# Drying out a wood floor???



## TNTRenovate (Aug 19, 2010)

Need some ideas here. I got a call just after Christmas. My customer had been gone for a week and came home to a wet floor in the kitchen. Apparently they had a defective frig line that leaked the entire week they were gone. There wasn't much water on the top of the floor, but about 70 sq feet had begun to cup really bad.

I have always allowed the floor to dry naturally and the cupping would pretty much go down on it's own. Then all that's left is refinishing the floor.

This is what I did. I hung plastic all around the room to seal it off from the rest of the house. We setup up a dehumidifier and it has been running non stop since the week after Christmas. When we started most of the effected area read 20-24% moisture. About 50% is down to 6-8%, another 25% is down to 14-18%, but I still have about 25% that is reading 24%.

Why in the world is this wood holding this moisture? It is the original floor, so no vinyl underneath. The crawl space under the area is dry The subfloor is reading 6-8% directly on the 20-24%.

The only thing that I can think of is there is a slight depression that is holding moisture. Maybe it is trapped between the flooring and the felt.

Does anyone have any advice? I am at the point that I am just going to rip it out and let it dry. Only problem is the kitchen is odd shaped and I would have to pretty much tear out 200 sq ft to get away from any wood effected by the moisture or moved do to the swelling.

Help!

Rob


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## summithomeinc (Jan 3, 2011)

TNTSERVICES said:


> Need some ideas here. I got a call just after Christmas. My customer had been gone for a week and came home to a wet floor in the kitchen. Apparently they had a defective frig line that leaked the entire week they were gone. There wasn't much water on the top of the floor, but about 70 sq feet had begun to cup really bad.
> 
> I have always allowed the floor to dry naturally and the cupping would pretty much go down on it's own. Then all that's left is refinishing the floor.
> 
> ...


Use a hole saw to cut the subfloor to allow the moisture out.Just don't cut too far.. If it works fine..If not fine you still gotta replace the flooring.


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## TNTRenovate (Aug 19, 2010)

summithomeinc said:


> Use a hole saw to cut the subfloor to allow the moisture out.Just don't cut too far.. If it works fine..If not fine you still gotta replace the flooring.


I thought about drilling some holes to let it out. Thanks for confirming that idea. Any others?


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## Leo G (May 12, 2005)

Use one of those directed air fans to keep the air moving in the area of the high moisture flooring.


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## TNTRenovate (Aug 19, 2010)

Leo G said:


> Use one of those directed air fans to keep the air moving in the area of the high moisture flooring.


I don't have anything that big, but we did put a fan on it pointing toward the dehumidifier. Would a bigger fan make that much difference? If so, I know where I can borrow one. I just don't want to keep "trying" stuff and have them wait another month.


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## astor (Dec 19, 2008)

Wow, you and your customers must have really patience..Almost two months?That is too much inconvenience for me and my clients, I would have replaced it asap..do they have insurance?


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## rselectric1 (Sep 20, 2009)

astor said:


> do they have insurance?


:thumbsup:


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## TNTRenovate (Aug 19, 2010)

astor said:


> Wow, you and your customers must have really patience..Almost two months?That is too much inconvenience for me and my clients, I would have replaced it asap..do they have insurance?


That was my feeling. It's already a claim. The agent wanted a little more dry time before replacing. I am going to suggest replacement after tomorrows visit. 

I don't think I am going to wait another 1 or 2 weeks to see what happens.

Thanks for the advice!

Rob


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## pinwheel (Dec 7, 2009)

I had a floor once, in an older home/cabin. Water lines froze & burst & literally flooded the whole house. Water ran for over a week before they found them. (winter hunting cabin) Insurance company called in a fire & water restoration company & they had hardwood floor mats for their drying equipment. The matts forced air under the floor to dry them out. 

First time I seen the floors, I recomended pulling them out completely & starting over. After they finished drying the floors, I was able to resand them flat. I'd have never belived it if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.


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## jamestrd (Oct 26, 2008)

bottomline is it takes time...and you definitely need air movement..dehumdifier alone will take months.

also take into account the subfloor is still wet.. this needs to dry as well..

if you have access underneath, air movement under the floor will help too..

did a job recently where subfloors were reading over 20 %..couldn't install.

finally dehumidifiers and some air movement got them down to around 14-15%...still not good enough.

we put a turbo heater under the area,sealed off and directed 3 airmovers in each corner up at the ceiling and made like a "vortex"

next day floors read 10%...

I suspect the wettest areas of your floor are where the leak started..


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## tedanderson (May 19, 2010)

It will eventually flatten back out but it takes time. Last summer, my client was filling his kitchen sink to wash dishes. He went to answer the phone and completely forgot about the running water. By the time he came back, water was already running into the basement.

I went back to his house in November and the cupping was still there but it wasn't that noticeable. Then I was there last week and you can't even tell that anything was wrong. 

He filed an insurance claim but they still have not cut the check yet.


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