CAN WATER DAMAGED WOOD FLOORS BE REPAIRED?

Water and wood don't mix. When disaster strikes and your dishwasher leaks, your washing machine hose bursts, or your ice maker has a meltdown, your wood floors can pay the purchase price. But how can you know if they're salvageable? At Floor Sanding Stevenage , we have seen the worst. The good thing is that regardless of what happened, we could repair or replace them. The question is...which one will it be?

FAST ACTION MAY SAVE YOUR WOOD FLOOR

Wood is a porous organic material that can only withstand the effects of water for a short time. That is why you must act quickly to prevent damage from happening. But occasionally, things happen that you can not plan for. By way of example, you're away on holiday and while you're lying on a beach soaking up sunlight, a pipe breaks and flooding your kitchen which then remains that way for several days. Now what?

SIGNS OF WATER DAMAGE TO Search FOR

Here are some signs of harm to Search for:

-Cupping -- the borders of the individual boards are increased higher than the centre

-Crowning -- the Center of the person boards swells and rises

-Buckling from consumed moisture

-Popping nails

-Lifting of floorboards (particularly at the ends)

-mold expansion (can happen within 48 hours of flood )

Depending on how long the floor was wet,damage may vary. Considering that the normal moisture content in a normal hardwood flooring is somewhere between 6 and 12 percent along with a flooded hardwood floor may have a moisture content of up to 40%, damage may be severe. A lot of it has to do with the amount of time which the flooring is subjected to this water. More moisture will be kept if the flooring is left to dry by itself.

4 DECIDING FACTORS FOR REPLACEMENT OR REPAIR

Determining If a water-damaged wood floor can be repaired or must be torn up and replaced will depend on a number of Factors like:

-The length of time the floor has been exposed to water

-Whether your flooring is solid hardwood or engineered hardwood

-The severity of the damage (Has the water penetrated to the subfloor? ) )

-The floor's finish (It can be difficult to match certain stain colours when substituting isolated floorboards, particularly if the stain has"mellowed" with time.)

Strong hardwood flooring gives you the broadest range of alternatives for repair. Because it's solid wood throughout the entire plank, we can sand away up to 1/4 of an inch of the wood to remove cupping or surface mold. Once the boards are dry, we can restain. Also, solid flooring may be replaced and fresh planks may be retrofitted more easily into the existing flooring. With engineered timber flooring, because just the top coating is actual wood, there is less substance to sand, which limits the repair options.

If the damage is minor, the flooring can sometimes be saved by replacing influenced boards and then sanding and refinishing the whole floor. If the damage is extensive or severe, causing significant expansion, the whole floor might need replacing -- and sometimes even the subfloor will need to be replaced.

Should you suspect water damage, then the very initial step would be to get the flooring condition assessed by means of a hardwood floor specialist. Phone Floor Sanding Stevenage at 01438 420 159 And among our hardwood flooring damage repair specialists will help evaluate the situation and provide you an estimate on replacing or repairing your hardwood floors.