Hardwood Floor Drying

7/18/2018 (Permalink)

We added this valuable drying capability to our business to help our customers avoid costly wood floor replacement.

Hardwood floors used to be one of the hardest types of floor covering to dry once wet.  The moisture would get trapped between the layers and under the hardwood boards, felt paper and subflooring. Not too long ago the normal practice was to remove the hardwood floors. 

SERVPRO of Hanover, Goochland & Caroline has been very successful in drying sand-on-site hardwood floors with the use of the Dri-Eaz Rescue Mat System in conjunction with dehumidification.  This system goes directly on the floors and pulls the moisture up from between the boards.

“The Dri-Eaz Rescue Mat System is used along with the Dri-Eaz DriForce high pressure blower to deliver effective drying to the full depth of water damaged wood floors, even to the sub-flooring. This system utilizes sturdy, self-sealing mats and the Dri-Force air mover to draw evaporated moisture from deep inside the material thru the surface, replacing it with drier air.” (source: Dri-Eaz Rescue Mat Manual)

The key to successful hardwood floor drying is to start the drying process as quickly as possible.  This allows the moisture to be removed before the hardwood floors start to cup, crown or buckle.  Even if you do notice slight cupping or buckling the rescue mat system may still be able to dry the floors and cause them to settle back down. 

If drying is successful but the floors remain cupped, then sanding and re-finishing may be necessary to restore the hardwood flooring to preloss condition.