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We had plumbing leak in a sewer drain pipe and gray water backed up into the bathroom and flooded out onto our wooden floors of a very large room. The water only came in contact with about 5% of the floor and was only there for 45 minutes before we cleaned it all up.
Do we replace the entire floor even though only 5% was damaged? We have replacement floor boards that match the damaged floor so that should not be an issue. The contractor tells us water "may" have gotten under the other floors and we should replace all of them just to be safe. I can't tell if this is true or he wants the business. Insurance should pay for this but I want to make the best use of my claim check.
People have had toilets overflow in their homes for at least a hundred years. What did they do Cleaned it up and went on with their lives.
How did 45 minutes of water on wood floors do so much damage they have to be replaced?
Dang. if we replaced the floors every time the toilet overflowed, we would be in bankruptcy.
I might buy some of that nature miracle stuff you use on carpeting when pets poo on the rug and spray it over the floor and into any cracks. Otherwise, I would only replace any boards that are so badly damaged they have become intolerable. I still do nto see how that can even happen.
WHen we moved our house, there was a huge storm just after we cut it in half. Water poured in for a day and a half. We caught a few hundred gallons, but several hundred more ran down the hallway (yellow pine floors), through our bedroom (black walnut floors) and down through the cieling below, accross that wood floor (not sure what species this floor is) and into the basement. The only place we had to do any repair was the cieling. How did you end up with so much damage?
A dozen mice "may" have crawled into your walls and peed or died in there. I certinaly woudl nto reccomend ripping out your walls and replacing the insualtion just in case.
A physical inspection of the flooring should tell you what if any need to be replaced.
If it is completely dry, and has been dry for 3-4 days there would be cupping or warping by now. If there are no visual signs of that then you should be good to go.
I would only question the "grey water"- its real content, and what may have gotten under the flooring. Then there's always the mold issue- but again, if it was immediately cleaned up and is dry- shouldn't be an issue.
We cleaned it all up within about 45 minutes and then wiped it all down with bleach (which was probably a bad idea for wood floors). We got some industrial dehumidifiers in the room the next morning to dry everything out and plan to run them for a few days just in case.
They have to pull some of the wood up anyway to access a pipe so I will see how damaged or we those pieces are. If they are dry, I will just replace only the pieces that may have gotten wet.
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