What to do if a laminate floor gets wet
If there are any three things you should know about laminate floorings those are; they aren’t supposed to get wet or have standing water on them, you shouldn’t use abrasive cleaners on them because it can scratch/ruin the color and you need to make sure that you clean them regularly.
But, what if your floor does get wet? Is the entire thing ruined? Well, this is exactly what we will be talking about below.
What Can Water Do To A Laminate Floor?
Water to a laminate floor is like spilling bleach on your black pants – it’s the worst thing that can happen. Water can do all sorts of damage such as fade the color, cause swelling, curling and gaping etc. It can also cause bubbling in the wood. It’s important to remember that laminates are layers of wood and glue. If you get these layers wet, they are going to cause you problems. Problems you might not be able to fix.
These different layers are the surface layer, the fiberboard layer, the backing, etc. The core is a thin wood, but it’s also very porous. Think of laminate like you would of a plywood. When plywood gets wet, it softens and the wood can then bubble or crack when it starts to dry or tries to dry. This is why standing water is such a big deal when it comes to laminate flooring.
Even things like a spilled cup of juice or wine can cause problems. Make sure that if you have accidental beverage spillage, you clean it up ASAP with a dry paper towel and make sure that you really try to not place this in areas where you can have standing water issues.
If you really want your bathroom or kitchen laminate floored, then you will have to do weekly maintenance checks to make sure that things like the fridge aren’t leaking and ruining your floors.
Noticing Water Damage
If you realize later that the fridge is leaking or the bathroom sink has been leaking and you do have water issues between the seams or under the floorboards, unfortunately, you can’t really do anything about it. You have to have the floor replaced. The only semi-good thing about replacing a laminate floor versus something like carpet or real wood is that it’s going to cost you less money. Still, it’s money being spent, and for some people, it’s money they might not have in their budget. Here are a few stats for you to take a look at for putting a new flooring in for a few different materials, just so you can see how inexpensive laminate really is. It’s also a good idea to rip up the boards that are visually ruined – just because one or two are ruined, doesn’t necessarily mean the whole floor is ruined.
Replacing a board is pretty easy, something you might even be able to do on your own – you just need to take apart the floor where you see the problem and remove them. Then you can go back to your supply (you did buy 10% more than you were supposed to right!?) and replace the old boards with new ones with some glue. If you do have to replace the entire floor, here are the dollar stats I was talking about.
All of these stats include everything, from the carpet to the supplies, to labor, tools and more.
Carpet – 250 square feet
Low: $970
High: $1,374
Hardwood – 250 square feet
Low: $2,096
High: $3,239
Tile – 250 square feet
Low: $2,296
High: $4,282
Wood Laminate – 250 square feet
Low: $960
High: $1,123
That’s for 250 square feet too.
Hiring a Professional
If you don’t know how to or you can’t remove and replace the flooring you can also have someone come in and do the work for you. As mentioned above, all of the prices above include everything, plus the material. If you already have a surplus of the material that will cut the cost down by quite a bit and since they are a professional and do this for a living, you can make sure that it’s done right. You can also ask them questions along the way on how to care for, clean, or replace boards. Some professionals will even let you watch the installation of laminate flooring, which will help you understand how to install laminate flooring for your future projects. Hopefully, this damage won’t ever happen again if you are careful enough, but if it does – at least now you know how to fix it.
