Hardwood and Laminate Water Damage in Franklin, TN

What a cupped board tells the crew

A cupped board is a board that has taken more moisture underneath than on top.

When the underside of a solid board is wetter than its top, the board bows upward at its edges and the center is pressed down. The shape is a record of which side got the water. If the moisture leaves and the subfloor stays dry, many boards flatten over time, although some keep a permanent set.

For that reason the crew does not decide on a board from its shape on the first day. The readings over several days show whether the board is still drying, and only a board that has stopped moving is judged.

Why the seams matter more than the top

Water comes into a floating floor at its joints, and the joints are where the damage starts.

A floating floor is held together by its tongue-and-groove joints, which are not glued. Water that sits at the joints swells the edge of each board, and the swelling pushes the boards apart or up at the seam. The face of the floor can look unchanged while the edge of the board has grown.

The crew checks the seams nearest the wet area first, then works outward. A board that is swollen at a joint is removed rather than pressed back, because the swelling does not reverse by pressing.

Reading the subfloor through a test hole

A small opening near a wall or a register is the only way to see what the water did below the board.

• Choose a spot near a wall, a register or a closet where a small hole will be hidden by the trim.
• Drill a hole the width of a meter probe through the subfloor and read its moisture at the hole.
• Take a second reading at a dry point of the same subfloor, in a room that was not touched.
• Mark each reading on the sketch of the room, and close each hole with a plug once it is read.
• Repeat the readings each day until the wet and dry readings are close.

Matching new boards to an old floor

A repair that does not match is a repair that the homeowner will see every day.

Finishes fade and boards from different production runs differ in color and grain. Where a floor is more than a few years old, the exact product may no longer be sold, and the nearest match is found from the sample in the closet or the box left from the original install. Keeping spare boards from the original job makes the match far easier.

Where a match cannot be found, the homeowner decides between a patch that is visible and a refinish of the whole room. The crew describes both options and the readings behind them, and the choice is the homeowner's.

Deciding between a repair and a replacement

The extent of the wet area, the age of the floor and the layout of the rooms decide it.

A repair is reasonable when the wet area is confined to a few rows, the boards around it are sound and a matching product is available. A replacement is more likely when the water reached several rooms, when the subfloor needed to be replaced under the floor, or when the boards cannot be matched and a visible patch would be lasting.

The crew sets out the two options with their readings and the work each one involves. A written scope, with the rooms and the boards named, is what the homeowner should ask for before the work starts.

A floor that is being repaired in place is also read at its transition strips and at the joins to the next room. Where a transition strip has lifted, the water may have traveled farther than the boards show, and the readings are taken on the far side of the strip before the floor is judged. Those readings are part of the same map and are kept with the rest.