How To Repair A Water Damaged Wood Floor
Hardwood floors are known for being durable and resilient, simply they have one big weakness: h2o.
Woods flooring tin stand up to years of heavy employ, but a little water over time tin ruin the cute hardwood.
Possibly you moved into a firm with a damaged woods floor or maybe you have had a flood from the kitchen or bath plumbing. If y'all are noticing stained or warped forest or large gaps betwixt boards, you have water damage.
There are some ways that yous can repair water impairment you notice on your hardwood floors, but sometimes you volition need to replace the flooring altogether.
This guide will help you place the type of damage, find out how to repair h2o-damaged hardwood floors, and teach you how to forbid future h2o damage.
How Can I Tell If I Accept Water Damage on My Hardwood Floor?
If you recently had a pocket-size flood or h2o leak, you probably know that your forest floor has some water damage.
But if you're not sure, you can audit the floor visually for some of the signs of water-damaged flooring.
Wood Floor Staining
Water stains on a forest flooring take the shape of an uneven ring that ripples across the wood from the h2o source. The stains can exist either light or dark. Stains with a white outline are easier to repair at home than darker stains, which indicate a complete soaking of the hardwood floor.
Forest Floor Cupping
Cupping is one of the means that hardwood floor can warp out of shape when wet. You lot tin can place cupping on your hardwood flooring when the edges of the individual boards curve upwardly and are no longer even with the center part of the boards. It gets its name from the cup or bowl shape each plank takes when the edges ascension up. Cupping can also brand the gaps between floorboards expand, leaving uncomfortable cracks.
If you desire to learn what to do about cupping on your hardwood floor, bank check out our commodity on cupping in hardwood floors.
Wood Floor Crowning
Crowning occurs in a similar way to cupping, except the boards warp the contrary way. Crowning floorboards ascent upward in the eye, creating a bowed or bumpy advent on each individual lath. This is due to the flooring pieces expanding and pressing into each other too much. Once the floor dries, it may leave large gaps between pieces.
Wood Flooring Buckling
Buckling is the most extreme blazon of hardwood h2o damage. This is when the flooring planks are pushed so tightly together that they actually detach from the subfloor. The extreme moisture in the wood causes each floorboard to aggrandize. This can make a large hump in the floor or break the locking tongue-and-groove systems betwixt boards.
Buckling is about likely if your hardwood flooring was installed poorly to brainstorm with or in an farthermost flood (such as gallons of water pouring in from a hurricane or a flare-up pipe).
If y'all suspect your h2o damage is and then bad that the hardwood floor is buckling, check out our article specifically on buckling woods flooring.
Should You Fix or Replace Water-Damaged Woods Floors?
One time you have water damage on your wood flooring, you might wonder if you tin get away with fixing the floor instead of paying to replace it. This is especially tempting if your h2o damage is but a small expanse of the room.
It may not be safe to live with a water-damaged flooring if it was wet enough for mold and other leaner to grow.
In cases of severe floods or a leak of tainted water (like sewer water), you probably demand to supplant the whole floor to be safe. These molds or bacteria tin be extremely dangerous to live with. Plus, severe leaks tin can weaken the subfloor and other structural pieces of your dwelling.
If you are concerned that your forest flooring may be growing mold, read our article nearly how to remove mold on a hardwood floor.
If your h2o damage came from clean water and you are able to dry the floor out completely, y'all tin can think most fixing the floor instead.
The problem with fixing hardwood floors is that it can exist hard to lucifer the terminate on a repaired section with the original stop.
If the water impairment is in an out-of-the-mode place or if you tin can throw a rug over it to hide the difference, repairing information technology may be a good pick. Or, if the hardwood is only in i room of your house, you may be able to refinish the entire floor and so it comes out an even colour.
Your option will depend on safety and whether you want to alive with a repaired area that may expect different than the remainder of the floor.
Y'all might consider replacing a section of the hardwood floor with a cheaper and more durable material, like ceramic tile. This is especially common in forepart of an entry door. Y'all tin remove the damaged department of hardwood and install tiles with a neat transition rather than having a section of hardwood that was obviously repaired.
Identifying the Source of the Water
If yous find water harm on your hardwood floor 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 determination of whether you lot should fix or replace your floors considering some water sources may carry harmful bacteria.
