Storm Damage : how can I tell if I need to replace the floor ? (wood floors)

[jpushiys]

Related thread : https://www.city-data.com/forum/dall...er-damage.html


I have had a remodeler stop by and tell me I need to rip my floor out and I can barely see anything wrong with it. I am wondering if floor damage is something that just can't be judged by regular human eyes. Or... alternatively - are we seeing the beginnings of a massive insurance scam that will drive up everyone's rates ?

I have wood floors that were covered by water for maybe 10 mins before we mopped everything up and we got fans blowing on it as soon as we had power. I don't see warping. There is mild tenting in one or two places, which we feel we can ignore. While a few panels have bulging grains the majority are fine. How can I tell if this is enough to warrant a replacement ? Are potential new buyers / inspectors likely to catch minor tenting and such and is that the reason to replace the floor ?

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by jpushiys

Related thread : https://www.city-data.com/forum/dall...er-damage.html


I have had a remodeler stop by and tell me I need to rip my floor out and I can barely see anything wrong with it. I am wondering if floor damage is something that just can't be judged by regular human eyes. Or... alternatively - are we seeing the beginnings of a massive insurance scam that will drive up everyone's rates ?

I have wood floors that were covered by water for maybe 10 mins before we mopped everything up and we got fans blowing on it as soon as we had power. I don't see warping. There is mild tenting in one or two places, which we feel we can ignore. While a few panels have bulging grains the majority are fine. How can I tell if this is enough to warrant a replacement ? Are potential new buyers / inspectors likely to catch minor tenting and such and is that the reason to replace the floor ?

If you aren't under any kind fo time pressure. Put fans back on the tented areas - maybe run them at night for several nights. When tolerable set your AC lower than normal to dry the air, floor and subfloor and then walk around the areas that were wet listening for new noises. Walk around in socks noticing if they snag lifted grain etc.

I'd wait at least a few weeks before making any determination.

[tmtex]

Might look good right now but give it sometime.

[elan]

Sounds like you may be okay too me. Keep the air circulating, you should know more in a week or two. Lots of scams going on right now, be careful.

[naterator]

I assume when you say "hardwood", you mean solid hardwood and not laminate.

We had the "mild tenting" after a slab leak. Actually no water on the surface of our floors. Unfortunately, tt won't go back down and will start to spread. Like you, I assumed it would go back down.

Two weeks later we were ripping up the entire floor when the whole thing buckled.

Do what we should have done and get some underfloor de-humidifiers in place NOW. They have little sucker heads that pull the moisture out from under the floor. They're kind of expensive to rent but I'm going to tell you - replacing 3/4" solid hardwood over 3/4" subfloor isn't inexpensive, either.

[20Hope20]

To fully understand the extent, get a couple of estimates. You’ll be able to ask questions to professionals and get a better idea of what needs to be done.

[jpushiys]

Thanks for all the advise ....

Just to clarify - this was not an undetected long duration leak. We had already shut the water main off as a precaution before any leak when we lost power for an extended period. We were hit really bad with no power for most of Sunday-monday midnight through Thursday morning.

Apparently we were too late turning the water off. When we turned on the water back on to see how things were is when the leak happened. I was ready for this and the total leak time was barely minutes before we turned the water off again...

This all happened Friday 19th and so its now 9 days later and if anything the floor is looking better not worse. We did follow the advise from EDS and elan to keep the air circulating...

We will continue to keep an eye on it, not going to assume we are out of the woods yet.