooring. This is a crucial step if your sub floor is made of plywood, which means the water probably also affected it. If so, chances are that you also need to replace it; otherwise, extra moisture may get left behind and compromise the integrity of your flooring, even after you replace the floorboards with new ones.

If the sub floor is concrete, you won’t need to replace it, but you still need to check the humidity level to see if any moisture has seeped in. If this is the case, you will need a blower or dehumidifier to dry it up quickly and thoroughly so you can get on with your water damage repair.

Step 6: Sand down stained floorboards. If the water damaged floorboards are stained but not warped, you can get away with just a simple sanding down process. Remember to apply oxalic crystals after sanding, and then finish the wood stain the same color as the original state of your floor.

But if the floorboards are warped and you did replacement procedure on them, you still need to sand down the entire floor area and re-stain them together to make sure the stain is exactly the same and perfectly even throughout the whole area. Wait for the stain to dry.

Step 7: Apply polyurethane. Once the stain is dry, apply two layers of polyurethane. You will have to wait for the first application to dry before applying the second coating. After the second application, wait for the floor to dry completely before declaring it ready for use.

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