How to Fix Water Damaged Wood Floors

Fix your water damaged wood floors in a flash. Start working on the problem straight from the source. The first thing wood floors do when water sits on them too long is they begin to lose their form. See what shape your floors are in and how you can fix them. Follow these steps to fix water damaged wood floors.

Things You'll Need

• Putty knife
• Latex wood filler
• Drum sander
• Sand paper
• Mask
• Hand scraper
• Dryers
• Tact towel
• Mineral spirits
• Stain

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Instructions

How to Fix Water Damaged Wood Floors

1. Get rid of the water or moisture. The quicker your floors are dry, the quicker they will reshape. Once the floors reshape you can begin working on them. Dry your floor with towels, floor fans, dehumidifiers and hair dryers. Use anything you can think of to dry the floors. If you have a basement and can reach under the flooring, dry underneath as well. When the floors are dry, they will be flat.

2. Assess the damage. If all your floor is doing is cupping, it is fixable. When cupping, the flooring may be loose but is mainly still intact.

3. Remove stain. Since the damage on the floor is evident, you will need to sand it back to bare wood. Sand paper grit will vary. For a good size stain, you will need to use a drum style sander, which is very popular for this job. Once the finish is completely gone, then you start working on it like a brand new floor. If the water stain reaches a corner, hand scrape with a scraper until the finish comes off.

4. Sweep the floor to get all of the dirt and debris up from sanding. Use a tack rag treated with pure mineral spirits (paint thinner) to remove fine dust without the need for water. Fill any holes or scratches with the wood filler. Use your putty knife to scrape it across and smooth it out. Let it dry at least 45 minutes. Sand again if necessary.

5. Re-coat and refinish the floor with the same products that are currently on the floor to match. If you redo the entire floor, you have the choice of stain and finishing products to consider.

Tips & Warnings

• When applying either polyurethane or a urethane finish, you need to lightly hand sand the floor between coats.

• If you are unable to dry your floors and they are buckling that they detach from the floor underneath, you should replace the flooring.