Water damage can cause great destruction to wood and wood products because the two - water and wood, simply do not mix. During periods of low humidity, wood floorings contract sometimes leaving noticeable cracks between boards, and expand during high humidity periods. This behavior is an ideal view of the antagonistic wood-moisture relationship. Fortunately, the instances that involve water damage on wooden floorings can always be mitigated.
During a major water event, like a flood, wooden floors are damaged, sometimes beyond repair. To avoid water damage to the floor, excess moisture from the flooded condition must be removed as a matter of urgency and drying measures immediately undertaken. Fans and dehumidifiers could be used for this. For homes with forced air heat, all humidification should be turned off and the residence heated to between 76 and 80 degrees Farenheight. Any swellings on the floor will flatten after the drying process and after that you can screen, fill and repaint the floor. While this could be all that is necessary in most situations, sometimes re-finishing is necessary especially if the floor has shown sign of water damage such as stains.
Sanding of the floor should be undertaken in situations where cupping is prominent even after water has been removed. This need not be a very complicated exercise since sanding follows the contour of the cup. As flooring edges are not removed, later crowning will not be necessary. Sanding is done to allow moisture to dissipate quickly and should therefore not be done to extent of leaving the floor as bare wood. Removing most of the finish is usually enough.
You can tell that if there is excess moisture in the floor and floor system when you notice that the floor has cupped and buckled. Such excess moisture should be removed before re-installation and finishing. Where flooring is installed over plywood attached to a slab, the whole system must be removed. This process must be followed carefully as attempting short cuts, such as re-nailing, sanding out and refinishing could fail and the floor could later develop problems such as staining, crowning and cracking. This can be disastrous for the home owner because repair expenses could be ruinous.
While it is generally recommended that urgent action be taken to remove any water on wooden floors, the rest of the water damage recovery process calls for patience. Finished flooring and floor systems take a bit of time to dry. Where floors have swelled, sometimes they take a number of weeks to flatten or stabilize.
When dealing with sealed and waxed floors, you need not sand as part of the repair exercise. Finishing might not be necessary in most cases for sealed floors except in the most severe cases. You could simply renovate with an appropriate cleaner and wax. This greatly improves the floor's appearance.
In conclusion, please note that wood flooring performs best in an interior environment controlled to stay within a humidity range of 30 to 50 percent and a temperature range of between 60 and 80 degrees farenheight.
When you think of water damage, what do you think of? Do you think of tropical storms, hurricanes, floods and tsunamis? If so, then you are like many individuals throughout the world. If you have set down to watch the evening news in the past, chances are you have had the chance to see disaster in the making. Throughout the world, it seems like water damage is happening at least once a week. If it is not a flood in the mid-west it's a hurricane in the lower states of the United States, if it is not any of those, then it is a Tsunami in the Philippines.
Water damage has been known to happen throughout the world and it is never a fun site to see, especially if you an adult. It seems that individuals do not realize just how bad water damage can be until they are the ones experiencing it. Whenever someone sees news of flash floods throughout the mid-west, it doesn't bother them too much (unless they have family members in it) and this is completely normal. Each year, individuals die from water damage. Yes, you read this correctly, lives have been lost because of water damage.
Water damage can come in many different shapes and sizes. Water damage is not always small and a lot of times is big. During water damage, many things can be ruined. The things that can be ruined is your home, memories, cars, bikes, important documents, plants, electronic equipment and offices. Water damage is also known to ruin people's jobs and that can leave you jobless. Being jobless is never a good thing because it can cause a lot of financial hardship for you and your family. Something else that can be ruined because of water damage is lives. You may not realize this, but water damages throughout the United States of America and other parts of the world have caused many individuals left standing out in the streets without a home to go to.
Thankfully, there are many programs such as FEMA that help out with disasters such as hurricanes that are known to cause water damage. You can easily find programs such as FEMA on the Internet. Their web sites will tell you what to do and how to go about getting assistance with the program. If your area has recently been through some water damage, you may be able to find names of programs that can help you out financially in the local news paper and you will also be able to find information by watching the news. The truth is that water damage programs are all over the place and are available to assist you if you have been through water damage.
If your home recently went through water damage then you need to be sure to call you insurance agent. Your insurance agent will make a visit to your home to look at the water damage that has occurred. You can count on the insurance agent writing down notes and taking pictures of the water damage in your house.
Evie Parrish has sinced written about articles on various topics from Home, Oral Hygiene and Home. Evie Parrish is an homeowner advocate for and. Evie Parrish's top article generates over 49500 views. to your Favourites.