Replacing Damaged Flooring by Weaving in New Planks. For many water-damaged wood floors, the best way to repair the damage is to eliminate and replace the affected boards and then to refinish the entire floor. The proper way to replace planks in a wood floor takes time and the expertise of a craftsman.
Applying mild heat with an iron on a thick cloth or a heat gun helps this process along. For deep gouges or dents, you can use a wood floor filler and wood stain to repair the damaged area. Before applying the filler, tape off the damaged area so you don't accidentally apply filler where it doesn't belong.
Staining: Staining is simply the discoloration on the hardwood floors, due to water damage. Staining comes in two forms, white stains and black stains. White stains come in the form of white circles on your hardwood floors. They indicate that the floor's finish has been mildly damaged, due to the build-up of moisture.
There is no set time. This depends upon the type of hardwood you have as well as the finish. Some finishes are better than others at repelling water. However, if the water sits on your floors for longer than 24 hours, you'll likely deal with some type of damage or mold growth.
As mentioned, weather and moisture are the most culprits of buckling wood floors. If the buckling is minimal, you can try drying the damaged area and see if it returns to its normal shape. You can also try putting a little pressure or a heavy object on top of the buckled wood to settle it back to its place.
If the buckling is only minor, in many cases the boards might return back to normal. If the boards are still showing areas of damage and buckling, you'll need to replace them.
Once the floor is dry, you can consider spot repairs and reinstallation as well as refinishing and renailing. However, in most cases, replacement of the damaged area is necessary. The buckled wood floor should be repaired at the first sign to help avoid a major repair later and prevent further damage.
But it's impossible to scrub out stains that have soaked into the wood fibers. And sanding only creates a depression in the floor that's more noticeable than the stain. The only option to repair hardwood floors at this point is to cut out the stained floorboards and install new ones.
Applying a revitalizer gloss is the simplest and cheapest way to refinish hardwood floors. This approach works best on floors that only have surface-level scratches and other minor wear and tear issues. You can get the job done without the need for equipment rentals or hard-to-find materials.
It can take up to several weeks for wood flooring to completely dry. Also, the humidity in the room and the amount of water that was present on the floor can prolong the process. So leave the fans and dehumidifier running until the moisture test shows that no water remains in the wood.
In some cases, if the cupping was not severe the flooring may flatten to an acceptable level with minor gapping after drying. Remember the flooring has lost moisture so some shrinkage will result. Before any repair or remediation the flooring should be checked for looseness.
Water, and moisture in general, is the number one cause of buckling floorboards. That's because when these floorboards get wet, the wood naturally swells to accommodate the moisture. All of that contracting and expanding eventually leads to buckling and warping.
Applying additional moisture and heat to the opposite side of the warp can cause the wood to warp back into its original flat position, effectively “unwrapping” the piece. Minor warping can usually be corrected with heat and moisture only, but for more severe warping, you may also need to apply pressure to the wood.
Cupped flooring looks bad but it's almost always reversible. It can usually be corrected by simply restoring proper humidity inside the room, which will help balance out the moisture above and below the flooring.
Wood is a porous material. This means that, over time, exposure to water will permeate the wood's membranes, causing it to rot, soften, and fall apart. Additionally, water compromises the structure of wood, leading to mold growth and expensive restoration efforts.
The only way to effectively tackle a wet wood floor is clear it completely of furniture and rugs. If they are wet too, set them outside in the sun to dry. But, of course, if the flooding is caused by continuing rain, set the items in a dry area with durable flooring, such as a garage.
If your hardwood floors have been sanded and finished with Bona Mega Clear HD, it is safe to sleep in the home about 2-3 hours after the project is finished, but again, only if there are other rooms that have not been robbed of their furniture – furniture should stay off floors for at least 24 hours after ANY project ...
For example if you have a painted finish on your wooden floor then stripping will likely be more effective, however if you want to remove a basic polyurethane finish and you need to do so during the colder months of the year then sanding will be more appropriate.
If the scratches don't go all the way through to the wood, you can scuff-sand your floors with a buffer and apply a fresh coat or two of finish. The hardwood floor refinishing process is easier and less expensive than sanding down to bare wood and takes less time. In a few hours, your floors will look as good as new.
Refinishing hardwood floors is more cost-effective than replacing them. On average, it costs about $2,000 to $7,000 to replace hardwood flooring (two to three times more than to refinish).