Before

After

Water Damaged Flooring

This laminate flooring was damaged during a flood and unfortunately could not be salvaged as you can see from the bubbling on the surface. Our team carefully removed the flooring so that it could be replaced.

Different types of flooring react differently to water damage;

Laminate flooring is very resilient to almost anything except water. Laminate flooring advertises that it is real wood which is correct, but it only has a thin layer of wood on the top layer. The rest of the flooring is made up of particle board or press board. These types of materials absorb water very quickly and delaminate with minimal time.

Vinyl is more resilient to water than laminate flooring, because it does not absorb water and is glued down not free floating. If a vinyl floor is affected by water damage, it can be saved depending on the amount of time the water has been dwelling. Once water has found its way underneath the tiles, the tiles must be removed. Vinyl acts as a vapor barrier and does not allow for evaporation which is needed in the drying process.

Linoleum flooring is much like vinyl when it comes to water damage. It is a vapor barrier and will need to be removed if water gets underneath, so the sub floor is able to dry.

Wood flooring is a semi porous material that absorbs water slowly between the wood joints. If wood has been affected by a water damage, and is caught in a short amount of time, there are mats that can extract the water out of the wood and bring it back to its original state. If a wood floor has absorbed a significant amount of water and has dwelled for an extended period of time, then the wood floor will begin to cup and stain.

Ceramic tile is the most resilient to water damage. It is semi porous like wood flooring, but is more apt to release water than wood.