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.