Flooring takes a lot of abuse in a home. Squeaks develop, minor damage afflicts tile and sheet flooring and dents and gouges mar hardwood floors.
Most types of floor damage are repairable. However, it is important that any area damaged by water be thoroughly dried as soon as possible.
Water Damage
Flooring is an essential part of any home, but it can also be one of the most stressful when it is damaged. When your floors get wet, it can cause a wide range of problems, including warping, sagging and mold growth. If the damage is extensive, it may be necessary to replace the entire floor.
Water damage can occur for a variety of reasons, from floods and hurricanes to leaky pipes and washing machine malfunctions. In general, the longer the water stays on your floors, the more damage they will experience.
It is important to act quickly if you notice any water damage in your home, to stop it from worsening. Make sure to clean up any excess water and use fans and dehumidifiers in the affected area.
If the damaged areas are isolated and the subflooring hasn’t been affected, you can often repair wood flooring with a sanding and staining process. However, if the subflooring has been impacted by water, it is best to replace it entirely. You can also replace your floors if they have been affected by black water, which contains harmful bacteria and could potentially lead to severe health issues. This type of water typically comes from sewage lines or toilets. It’s best to consult a professional for advice on your options. They can help you choose the best flooring for your situation.
Gouges or Dents
Dents in wood are the most common type of damage to floorboards and they’re often caused by heavy furniture or even a fall. They’re generally more noticeable than scratches or scuffs because of their size and shape. Some of these dents can be repaired by using the same methods as for scratches, scuffs and dents caused by water damage but the difference in repair depends on whether you’re dealing with a gouge or a dent.
A gouge is an indentation that’s scooped out of a surface, while a dent is simply compressed wood. A gouge can usually be steamed level, while a dent may require you to fill it in with wood putty.
The good news is that both can be fixed fairly easily. If you’re dealing with a slight dent in finished or prefinished wood, simply add a bit of water to the damaged area and then cover it with a damp cloth. Iron it for a few seconds, check the area and repeat until the dent has disappeared. For deep dents, I like to use white distilled vinegar as it tends to help really bend the crushed wood fibers back into place. It’s a bit more involved than steaming but the results can be quite dramatic and you’ll still have to finish or stain the repaired area to hide the gouge.
Sagging or Buckling
If you walk around your house and the floors feel like they’re bobbing up and down, that could be a sign of floor joist damage. This is a serious problem that needs to be fixed right away before it gets worse, especially because bouncy floors aren’t very pleasant for anyone to live with and they’re a hazard to the structure of your home.
Flooding can cause damage to joists by rotting the wood, creating an unstable support for your home’s flooring and causing them to shift or sag. Floodwater can also damage your crawl space by flooding a hive of pests that love to destroy wood, including powderpost beetles and carpenter ants, which can turn your floor joists into swiss cheese and leave them susceptible to collapse.
The best way to fix sagging floors is to hire a crawl space repair professional who can install steel structural jacks and new custom beams to permanently stabilize your floor joists. They can also add “sistering” to the joist, which is a piece of identical wood fastened to the joist on each side to strengthen it.
Flooding is the most common reason for sagging floors, but it’s not the only reason. Over time, aging joists can become damaged by humidity or by shifting soil or settlement. Joists can also be affected by changes in seasonal temperatures, which causes building structures to expand or contract. This can damage materials that are attached to or held up by the joists, such as plasterboard and cornices.
Warping
Fortunately, many types of wood flooring can regain their appearance without needing to be replaced. However, depending on the severity of the damage, it may still be necessary to sand the damaged floorboards and apply new varnish to fix the problem.
One of the most common types of damage to hardwood floors is warping. This is caused by changes in humidity and impact all types of wood flooring, from solid and engineered hardwood to laminate and prefinished wood. New flooring that is acclimatized to your home before it’s installed is typically treated to resist significant moisture damage, but this doesn’t mean it’s completely immune.
When warping occurs, the edges of the planks curl up or down. This type of damage is known as cupping or crowning, and it’s very unattractive.
If you notice this type of damage, the first step is to soak up as much water from the damaged area as possible with towels or rags. Rinse out any excess water that remains and use disinfectant cleaning products to clean the affected area. After that, the best way to get rid of remaining moisture is by using a dehumidifier for at least 24 hours. It’s also worth noting that if you’ve had significant flooding, the floorboards may require more time to dry and recover than usual.