Hardwood Flooring drying

2/11/2021 (Permalink)

A wet hardwood with rescue mats to help dry the floor.

When a water damage affects your home, multiple types of flooring material can be affected. Some types of materials, such as glue-down carpeting, can be relatively simple to dry. Others can be more difficult to fully dry, and may require specialty equipment. Take hardwood flooring, for example. Water can seep into the grooves, and absorb into the plant cells of the hardwood floor, causing deep penetration and binding. SERVPRO of Casper has highly-trained technicians with the most up-to-date equipment to help get your hardwood floors dry.

Hardwood flooring is an expensive investment. When they get wet from a water damage, we follow a set of steps to ensure your hardwood flooring is dried effectively.

Step 1: Inspection

We look at the wood floors, paying close attention to signs of any buckling or warping. If there is severe buckling or warping, the floor may not be restorable. But under many circumstances, we are able to save them.

Step 2: Extraction

If there is standing water on the surface, we use our truck-mounted extraction system to remove the water. Then, we address the water that has soaked into the wood flooring. We use specialized wood floor “rescue” mats, connected to the truck-mounted extractor, to suck out the rest of the water. We continue this process until there is no more water coming out of the flooring.

Step 3: Drying

Once all the water is removed from the affected area, we set up the drying system. We use the same rescue mats and connect a specialty blower to them. The blower creates negative air pressure, drawing air through the boards, which removes additional moisture from the wood.

Step 4: Monitoring

Once the hardwood drying system is running, we return on a daily basis to monitor the progress of the floors. Hardwood floors must be monitored closely to prevent over-drying. Once the moisture content in the affected wood reaches equilibrium with the rest of the wood flooring in the home, we remove the drying system from your home. It is recommended that the flooring be allowed to rest without any further repairs for 45 days, to ensure that all of the wood returns to full equilibrium with the home environment. After that, any necessary sanding and refinishing may be done to complete the restoration process.

If you have questions about the process on drying your hardwood flooring, feel free to call us at 307-235-6558.