HARDWOOD FLOOR DAMAGE

 

10% water. When your hardwood floors get wet, it can be a recipe for disaster. The grains in the wood will eventually expand due to the excess water and the hardwood floor planks will start to rise on the edges (cupping). Left untreated, the wet wood is the perfect place for mold to grow. Using advanced equipment, we can get your wood floor dry and save you the costs of replacement and mold remediation.

Don’t risk permanent hardwood floor damage! Call 24/7 Flood Rescue Carson for fast, affordable hardwood floor Water Damage Services.

Types of Hardwood Floors We Can Save:

•   Oak
•   Cherry
•   Maple
•   Pine
•   Some prefinished
•   Other types of hardwood

 

Don’t Delay Treatment of Wet Hardwood Floors

The sooner you act to dry your wet hardwood floor, the greater the likelihood that the entire floor and finish can be saved. If we are able to start service within 24 to 36 hours of the floor getting wet, the hardwood floor will almost always flatten out once it has dried. Even the finish can be saved and there usually is no need to replace or refinish. If you wait longer than 36 hours to take action, then the likelihood that you will need to refinish or completely replace your floor increases.

 

Problems that can occur from delayed wood floor treatment:

•   Cupping
•   Buckling (separation from subfloor)
•   Warping of floorboards
•   Mold growth
•   Staining
•   Replacement
•   Sanding and refinishing
•   Demolition and reconstruction

Call 24/7 Flood Rescue Carson, CA now to save your hardwood floor from water damage.

Injectidry Method of Drying Hardwood Floors

We at 24/7 Flood Rescue Carson, CA have some of the most advanced equipment the water damage industry has to offer, including injectidry systems. These systems were invented specifically for dealing with materials like hardwood, though they can also be used in other materials like drywall.

Hard surfaces like wood floors are tough to dry because water gets trapped within tiny pockets of air within the wood grain. If the wood floor has been recently sealed, then the water is especially difficult to get out of the wood. Conventional fans won’t help speed up drying by much.

Injectidry systems resemble a series of floor mats which have vacuum tubes attached to them. The mats are placed on the wet hardwood floor and a portable machine sucks water out of the wood through the tubes. In a matter of hours, cupping can be completely eliminated and hardwood floors restored to normal. Injectidry drying works on about 90% of all hardwood floors which we dry, and success increases when we are called in immediately after the water damage occurred.

What to Do If Your Hardwood Floor Gets Wet?

If your hardwood floor gets wet, the first thing to do is get the water off the floor so no more is absorbed into the wood. You can do this yourself using mops or towels or, for larger cases, call in professionals to remove standing water.

Next, you need to dry your wood floor. The best way of drying a wood floor will vary depending on how much water has saturated into the surface, the finish, and your budget. There are three main ways of drying wood floors.

1. The Self-Dry Method
If the water damage to the hardwood floor was minimal, then the wood will eventually dry out on its own. Even if the wood has cupped, the wood may flatten out again. However, wood can take up to 12 months to completely dry. You can use fans and dehumidifiers to speed up the drying process. Sanding off the finish can also speed up drying as it allows more water to escape.

The self-dry method can be incredibly risky though as mold can quickly grow on a wet wood floor. The mold can stain your floor and also cause health risks. Also, the self-dry method is only suitable to situations where the water hasn’t saturated into the subfloor. When the subfloor is left wet, the floor will buckle (separate from the subfloor).

2. The Replacement Method
The quickest way to get a hardwood floor dry is to remove and replace the affected floorboards. Obviously, this is only a suitable option in cases where you have spare planks for your floor and only a small area has been affected.

3. Professional Water Extraction Services
Water extraction professionals have equipment like powerful air movers and water extractors which can dry wood floors relatively quickly. A quality company will use infrared imaging and moisture readings to determine exactly how much of the floor has been affected. At 24/7 Flood Rescue Carson, we have injectidry systems which are made specifically for drying wood floors. The services are often paid for by homeowner’s insurance.

What You Need to Know About Hardwood Floor Drying
We understand that many homeowners would like to skip the expense of hardwood floor Water Damage and will try to dry and restore their wood floors themselves. Here are some important things to keep in mind about DIY hardwood floor drying.

  Don’t Use Heat to Dry Hardwood Floors: Heat will cause uneven drying and lead to cracking and splitting.
  Be Patient: It can take upwards of 1 year for a hardwood floor to dry by itself. You have to be patient!
  Don’t Refinish Your Floor Right Away: If your wood floor has cupped, you can sand it flat and refinish. However, since it can take up to a year for a wood floor to completely dry, refinishing it will just lead to problems later down the road. As the woods dries and contracts, it will return to its normal shape, which means it will now be crowned instead of cupped.
  Subfloors Must Also Be Treated: It isn’t enough to replace the wet wood floorboards. You must also treat the subfloor underneath. Otherwise, the moisture will remain and mold will start to grow. If you have a contractor work on your floor, make sure the subfloor is also being replaced.

Save your hardwood floor from water damage. Call in the professionals at 24/7 Flood Rescue Carson, CA for immediate assistance.