How to Dry Water under Wood Floors | An Expert Guide

Wood floors are very impressive in look and can add style and character to your home, but stains and buckles can occur due to water damage. Fortunately, the wooden floors can often be saved if you readily dry up the moisture. You can easily remove moisture from wood floorings by combining air circulation and surface drying because you know that any water source in your home is an enemy of hardwood floors. Smoke can be easily absorbed in wood materials due to its porous nature. So your feet can expose to stains and damage too. Today’s article is about how to dry water under wood floors, in which we will discuss all the possible solutions to the problem.

How to Dry Water under Wood Floors

Dry your floors

• The area under the wood floors easily, if the surface is still wet because if most materials have moisture 16% or more, in 48 to 72 hours, it can grow mold quickly as directed by the EPA. 
• Remove the wet carpets, mats, and rugs from floors immediately or should be discarded due to mildew issues.
• The damp furnishings can form mildew and mold, getting into the seams and pores of wood floors.
• The professionals and experts will help you save your carpets and treatment for mold hardwood floor water damage. The mold formation time begins within 48 to 72 hours, when your walls and floors are wet, as proved by EPA research.

Read More: How To Remove Orange From Wood Floors

Dry visible water

• You cannot dry water that has leaked from the wet wood floor, but you should start drying the wood floors’ clear water.
• If there is an enormous amount of water under the engineered wood floor, mopping and toweling will not work well; you need a water pump.
• Many hardware stores offer wet vacuum cleaners and pumps for the drying process, set in the water underfloor.
• It will help if you did not stop using pumps and wet vacuums, even when fully satisfied that water is fully absorbed.
• It may seem strange to add more liquid to the wood floors after siphoning off the water because there is still dirt and debris in the floor pores, so you should use the scrub brush to scratch these materials.

You can also run a hose in the outside area and set the pump, where you can drain the water.

Read More: How To Remove Glued Down Wood Flooring

Addition of sealers and waxes

It is best to add sealers and waxes to your hardwood floors to make them water-resistant so that you can completely prevent moisture from damaging your feet. 

Learn More: How To Remove Candle Wax From Hardwood Floor

These products are designed to absorb water and make your floors challenging so that they may not damage. Therefore it is better to dry water under wooden floors as soon as you can try. 

Scrubbing and use of detergents

• To prevent the wooden floorings from damage, you can use wood floor cleaners as well.
• If your floors have large amounts of water, you should clean and gather mud from the corners.
• Thoroughly clean your floors with non- subsiding detergent, and a stiff brush, before you completely dry them.

Dry wood subfloors and boards

• You should remove moister from wood because when the floors get wet, they swell to a large extent.
• Your subfloors will dry at a faster rate if you remove the wet floorboards so that they may not crack or buck.

Use of fans for air ventilation

• The fastest way to dry out the floor after the leak is to use large air circulation fans.
• For this purpose, if you want a fast drying rate, you can buy or rent the commercial- strength fans.
• The water damage restoration can be done by these procedures quickly.

Measure moister content of your wooden floors

• It would help if you were sure that the wood floors are thoroughly dried before recovering or refinishing them.
• You can hire a professional’s services to get the job done, as they check the moisture content with a moisture meter.
• You cannot get severe damage if your wood floors have moisture content from 6 to 12% because it is a regular reading.
• An alternative is that you can yourself check the moisture content with, moisture testing meter.
• When the meter checks the moisture content, it should be between 8 to 14 % when you see that the floor is completely dried.
• If the wooden floors are affected by more water, the moisture content should be within 5% on the reading scale.
• The different types of moister meters are available in hardware stores at reasonable prices, depending on the brand you opt for.
• Their price range starts from $40 to $200, but you should buy ones that can give the most accurate readings and the pins inserted into the wood.
• You should take the moister content regularly; until you get 5% to 7 %.
• If you are dealing with the dropped off for acclimation or a sanding start, the moister level should be between 6% to 9% for hardwood installation.

Have patience

• It would help if you were patient while drying water under your wood floors as it may take days, weeks, or months to finish the process. 
• But some wooden floors might return to the original shape when they are dried, so it is terrible to wait.
• It isn’t easy to replace your floors, but you can resand or renail your surface.
• Due to water damage, interlocked wood floors have a great chance of being permanently reshaped.

Low humidity in the homes

• If there is drier air outside than inside, then open the doors and windows to help air circulation.
• You can judge whether very quickly only by stepping outside, but you can buy a humidity gauge from any hardware store for this.
• There is less humidity outside than inside the home on sunny days, but you should close the doors and windows at night because there is a high humidity level outside.

Open cabinets and drawers

• If your home gets faster dry, open the damp cabinets and windows, which will help air circulation.
• It will help in lowering the humidity level inside.
• You should open the cabinet under the drawer because due to humidity, the wooden drawer will swell to a large extent, and you should not force to open it.
• There should be a circulation through your crawl spaces; you should use pumps to remove this water.
• Place a fan in the crawl space for the circulation of air.

Avoid the use of central air conditioning

• For drying water under wood floors, avoid central air condition because if the ducts are fully dipped into water, they will be full of dust and debris, which may contain harmful elements to health.
• You should hire a professional for cleaning ducts, or you can do it yourself before you turn on the air condition.

Run a dehumidifier if water has gone into wooden floors

• To reduce the air’s humidity, you can use window air conditioners and dehumidifiers, especially for homes’ closed areas.
• If you have severe flooding, you can hire commercial dehumidifiers, removing 3 to 4 times more water than home models.
• You can use your dehumidifier if the water is less.
• If you want to catch the best results while using a dehumidifier, close the windows and doors.

Use desiccants to remove moisture

• The best materials which are for the absorption of moisture are desiccants.
• When placed in the closed areas where there is no source of air circulation, they are beneficial.
• They can be purchased from any medication store, hardware, or any grocery shop.
• There are many kinds of desiccants, including calcium chloride pellets, clay-based cat litter, and chemical dehumidifier packs used for dry boats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSWKL1U_9Ck

How to Dry Water under Wood Floors: FAQs

How do you get the moisture out of a subfloor?

If there is a large amount of water leaking under subflooring, it is crucial to dry out the subfloor as soon as possible. The first step is to absorb excess water dripping on the surface of the ground. Then place a dehumidifier at high settings to pull out the moisture that is still in the air.

How do you get the moisture out of wood?

Place a dehumidifier in the room, so the standing water should be removed. Secondly, place fans across the surface to get moister out of wood.

Can water-damaged wood floors be fixed?

The water-damaged floors can be fixed if the damage is mild. It involves cleaning up a white water stain with four gallons of water. There are more chances that you can do water damage restoration yourself and have to replace hardwood floors immediately.

Conclusion

To conclude this topic, how to dry water under wood floors requires water damage to be the biggest fear for homeowners, especially when you have wooden floors in your homes. So the procedures given above to absorb water and moisture will help you. The majority of homeowners, but less than 20%, have got flood insurance for this purpose. Now you can enjoy the beautiful interior of your home and flaunt your style.