Taking Care Of Your Wooden Floors With Water Damage

Hardwood floors, especially the original ones in older homes, add value to any home in Burlington. Not only are they beautiful, but they are durable as well. However, there is one thing that can cause wreak havoc on your wood floors and that is water damage. Standing water on hardwood floors is a bad combination and if you don’t begin water damage restoration quickly, it will only get worse. 

Water Damage Restoration In Burlington

The professionals at GW Savage specialize in water damage restoration and want to share some tips with you that just might save your wooden floors from needing to be replaced following water damage.

• Remove surface water as soon as possible. Wood is very porous so it will rapidly soak up and absorb water when exposed to it. Even with a protective sealing or coating, water can still penetrate wood’s cellulose fibers. Water will also find its way around and beneath the wooden floorboards through seams and baseboards. When water gets underneath your floors, it doesn’t just mean damage to the wood itself but also damages to your subflooring. You can mop up small amounts of standing water with towels. For larger amounts of water, you need to use a wet/dry vacuum to remove as much water as possible in as little time as possible. You can even use a squeegee to gather the water as you suck it up with the vacuum.
• Clean the entire floor to make sure that any microbial growth or other contaminants that the water brought in is removed. Do not pour water onto the floors to clean them off when you just spent all your time and energy removing them. Use rags or brushes that are dipped in hot water and a mild cleaning detergent. Make sure that the cleaner you are using is compatible with your wooden floors and will not be too abrasive or change the color. Be sure to clean the entire surface and baseboards thoroughly, rinsing regularly, to remove any contaminants that could facilitate mold growth. 
• Bring in fans, air movers, and even dehumidifiers to dry the floors out naturally and slowly. Wood floors absorb water quickly but release it much more slowly so you must be patient with the drying process. Do not try to speed up the drying by using heat as it can cause wood to bend, buckle, and crack. The heat will make it so that you have to remove and replace the flooding since that kind of damage is irreparable. To increase airflow through the areas, you can open windows which will also provide cross-ventilation to help remove the moisture from the air as well.
• After the floors have been dried out completely, you may have to do some sanding to get them ready to be stained again or resealed. You may also see some lifting at this phase. To correct it, we suggest calling in a professional. Once the floors have been adequately prepped you can proceed to re-coat them. 

In Conclusion

The best advice we can give to ensure the best results for your wood floors after water damage is to call in the professionals. The trained and experienced water damage restoration experts at GW Savage are ready to respond to your water damage situation right away. We have all the necessary tools and equipment along with the training and expertise to get the water removed and dried quickly. We can get the whole area cleaned up and restored back to its pre-loss condition as soon as possible.