Wood floor is a wonderful choice for any home flooring. It not only looks very significant, but it is also easy to care for, resists wear, and is even eco-friendly.
However, wood flooring has one downside; it won’t stand up to extended coverage to water. So if the water is allowed to remain on the wood entire floor, the wood can be damaged very soon.
Depending on the quantity of water and how long it has been staying on the floor, the damage could be a pretty stain or bad. In this case, finally, you need to replace the damaged flooring boards.
If you don’t want to replace the damaged boards, you should fix water damaged wood floor where needed. Below are some proven steps that can help you fix the floor quickly without investing more pennies.
How To Fix Water Damaged Wood Floor
Don’t mix standing water with wood flooring. The people who live in hurricane or flood-prone areas where historic homes it is not a wonder have happened. If a significant quantity of water flood-related has connected with the wood floor, the floors will never be pretty same as new, but you can take some steps to fix hardwood floor water damage and save the floor from any junkyards.
What Ingredients You Need?
- Vacuum
- Squeegee
- Stiff brush
- Bucket
- Rubber Gloves
- Absorbent cloth
- Detergent
- Disinfectant
- TSP as needed
Processing To Fix Wood Floor Water Damage
Step-1: Remove the water
Very soon, you can stand on the wet floor. The solid hardwood floor soaks up water very quickly but releases the water more slowly. So, you have to start pulling off the standing water with the shop vacuum immediately. Even if you think that the wood floor is very well-finished and that water can’t penetrate the raw wood, you should think about it again.
The secret to removing mold or mildew is similar to carpeting: removing the dirt. Water isn’t only the reason for mold and mildew; it is the mixture of water and dirt.
Use a vacuum on the wet mode and eliminate the water as much as possible from the wood floor’s surface. This task is very easy for the wide flooring attachment to the vacuum hose. It helps to use a squeegee to collect the water as you drain it off.
Step-2: Remove Water Stains
If you have hardwood floors that dry using a hazy white film on the surface, you could get rid of it using a soft cloth and very mild abrasive like toothpaste, polishing compound, or tobacco ashes mixed with mineral oil. Gently rub the stained area until the mist disappears.
Unfortunately, hardwood entire floor dries with a very noticeable black stain. Sometimes the stain is on the surface of water damaged floors, but it could spread throughout the stained board; in that case, the board will have to be replaced.
Step-3: Remove Black Surface Stain
Mark the damaged area with the painter’s tape the remove the surface; finish starting with sand with 60-80 grit and finishing with 120-grit. Then mix oxalic acid crystal with warm water then brush the mixture on the stained area. Apply the solution to completely dry, and if the stain is there, repeat it. The oxalic acid solution works like bleach to remove the darker stain. But if the stain keeps up after repeated the applications, the board is permanently stained and will have to be replaced.
Step-4: Scrub the Floor
Mix the detergent with a compatible disinfectant with clean water into a bucket. Scrub the whole wood floor and all related woodwork with a hard brush. Rinse the brush often into the bucket. Don’t pour the water onto the floor. Scrub and remove all dirt and silt, and promotes mold growth.
Step-5: Scrub Affected Areas
Clean the areas that show mold marks with trisodium phosphate or other TSP substitute combination with water. Scrub the affected areas using this solution until the mold is gone, then rinse with clean water and dry the exterior using a soft, absorbent cloth.
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Step-6: Let Dry the Floor
Leave the existing floor to dry naturally and slowly with a lot of airflow throughout the areas. Open the windows or doors so that air can arrive indoors. You can run your fans to move air throughout the spaces properly. For example, set a box fan so that the fan blows out and then open the window and door on the opposite of the area to let the fresh air in. it offers cross ventilation to run the moisture out.
Step-7: Sand the Floor
After drying the floor, you can have a convex floorboard which is known as cupping. Heavy sanding with an orbital sander can take down some minor high areas. However, seriously cupped wood floor can’t be sanded down flat. It is also inevitable that some floors can pick up thoroughly at the ends. In this case, face-nail the floor takes back.
Step-8: Paint the Floor
Now deal with mold on wood under the paint. Mold increase under the painted floor is a trick issue. Your recourse is to eliminate the finish so that paint creates a seal over the floor, which can trap the water in the below wood. After rubbing off the paint, scrub the floor with the abrasive cleaner or use TSP water solution with added a cup of regular bleach per gallon of water. Dry the wood floor as expressed after cleaning.
Step-9: Restore Laminate
Laminate flooring can look the same as solid hardwood flooring, but it isn’t the similar ingredients. Most of the laminate flooring board is constructed with the wood mash-like particle plank. This ingredient is highly vulnerable to water damage and swelling when it finds soaked and tarnishes its ingredient reliability. Most laminate flooring, which is water damaged, should be restored.
Do I Have To Replace The Water Damaged Wood Floors?
In some severe cases, you may have to restore your wood floor. For example, if you see any leak when you are on vacation, you may have passed sufficient time for mold to increase; in that case, the safe option is restoring the floor. In fact, on a day of water damage, mold may increase, and the floor would need replacement.
If jumping continues after you have followed every above step, this might be a sign that the floor has been damaged, and you have to dry and spot it before changing the boards.
How To Prevent Damaging Your Wooden Floor?
If you have any flat to excess moisture, fix a dehumidifier to maintain the water level in the air in time. Cover the wood floor with a lot of rugs as it is easy to dry.
Now that you can know the water damage marks, you can catch it very soon. Stop the floors from buckling by taking care of crowning the first symptom.
Wrap up!
We hope this post will help you fix water-damaged wood floors without going to any experience or professional one and save your money. If you imagine that this task isn’t easy and comfortable for you, you can hire any professional one to fix the damaged floor. If you think the floor needs to be replaced, you should do it immediately.
