How To Repair Water Damaged Wood Floor
Hardwood floors are known for being durable and resilient, simply they have i big weakness: water.
Forest floor can stand up to years of heavy use, simply a little water over fourth dimension can ruin the beautiful hardwood.
Perchance you moved into a business firm with a damaged wood flooring or maybe you have had a overflowing from the kitchen or bath plumbing. If you are noticing stained or warped forest or big gaps between boards, you have water damage.
There are some ways that you tin can repair water damage you find on your hardwood floors, but sometimes yous will need to replace the floor birthday.
This guide volition aid you place the type of harm, find out how to repair h2o-damaged hardwood floors, and teach you lot how to prevent futurity water damage.
How Can I Tell If I Have Water Damage on My Hardwood Floor?
If you recently had a small flood or water leak, y'all probably know that your wood floor has some water damage.
But if you're not sure, you tin can inspect the flooring visually for some of the signs of water-damaged flooring.
Wood Floor Staining
Water stains on a woods floor accept the shape of an uneven ring that ripples beyond the woods from the water source. The stains can be either light or nighttime. Stains with a white outline are easier to repair at home than darker stains, which point a complete soaking of the hardwood floor.
Wood Flooring Cupping
Cupping is one of the means that hardwood flooring can warp out of shape when wet. You can place cupping on your hardwood flooring when the edges of the individual boards bend up and are no longer fifty-fifty with the centre office of the boards. It gets its proper noun from the loving cup or basin shape each plank takes when the edges rise upward. Cupping can besides make the gaps between floorboards expand, leaving uncomfortable cracks.
If yous desire to acquire what to exercise about cupping on your hardwood floor, bank check out our article on cupping in hardwood floors.
Wood Floor Crowning
Crowning occurs in a similar manner to cupping, except the boards warp the contrary way. Crowning floorboards rise up in the middle, creating a bowed or bumpy advent on each individual board. This is due to the floor pieces expanding and pressing into each other too much. In one case the floor dries, it may leave large gaps between pieces.
Wood Floor Buckling
Buckling is the most farthermost blazon of hardwood water impairment. This is when the flooring planks are pushed so tightly together that they really detach from the subfloor. The extreme moisture in the wood causes each floorboard to expand. This tin can brand a large hump in the floor or break the locking tongue-and-groove systems between boards.
Buckling is nearly likely if your hardwood flooring was installed poorly to begin with or in an extreme flood (such every bit gallons of h2o pouring in from a hurricane or a burst pipe).
If you suspect your h2o damage is so bad that the hardwood flooring is buckling, check out our article specifically on buckling wood flooring.
Should You Set or Replace Water-Damaged Wood Floors?
Once you have water harm on your wood flooring, you might wonder if yous tin can get away with fixing the floor instead of paying to supervene upon it. This is particularly tempting if your water damage is only a pocket-sized expanse of the room.
Information technology may not be rubber to live with a h2o-damaged floor if it was wet plenty for mold and other bacteria to grow.
In cases of severe floods or a leak of tainted water (like sewer water), yous probably need to replace the whole floor to be safety. These molds or bacteria tin can be extremely dangerous to live with. Plus, severe leaks can weaken the subfloor and other structural pieces of your home.
If you are concerned that your woods floor may be growing mold, read our article virtually how to remove mold on a hardwood floor.
If your h2o damage came from clean h2o and you lot are able to dry the floor out completely, you tin can think about fixing the floor instead.
The problem with fixing hardwood floors is that information technology tin be difficult to match the cease on a repaired section with the original finish.
If the water harm is in an out-of-the-way place or if you lot can throw a rug over it to hide the difference, repairing information technology may be a good option. Or, if the hardwood is just in i room of your house, you may be able to refinish the entire floor so it comes out an even color.
Your choice will depend on safety and whether you desire to live with a repaired area that may look different than the residual of the floor.
You might consider replacing a department of the hardwood flooring with a cheaper and more durable material, like ceramic tile. This is especially mutual in front of an entry door. You can remove the damaged department of hardwood and install tiles with a not bad transition rather than having a department of hardwood that was obviously repaired.
Identifying the Source of the Water
If y'all find h2o harm on your hardwood flooring that wasn't there before, you need to be sure where the water came from. The source of the water makes a big difference in the decision of whether you should fix or replace your floors because some h2o sources may carry harmful bacteria.
