Need Advice - Wood floors damaged by water last night

[mickeysgal]

My beautiful wood floors were damaged by an overflowing toilet last night. A lot of water dumped on the floor of the powder room and traveled under the door and soaked a large section of our great room. It was stunning how much water overflowed. The good news is that we caught the water within 5 minutes of the toilet overflowing. It took me and the kids just about every towel in our linen closet to soak up the water as fast as we can. We dried the floors and I put a fan on the floor. We're on a slab, so I'm concerned about the water that may be trapped underneath. The bad news...sure enough, this morning, the boards are cupping, curled, with several in worse shape than others. I put a wet/dry vac on the boards today and got up just a bit more moisture. My question is...when everything dries out, do the boards relax and flatten out again? What does this do the the glue (or whatever they use) to attach it to the slab foundation? I'm feeling slight sharp edges where certain boards have curled. Right now, it doesn't look the same. If its a lost cause, does anyone know if a section of floor can be pulled up and patched in or do I have to redo the entire wood floor? I'm sick about this. This has never happened to us before.

 

[DawnCt1]

No guarantees of course, I don't have a slab but a full foundation, but I have made bad "errors in judgement" watering my plants and one time the dishwasher leaked. They will remain curled for a while and eventually relax and settle back down. It will take a couple of weeks. If you have a dehumidifier you might want to put it near by.

 

[mickeysgal]

No guarantees of course, I don't have a slab but a full foundation, but I have made bad "errors in judgement" watering my plants and one time the dishwasher leaked. They will remain curled for a while and eventually relax and settle back down. It will take a couple of weeks. If you have a dehumidifier you might want to put it near by.

Thats what I meant...its a full foundation also. In other words, its not on a crawl space. This is what concerns me...there may be no place for the extra water to go and this may further damage the wood. If it was on a crawl or basement, the water would seep down. I'm trying my best to pull all water out of the cracks with the shop vac. What a mess...

 

[Jeafl]

If they are still damaged though, contact your homeowners insurance agent, you may be able to get the floor fixed or replaced under your policy.

 

[mickeysgal]

If they are still damaged though, contact your homeowners insurance agent, you may be able to get the floor fixed or replaced under your policy.

My husband is contacting our agent now - just in case.

 

[DawnCt1]

My husband is contacting our agent now - just in case.

Be careful about inquiring about damage. It should be a huge amount of $$$ before you file a claim. Homeowner's insurance looks for any reason to drop you, even for things that aren't your fault.

 

[Christine]

I had water damage to hardwood floors and the boards did not return to normal. I claimed it on my homeowners insurance and they replaced it. Of course, that was in the late-80s when it was okay to actually use your insurance.

 

[mickeysgal]

Be careful about inquiring about damage. It should be a huge amount of $$$ before you file a claim. Homeowner's insurance looks for any reason to drop you, even for things that aren't your fault.

I know. We have a large deductible and even given that, if the claim is over that, its going to have to be way over the cost of repair before I'd take the chance and file. If the damaged area can be pulled and patched, I won't claim it. If you're talking the entire wood floor, which is pretty much my entire 1st floor, well, then I think I'd have no choice but to claim since it was be so costly.

 

[Christine]

I know. We have a large deductible and even given that, if the claim is over that, its going to have to be way over the cost of repair before I'd take the chance and file. If the damaged area can be pulled and patched, I won't claim it. If you're talking the entire wood floor, which is pretty much my entire 1st floor, well, then I think I'd have no choice but to claim since it was be so costly.

The good thing about hardwood floors is that they can fix "patches" of it, even if the damage occurs smack dab in the middle of a room.

 

[janette]

Only file a claim if absolutely necessary. In TX a water claim on your house can be a black mark and make it hard to get insurance later or even to sell your house.

 

[Jpgirl]

If you have a floating laminate wood floor as opposed to a solid one you may find that the laminate will peel up-that's what happened to us after we moved into our house-apparently there had been water sometime. We're on a slab too and you probably do have water underneath and in the boards themselves-that's what will cause the curling and later on the peeling. We ended up having to replace the entire floor. Good luck.

 

[sandramaac]

Had the same thing happen a few months ago to us, and we are also on a slab. I was really upset because my floor is discontinued and we are moving into a new home. Thankfully I do have a few extra boxes in the attic that I ordered. Anyway, the issue is that before the wood floor is put on the slab, a sealer, and or vapor barrier is placed under the flooring, for obvious reasons. Because of this, unlike a floor built over a basement, where water can escape, this water just stays until it evaporates. My wood floor starts just outside my bathroom, and your right, it is unreal how much water can flood in a short time. What I did was place towels over the area, and then very heavily weighted all the floor down. The first few hours I kept replacing the towels, because you will be surprisesd how much water will come up between the boards. I then left the board weighed down for a week. They are no longer curled on the edges like they were, but there is a definite ripple in the effected boards. If we weren't moving I would replaced them, but decided to just leave them as is.

 

[mickeysgal]

If you have a floating laminate wood floor as opposed to a solid one you may find that the laminate will peel up-that's what happened to us after we moved into our house-apparently there had been water sometime. We're on a slab too and you probably do have water underneath and in the boards themselves-that's what will cause the curling and later on the peeling. We ended up having to replace the entire floor. Good luck.

Its a solid wood floor. I keep going over every seam with the wet/dry vac. Only a tiny bit of water is coming up at this point. Nothing significant at all. I am going to put a dehumidifier in the room. Luckily we have one.

 

[mickeysgal]

The good thing about hardwood floors is that they can fix "patches" of it, even if the damage occurs smack dab in the middle of a room.

Thanks - thats what I'm hoping.

 

[RoyalCanadian]

Regardless of what manufacturers might say about their product hardwood and laminate flooring is never a good flooring option for installation over concrete. Whether the moisture comes from above or from below (or beside, in the OP's situation) the potential for significant damage far outweighs the looks. Wood and wood products such as laminate flooring will naturally absorb water, causing the expansions, cupping and lifting the OP has experienced. While it is true that patches can be repaired, are you certain that all moisture will have been removed from beneath the flooring? The vapour barrier that is usually installed beneath such flooring will not allow moisture to escape and the problem returns again and again, long after the initial problem has apparently been fixed.