How To Handle Water Damage To Your Hardwood Floors

4/29/2021 (Permalink)

Hardwood floors are stylish, durable, and timeless. A popular choice for kitchens, living rooms, and bedrooms alike, hardwood floors enhance many homes and are excellent to clean, treat, and enjoy year-round. However, one danger to your hardwood floors is water damage. Although a quick water spill on your hardwood floor that is attended to and cleaned up after a moment shouldn’t cause any harm, water damage may occur if water gets spilled and unnoticed on your hardwood floors, soaking into the boards and absorbing into the wood.

When your hardwood floors experience water damage, these are the next steps you should take.

1. Clean up the water if you can.

If the water damage seems minimal or you catch it before it’s been sitting for a while, grab some excess towels to soak up the water sitting on top of your hardwood. However, this is not always possible if, for example, a pipe bursts and you have gallons of water that have flooded your entire floor. 

1. Assess the visible physical damage.

Are you dealing with a white water stain or a black water stain? A white water stain indicates that the damage to your floor is only mild, and it may come out with proper treatment. White stains typically indicate a build-up of moisture in your hardwood floor. On the other hand, black water stains mean your hardwood has absorbed the water, which makes it significantly more difficult to repair. Other signs of water damage include cupping, when the edges of your hardwood flooring expand and become uneven with the sides sticking up; crowning, which consists of your wood permanently shrinking or wood planks sticking out; and buckling, which is when pieces of hardwood detach from your subfloor and stick out, indicating severe water damage. 

1. Call the experts.

Especially if the water damage appears severe, which is pretty much anything outside of white water stains, it’s probably wise to call the professionals like the water damage restoration technicians at SERVPRO of Aurora. Depending on the extent of your hardwood floor’s damage, it may not even be worth trying to repair your hardwood floor, and replacing it may be a more smart use of your time and money.