Cleaning Effectively At Home

Posted on: 30 September 2022

It doesn't matter if the water is from a leak, a weather-related flood, or a spilled container. If water is left too long on wood flooring, severe and sometimes hard-to-repair damage can occur. Knowing the necessary tasks for reducing the damage and fixing the problems that do occur can save your wood floors. 

1. Quick Drying

The key to saving your wood floors is to dry them out as soon as you notice the water. For small amounts of water, you may be able to handle quick drying with a mop, towel, and a carefully aimed fan. For more severe water accumulation, a professional may need to use water extractors and industrial fans to dry out the wood quickly. In some cases, the floorboards may be removed to further speed drying.

2. Mold Treatment

Stopping the growth of mold and mildew, which can speed rot, must be done before any further restoration begins. Your restoration service will treat every floorboard with a mold-killing treatment to slow damage. Most mold treatments are immediate, so further restoration work can begin once the treatments have been applied. 

3. Individual Plank Testing

Each floor plank must be checked for damage severity. The amount of damage can vary greatly even between two side-by-side floorboards. If a board is badly swollen or soft with rot even after thorough drying, then those boards may require replacement. Your floor restoration expert will find a good match for the existing boards so the repair won't be obvious once they are completed.

4. Damage Depth

Boards that look bad may actually be okay depending on the depth of the damage. If you acted quickly to dry out the boards, then the damage is likely only surface deep. Your restoration service will sand down the surface of the boards in preparation for refinishing them, which will remove the damaged surface wood. If the damage goes deeper than the boards can be sanded, though, then a replacement will be needed. 

5. Small Damage Repair

The final step before refinishing and sealing is to repair any small damages. Water damage can lead to low areas on some boards or increased gaps between neighboring flooring planks. These small damages don't mean that the floorboards need to be replaced. Instead, your restoration expert will use self-leveling wood putty to fill in the small damages. This is then sanded smooth before the final refinishing. 

Contact a 24-hour emergency water damage floor restoration service the moment you spot water damage on your wood flooring. For more information, contact a company like EvoXtract.