Due to its ground-level location, flooring is always first in the line of fire when there’s a flood. If you have hardwood or laminate flooring, flooding can cause significant damage that necessitates professional floorboard repair or replacement. How to assess and repair laminate flooring water damage (and hardwood flooring water damage) is the focus of today’s brief guide.
Identifying Signs of Water Damage on Laminate and Hardwood Floors
Having removed any excess moisture, you should inspect your flooring. The most common signs of water damage on hardwood floors and laminate flooring include:
- Discolouration
- Smell
- Warping
- Swelling or peaking
- Lifted Nails
- Mould
If you notice any of the above signs of water damage on hardwood floors or laminate flooring systems, you’ll need to establish the cause and fix it. You’ll then need to determine whether restoration or replacement of the water-damaged floorboards is preferable.
Common Causes of Water Damage in Flooring
If the cause is not immediately apparent, such as a burst water pipe or flooding due to local weather conditions, you’ll need to figure out what it is and decide how to tackle it before attempting a flooring repair. Among the most common causes of water damage to flooring are the following:
- Hidden Leaks
Slow plumbing leaks in buried pipes can cause severe water damage over time. - Spillages
Liquid spillages can also result in water-damaged floorboards and laminate flooring systems if not dealt with promptly. - Incontinent Pets
Older cats and dogs can lose control of their bodily functions and cause damage to laminate flooring. - Rising Water Table
A rising water table can cause serious damage, especially to properties with finished basements and wood or laminate flooring.
If you cannot identify the cause, we recommend contacting a local water damage restoration specialist before trying to effect a hardwood or laminate flooring repair. Now, let’s find out how to repair laminate flooring water damage.
How to Fix Laminate Flooring After Flooding
In most cases, water-damaged laminate flooring needs to be replaced rather than repaired, but there are some cases in which patch repairs may be both practical and financially viable. If a patch repair is indicated and suitable flooring stock is available, this repair can be an economical alternative to wholesale replacement. However, the affected area will need to be thoroughly dried out first. Solid wood flooring, on the other hand, is considerably easier to repair.
Repairing Water-Damaged Floorboards
A wood floor repair is usually easier to complete than a laminate floor repair as solid timber is more durable and can often be persuaded back into its original shape if not too warped. As with laminate flooring repair jobs, the affected area must first be thoroughly dried out before the repair work starts.
The successful restoration of the timber floor depends on various factors ranging from the amount of time it’s been wet to the type of installation and the structure. For example a Timber floor laid on timber bearer’s fitted on a concrete slab have a higher level of restorability compared to timber flooring laid in direct stick or pin methods. Direct stick installed floors where there is an acoustic underlay or dense materials such as concrete under the timber are far more difficult to restore due to the multiple layers of floor construction. In many cases these often require replacement due to the presence of trapped moisture and mould in the underlying floor structure.
In most cases, it is best to engage the services of a water damage repair specialist. Contact Pircsa Pty Ltd for professional water damage restoration, moisture measurement and mould removal services in Brisbane.
