Restoring Wood Floors After Water Damage

Any time that excess water floods your Mt. Pleasant home, it is cause for concern. When you have invested in beautiful floors, water damage can be devastating. If the water is allowed to sit on the surface, hardwood floors will almost always require refinishing. Often, the replacement of some or all of the damaged wood will be necessary. Clean Masters has some tips on how to spot, prevent and minimize the damage that water can cause to your hardwood floors:

Signs Of Water Damage

Whether the water entered the home in a quick flood or in a drop at a time, hardwoods will suffer. The damaging effect of water on wood builds over time.  By the time you notice a change in your wood floor, the water has already hurt the floor. Look for cupping of individual planks, or crowning of several planks, creating a hump in the floor.   

Another sign that water has damaged your floor is black or dark staining along the edges of a plank or broader stains across several planks. This staining can be a result of mold, tannins in the wood reacting to minerals in the water, or rust around board nails.  

Sanding Can Help

Water-damaged boards that suffer from mild cupping or surface staining can be sanded down and re-coated. For a proper match, you will need some practice.  Wood flooring changes color over time from sunlight. When you sand a floor, the original color of the wood is often revealed and even when the exact same stain is applied, it can appear a slightly different color.

It’s also difficult to completely hide the lap and cut lines made when a new finish is applied over a repaired area.  Even a small area of repair and sanding requires that the floors in the entire room are refinished to blend in the colors.

Replacing With New Planks

For many water-damaged wood floors, the best way to repair is to replace the affected boards and then to refinish the entire floor.  For best results, you need the expertise of a craftsman-like the restoration team at Clean Masters. They can access replacement planks that not only match the species of the existing wood, but also the grain and texture of the current flooring. If you’re doing a spot repair, this requires careful matching of the stain.  Finally, weaving in new planks into the existing floor means that each board must be the proper size to create a seamless repair.

Prevention

The floors’ outer coating keeps water and dirt from contacting touching the actual porous wood cells. Although even the most durable polyurethane coatings are not fully waterproof, keeping the protective layer in good shape is the best defense against water damaging your wood floor. One would suggest regular cleaning with a proper wood floor cleaner and a microfiber mop to help the finish last longer.

Even if the polyurethane is in good shape, a continuous drip of water from an unknown source will find a way into the wood. Call a professional team if you suspect damage. The crew is on-call now to inspect your floors. 

Water Damage Restoration In Mount Pleasant

Whether you have hardwood, carpet, vinyl or ceramic floors, Clean Masters has the experience and techniques to restore your home to your high standards. By combining high-tech equipment with trained technicians, they have developed a detailed and comprehensive process that successfully eliminates all moisture from a structure and its contents. For the best chance to save your wood floors after water damage, contact your local water damage restoration crew.