What to Do When You Can't Find The Leak
Sometimes the source of water damage is not obvious. Y'all volition want to fix issues before you fix the hardwood floor so that you don't have the same impairment again on your newly repaired floor.
You lot tin commonly narrow water damage in a home downwards to 2 categories: external water sources and internal h2o sources.
External h2o sources dampen your abode through the walls, roof, or foundation. Mutual external sources include:
- Overwhelming amounts of water from a storm or flood
- Overwatering a grand
- Doors and windows with leaky seals, or that are left open up
- A leaking roof
- A croaky foundation or inadequate or broken drainage arrangement (sump pump)
Internal water sources come from within the business firm. Some common leaks include:
- Cleaved plumbing seals, such as radiator pipes or drains under a sink
- Leaking pipes inside a wall or flooring (especially if the pipes have frozen)
- Declining hot water heaters
- Soft hoses such as the h2o 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 bucket or mopping with too much h2o
These examples tin probably assist yous find the source of the leak so it can exist repaired. If you still have no idea where your h2o damage is coming from or yous doubtable it is coming from inside your walls, you probably need to telephone call a plumber.
Is The H2o Fresh or Dirty?
The water that stained your floor should fit into one of the following iii groups:
- Clean Water, such as rainwater from an open window, overflow from a sink or tub, or a leaking hot water heater. This water is mostly pure and will behave very few bacteria. Unless the area was wet for several days (enough for mold to grow), this kind of water harm is probably not unsafe.
- Used or "Gray" Water, such as that from a drainpipe under a sink or shower, has been exposed to some clay and other waste. If this kind of impairment doesn't dry apace, it volition grow leaner and mold.
- Muddied or "Black" H2o is tainted water or sewage. This is from a leaking, inundation, or backed-up septic line. This water is full of dangerous bacteria. You tin can attempt to sanitize the forest if it is but a small-scale leak (1 or 2 liters), but most of the fourth dimension a black water leak will require replacing the floor. You should habiliment gloves and a filtering mask when you clean any area damaged past black h2o.
Identifying the source of the water harm will help you determine whether information technology'southward prophylactic to repair the flooring. Of course, this is also the fourth dimension to right the problems that allowed h2o to get onto your floor such as past replacing window seals or calling a plumber to fix a pipe.
How to Ready H2o-Damaged Wood Flooring
Depending on how much of the flooring was afflicted by water harm, you might demand to phone 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 be a difficult procedure, but if you are confident in your DIY abilities, you should be able to pull it off.
Later on yous 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. Experience free to read our other manufactures on that process, but we will include the steps here.
Footstep one: Dry out the Floor if it is Even so Wet
If your water damage is new, you will demand to dry the boards off before you can actually assess the harm or brand any repairs.
Continuing h2o on the surface tin exist sucked up with a shop vacuum on wet style. A duster can help button the h2o toward the vacuum hose.
And then the forest needs time to dry out internally. You tin speed this procedure upward past using fans and open windows to ventilate the room. You tin can also rent or buy a dehumidifier automobile.
Exist conscientious non to dry the floor too fast. Applying heat to a wet floor, for instance, tin can atomic number 82 to more cupping or crowning. Hardwood needs to adjust gradually to temperature and humidity changes, and then stick to natural airflow methods to dry the wood.
Step two: Check for Extra Floorboards in Storage and Install Them
Usually, flooring installers will exit a few leftover pieces of wood at the firm when they put in a flooring. If the flooring in your business firm is decades old, you lot probably won't have this luxury, simply information technology doesn't hurt to wait.
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 fashion to repair your h2o-damaged floor, so look around.
Removing the former boards and laying new ones requires experience and the right tools. This is especially true if the wood floor is glued or nailed downwardly. You virtually likely need a flooring expert to come to your house and supplant the boards.
If the friction match on the finish is shut afterwards you lot install the new boards, this may exist all you lot demand to do. If the color difference is really bad, you volition want to become on to the refinishing procedure.
Notation that buffing and refinishing the floor will not just be more than difficult, only more than expensive. You will take to get the tools and supplies to refinish the floor.
Step three: Sand the Floor
Afterwards you place new planks where the damaged ones were, or if you exercise non have any planks to weave into the floor, you are going to demand to sand the flooring.