What to Do When You Can't Find The Leak
Sometimes the source of water damage is not obvious. You will desire to prepare problems before you lot fix the hardwood flooring so that you don't have the aforementioned damage again on your newly repaired floor.
Yous tin usually narrow water damage in a domicile downwards to two categories: external h2o sources and internal h2o sources.
External water sources dampen your home through the walls, roof, or foundation. Common external sources include:
- Overwhelming amounts of water from a storm or overflowing
- Overwatering a yard
- Doors and windows with leaky seals, or that are left open
- A leaking roof
- A cracked foundation or inadequate or broken drainage system (sump pump)
Internal water sources come from inside the firm. Some common leaks include:
- Cleaved plumbing seals, such equally radiator pipes or drains nether a sink
- Leaking pipes inside a wall or floor (specially if the pipes have frozen)
- Failing hot h2o heaters
- Soft hoses such as the water supply on a refrigerator or dishwasher (these often get pinched when moving appliances and should be replaced every few years)
- Overflow from a sink or shower
- A spilled mop saucepan or mopping with too much water
These examples tin can probably assistance you find the source of the leak so it tin be repaired. If you notwithstanding have no thought where your water damage is coming from or you suspect it is coming from inside your walls, you probably demand to call a plumber.
Is The Water Fresh or Dirty?
The water that stained your floor should fit into i of the post-obit three groups:
- Clean Water, such as rainwater from an open up window, overflow from a sink or tub, or a leaking hot water heater. This h2o is mostly pure and will deport very few bacteria. Unless the expanse was wet for several days (plenty for mold to grow), this kind of water damage is probably non unsafe.
- Used or "Grey" Water, such as that from a drainpipe under a sink or shower, has been exposed to some clay and other waste matter. If this kind of harm doesn't dry out quickly, information technology will grow bacteria and mold.
- Dirty or "Black" Water is tainted water or sewage. This is from a leaking, overflowing, or backed-up septic line. This water is total of dangerous bacteria. You lot can attempt to sanitize the wood if information technology is only a pocket-size leak (1 or 2 liters), only most of the fourth dimension a black water leak will require replacing the floor. You should vesture gloves and a filtering mask when y'all clean whatever area damaged past black water.
Identifying the source of the water damage will aid y'all decide whether it'south safe to repair the floor. Of course, this is also the time to correct the issues that allowed water to become onto your floor such every bit by replacing window seals or calling a plumber to fix a piping.
How to Fix Water-Damaged Wood Flooring
Depending on how much of the flooring was affected by water impairment, you might demand to call a professional to repair your water-damaged wood floors. They will exist more experienced in sanding and staining the floor evenly. Information technology tin can be a difficult procedure, but if y'all are confident in your DIY abilities, you should be able to pull information technology off.
Afterward you get the floor completely dry out and knock downwardly the warped and h2o-damaged areas, the process is mostly the same as refinishing a worn-out floor. Feel complimentary to read our other articles on that process, but we volition include the steps here.
Step one: Dry the Floor if it is Still Wet
If your water damage is new, y'all will need to dry out the boards off before y'all can actually assess the damage or make any repairs.
Standing h2o on the surface can be sucked upwardly with a shop vacuum on wet way. A squeegee can aid push button the water toward the vacuum hose.
So the forest needs time to dry out out internally. You can speed this process up by using fans and open windows to ventilate the room. You can also rent or buy a dehumidifier machine.
Be careful non to dry out the floor also fast. Applying estrus to a wet flooring, for instance, can lead to more cupping or crowning. Hardwood needs to adjust gradually to temperature and humidity changes, so stick to natural airflow methods to dry the forest.
Step 2: Check for Extra Floorboards in Storage and Install Them
Usually, flooring installers will leave a few leftover pieces of forest at the house when they put in a floor. If the flooring in your business firm is decades old, you probably won't accept this luxury, but it doesn't hurt to look.
A few pieces of flooring may be enough for a flooring installer to remove the damaged boards and replace them with new ones that volition match perfectly. This is potentially the easiest way to repair your water-damaged floor, so await around.
Removing the sometime boards and laying new ones requires experience and the right tools. This is especially true if the forest floor is glued or nailed down. You nearly likely demand a flooring expert to come to your house and replace the boards.
If the match on the finish is close after you install the new boards, this may be all you demand to exercise. If the color divergence is really bad, yous volition desire to get on to the refinishing procedure.
Note that buffing and refinishing the floor will non only be more difficult, but more expensive. You volition have to get the tools and supplies to refinish the floor.
