Hardwood Floor Water Damage

By the time a chicagoland homeowner calls us for help the problem will almost always require refinishing and often the replacement of some or all of the damaged wood.

Hardwood floor water damage.

First remove any wax or surface finish. In fact most people avoid buying solid hardwood flooring for fear that they will have to deal with repairing or replacing a water damaged floor. The truth is water is really harmful for any kind of wood flooring that isn t water resistant. One of the most frequent problems we re called in to address is water damage to hardwood floors.

Drying hardwood floors water damage takes a lot of work and resources. Use fine steel wool to remove wax and sandpaper to remove a surface finish. Depending on the size of the repair area hand sand with a rubber sanding block see b or machine sand with a random orbit sander. Sand water damaged wood flooring.

When water sits on top of hardwood floors it can permanently ruin the hardwood as the wood will absorb the water through its pores causing warping and discoloration. This is called cupping heavy sanding with a drum or orbital sander can actually take down some minor high areas. No homeowner wants to hear the two dreaded words. After drying a wood floor you may have some concave or convex floorboards.

However heavily cupped wood cannot be sanded down flat. Resolve the water source problem.