Hardwood Floors

[nos_efx]

Hey, hope I can get some direction here.

I recently purchased a new home with hardwood floors on the main level. Some water leaked out of my water cooler and caused some damage to 3-4 boards, no staining but the wood is buckling a bit. Visibly you can't tell there is damage because of the inconsistencies in the board but if I walk on it or run my hand over the surface I can feel where the boards are coming up.

What are my options?

Tear the damaged boards out and replace with the extras that were left behind for me? If so, how big of an ordeal is this? Or is there another avenue that I can take?

Thanks for any suggestions.

[topmade]

Here are a few things you can do:

1) Take some nails with small heads hammer them in and fill in the holes with wood filler

2) Drill some 3/8" holes, screw down the boards and put plugs in to fill the holes. You can make your own plugs since you have extra wood or you can buy some that might not be an exact match and will need to be stained to match

3) Cut the pieces out and replace the wood with the extras you have.

I would recommend option 3, but it's also the hardest option. Option 1 would be good if you don't plan on living there that long and 2 is ok as well because screws won't losen after a while whereas the nails probably would. But there might be moisture between the boards so 3 would be a good choice so you can clean it up and put in new boards. It's probably be better to hire someone to fix it if you are familiar with it, but it's really not that difficult. You just have to be careful you don't damage the other non-damaged boards and it might be difficult to find someone to do this for you.

[Oz-]

Just talking from experience on my own hardwood floor, they are maple finished on site type floors. My son has spilt numerous cups of water on the hardwood and you get that cupping/lifting effect on some boards. After a few days the board dries out and returns to normal.

I notice the boards expand contract often enough that you see some separation with the changing of the season, but that is why you have a humidifier to mitigate this effect.

[benyl]

Option 3 isn't that great. The floor will never be the same. You will still have buckling issues.

I have had sections of my floor replaced 3 times. The boards continue to come up... You can't get the tongue and groove to work if you rip out the boards. Without the tongue and grove, they use glue and the buckling happens again.

[nos_efx]

Thanks for all the helpful replies, its been one day of drying so maybe I'll give it a few more days before I start panicking....

Thanks again.

[codetrap]

And this is exactly why I will never install hardwood floors... or at least one of the reasons.

[Mangina]

Originally posted by codetrap
And this is exactly why I will never install hardwood floors... or at least one of the reasons.

Because your water cooler leaks?

[codetrap]

No, because they're so fragile. Too much moisture, and they buckle, not enough moisture, and they shrink and crack, sometimes split. They require a lot of maintenance, and in order to keep them looking pristine, you pretty much have to refinish them every few years.

Plus, they're too soft generally to stand up to regular abuse from kids, dogs etc..

So yes, they look fantastic when well done and kept, but they're just not worth the effort when there are other alternatives that will for me, at least work a lot better.

[benyl]

yes, hardwood is anything but hard.

[schurchill39]

Replace them. My dad lays hardwood for a living and thats the only way to properly fix them. If you take care of your floor ie. clean up any mess you have, dont drop heavy shit etc. hardwood is amazing and will last for years. We have hard wood in 40% of our house including my bed room and its phenominal.

[Tik-Tok]

I don't get it, don't you guys seal your floors?

I've had tons of spills on my hardwood, and they're the same as the day I moved in.

[CRXguy]

Originally posted by Tik-Tok
I don't get it, don't you guys seal your floors?

I've had tons of spills on my hardwood, and they're the same as the day I moved in.

if you clean the spills up right away, then there's no problem. it's when there's a slow leak like from the fridge, or in this case, the water will penetrate through the small cracks between the boards and create moisture underneath.

what part of the house is the hardwood in? are you thinking of re-doing the floor in the near future? if so, just wait it out until you re-do it but make sure the sub-floor is completely dry before doing anything. if the floor does not have any color, you can always just re-sand a section of the damaged area and re-apply the finish.

pm me if you have any other questions.

[gimp]

definately should replace the boards...check your pms