It is not difficult to get your floor wet in your home, a leaky kitchen or bathroom fixture, a window left open during bad weather or a spilt drink. How quickly you deal with the spillage or surface water depends on whether you will have water damaged wooden flooring.
Different types of flooring can deal with water in their own way
Solid Oak Wooden Flooring
In the first instance we would not recommend having wooden flooring installed in wet or humid areas such as bathrooms and laundry rooms. When wood is in a humid room or is subject to regular water on the floor, this can cause warping and cracking of the floor. As solid oak flooring is in it’s most natural form, it will naturally absorb water, which will damage the floor.
Engineered Oak Wooden Flooring
Due to its construction of several layers of wood glued together in different directions, engineered oak flooring deals with surface water and humidity much better as the base layer is designed to expand with the humidity of the room without affecting the top layer.
Laminate Flooring
As laminate flooring is imitation wood this does not mean that it can’t be damaged from water, in fact out of the other types of wooden flooring it is more likely to absorb standing water. There are certain brands on the market such as Quickstep, that supply a water resistant flooring that includes a water lock seal to resist water for longer periods. This helps when spillages are mopped up quickly as it prevents the water from seeping through the joins. However, this will not prevent damage if the flooring is completely submerged.
Repairing Water Damaged Wooden Flooring
When dealing with real wood flooring and engineered flooring the first step would be to remove any surface water as quickly as possible using towels, mops and sponges. Once the surface water has been dried you need to concentrate on the water that has shaped through the joins. Open all windows and doors immediately and turn on the central heating.
If you were quick to mop up the water this action would be enough, but if the water was standing for a long while then damage is likely and you will begin to notice warping of the floor.
Speak to your flooring expert and we will give you advice on the best option. Sometimes you can screw down the problem areas to keep them in place and in other circumstances you can replace the damaged pieces if an exact match to the flooring is readily available.
In worst case scenarios it will inevitably mean ripping up the damaged floor and having a new wooden floor installed.