The right sander for the job is one that is specifically made for flooring. These have a big sanding bike and a heavy head and so that you can sand large areas quickly and evenly. You volition probably demand to hire it from a hardware store or floor company.
Utilize a coarse grit sanding wheel first (around sixty-fourscore grit) and follow with a fine sander (100-150 grit or a fine sanding screen).
Y'all should sand the edges of the room past mitt considering it can be difficult to maneuver the floor sander into the edges and impossible to reach the corners. Employ 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 unabridged room with water damage.
Move the sander across the unabridged surface of the floor, overlapping a few inches on each stroke. If y'all do not get the water-damaged sections flat on the starting time laissez passer, y'all can try a 2nd pass.
Exercise not sand the floor likewise many times unless y'all are sure that your planks are very thick. Taking too much thickness off the floor will cause issues.
Notation: Article of clothing a mask or respirator when using a flooring scuff sander. These machines will kick up a lot of dust as they sand the finish and wood.
Footstep 4: Clean the Sanded Hardwood Floor
Use a vacuum to remove all of the sawdust you created by sanding the floor. Follow the vacuuming upwardly with a dry microfiber cloth or dust mop. This will go the fine dust off of the floor.
This procedure will also remove other dirt and make the stain adhere meliorate to the wood.
Information technology's good to practise this not just after the sanding is consummate, but every five minutes while you sand.
Yous can also vacuum the sander wheel to remove the grit. If it clogs up also much, it won't sand evenly.
Stride v: Stain the Sanded Wood Floor
Following the directions on the can, utilise the desired color of stain to the hardwood flooring. Effort to select a stain that is specifically fabricated for hardwood floors.
Annotation that well-nigh forest stains will put off some strong fumes. You need to wear a respirator if possible, or at least ventilate the room by opening windows and using fans (not directly as they will dry your stain too fast and blow dust effectually).
Commencement by applying a thin, even coat of stain to a pocket-size surface area (less than ane square meter). Castor the edges and corners showtime to make sure you don't miss them. Utilize a make clean rag to wipe up all the backlog wood stain.
You volition have permanent lines in the finished coat if yous let the leading edge of your stain dry. Try to work quickly and don't exit any edge to dry for more ten or xv minutes. Apply the stain evenly across the whole room.
Note: Make sure to have an get out strategy when you start staining. You don't want to stride across a wet stain to exit of a corner. Work from the deepest corners of the room toward the door.
Pace vi: Employ Polyurethane
A coat of polyurethane on meridian of the stain will protect the floor from scuffs and create a water-resistant bulwark.
Y'all can roll polyurethane onto the flooring like paint later on the stain is completely dry.
The key to applying polyurethane is that you demand a very thin, even coat to create a nice-looking finish. Choosing the correct roller will aid.
Don't use a regular fuzzy paint roller or you will get out a glaze that'due south style too thick. Apply a dense foam roller for a smooth finish. As well, apply a long handle for the roller then you tin can see meliorate while you lot work.
Cut in the edges of the room with a expert quality paintbrush first and and so use the roller to complete the middle of the room.
Give the refinished flooring a mean solar day to dry before moving article of furniture back into it and you will accept a fully improved hardwood floor!
Preventing Water Damage to Your Hardwood Floor
Information technology's always easier and cheaper to take care of problems earlier they go problems. Take intendance to avoid woods floor water damage in the first place.
Here are some ideas to prevent h2o impairment to your hardwood flooring:
- Continue doors and windows closed when you are away from domicile and repair small-scale leaks equally shortly as yous notice them.
- Hire just licensed contractors to piece of work on your plumbing.
- Be especially careful of rubber or plastic hoses on washing machines, dishwashers, and refrigerators tha.t can interruption over time.
- Invest in shower defunction, shoe mats, and other items to keep daily water off your floor.
- When y'all clean your floor, do not bring a big bucket of mop water where it tin can spill on your hardwood floor and mop only with a small amount of h2o.
- Make clean up all spills immediately.
- Keep your firm warm enough to avoid freezing temperatures that can burst a pipage.
How To Repair A Water Damaged Wood Floor,
Source: https://flooring-experts.com/how-to-repair-water-damaged-hardwood-floors/
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