Step three: Sand the Floor
Subsequently you place new planks where the damaged ones were, or if you do not accept any planks to weave into the floor, you are going to need to sand the flooring.
The right sander for the task is i that is specifically fabricated for floor. These take a large sanding cycle and a heavy caput so that yous tin sand large areas quickly and evenly. You will probably need to hire it from a hardware shop or floor company.
Apply a coarse grit sanding bike first (effectually 60-80 grit) and follow with a fine sander (100-150 grit or a fine sanding screen).
You should sand the edges of the room by hand because it can exist difficult to maneuver the floor sander into the edges and incommunicable to reach the corners. Use a fine sandpaper between 100 and 150 grit. Sand with the woodgrain.
If at all possible, you should sand the unabridged surface for the hardwood floor, or at least the entire room with water damage.
Motility the sander beyond the entire surface of the floor, overlapping a few inches on each stroke. If you practice not get the water-damaged sections flat on the commencement pass, you can endeavor a 2nd pass.
Do not sand the floor too many times unless you are sure that your planks are very thick. Taking too much thickness off the floor will crusade problems.
Note: Wear a mask or respirator when using a flooring scuff sander. These machines will kick upwardly a lot of dust as they sand the finish and forest.
Stride 4: Make clean the Sanded Hardwood Flooring
Use a vacuum to remove all of the sawdust you lot created past sanding the floor. Follow the vacuuming up with a dry microfiber textile or grit mop. This will get the fine grit off of the flooring.
This procedure will also remove other dirt and make the stain adhere better to the wood.
It's good to do this not just later the sanding is complete, but every five minutes while yous sand.
You can also vacuum the sander wheel to remove the grit. If it clogs up too much, information technology won't sand evenly.
Step v: Stain the Sanded Wood Floor
Following the directions on the can, employ the desired color of stain to the hardwood floor. Try to select a stain that is specifically fabricated for hardwood floors.
Note that nigh wood stains will put off some strong fumes. You need to article of clothing a respirator if possible, or at least ventilate the room by opening windows and using fans (not directly as they volition dry out your stain as well fast and blow dust effectually).
Kickoff past applying a thin, even coat of stain to a small area (less than 1 square meter). Castor the edges and corners first to make sure you lot don't miss them. Use a clean rag to wipe up all the excess woods stain.
You will have permanent lines in the finished glaze if yous let the leading edge of your stain dry. Effort to work apace and don't exit whatsoever edge to dry for more than than x or 15 minutes. Apply the stain evenly across the whole room.
Note: Make certain to have an exit strategy when you lot commencement staining. You lot don't want to footstep across a wet stain to get out of a corner. Work from the deepest corners of the room toward the door.
Stride half dozen: Apply Polyurethane
A coat of polyurethane on top of the stain will protect the flooring from scuffs and create a h2o-resistant barrier.
You can ringlet polyurethane onto the floor similar paint afterwards the stain is completely dry out.
The key to applying polyurethane is that you need a very thin, even coat to create a nice-looking finish. Choosing the right roller will help.
Don't use a regular fuzzy paint roller or you will leave a glaze that'southward way too thick. Use a dense foam roller for a smooth finish. Also, use a long handle for the roller so you lot can run into ameliorate while y'all work.
Cut in the edges of the room with a good quality paintbrush first and then use the roller to complete the eye of the room.
Give the refinished floor a day to dry earlier moving piece of furniture back into it and y'all will take a fully improved hardwood floor!
Preventing Water Damage to Your Hardwood Flooring
It's always easier and cheaper to take intendance of problems before they get issues. Take care to avoid wood floor water damage in the first place.
Here are some ideas to prevent h2o harm to your hardwood floor:
- Go along doors and windows airtight when yous are away from dwelling house and repair modest leaks equally soon as you lot notice them.
- Hire only licensed contractors to work on your plumbing.
- Be peculiarly careful of rubber or plastic hoses on washing machines, dishwashers, and refrigerators tha.t tin interruption over fourth dimension.
- Invest in shower curtains, shoe mats, and other items to go on daily water off your floor.
- When yous clean your floor, do non bring a big bucket of mop water where it can spill on your hardwood floor and mop only with a small-scale amount of water.
- Make clean upward all spills immediately.
- Keep your house warm plenty to avoid freezing temperatures that tin can burst a pipe.
Source: https://flooring-experts.com/how-to-repair-water-damaged-hardwood-floors/
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