Archive for the 'Moisture Damage' Category

Floor might level itself out

Friday, February 3rd, 2006

Providing I cut back the flooring along the walls and address the moisture issue once I determine it (as you assumed the crawl space has a dirt surface and there was no intentional source built into the crawl space for cross ventilation from what I can determine) will the cupping that has already occurred level itself back out or will I have to level it manually (i.e.- sanding)?

Plumbing leaks

Friday, October 28th, 2005

We just moved in our house 8 weeks ago and have already had 2 plumbing leaks which have resulted in buckling our brand new solid hardwood floors. I have talked to my installer of the floors and he said it would take 3 to 4 months to completely dry out and with time they would go down. They aren’t coming completely up yet but are very wavy. Do you think that it is truly possible that they may go down? I am hoping that the worse case scenario would be that they can just be sanded and refinished. What are your thoughts?

Sanding floors

Thursday, October 20th, 2005

I sanded my living floor over the last two days. Last night I scrubbed the floor to prepared for putting the finish on this morning. I woke up to a disaster. There are areas where the wood looks like it’s dotted in black. Also, a ring where the pale was. Would bleach help, or do I re-sand? Ugh, my back hurts.

Warps

Tuesday, October 18th, 2005

I just had Polyurethane Maple flooring put in 6 months ago. Today I cleaned the floors with my *** ***** machine. Too much water came out of the machine onto the floor. I now have warps at the end of the planks. How can I correct this?

Dark ring

Saturday, October 15th, 2005

I left a bucket with clothes cleaning solution on our maple floor. Now there is a dark ring on the floor. How do I get it out?

Installers error or not

Wednesday, September 21st, 2005

I bought an older house and decided to have wood flooring installed in the sunken living room (on concrete slab). Before installing the flooring my contractor said there was a spot that was not level, he charged me $400.00 to level the spot before he would install the wood flooring (not laminate). I paid him to level the spot and he installed all but the last two feet wide and twenty feet long section. Within the first week the floor buckled up over that spot. He came back and removed the flooring over the supposed leveled spot and said I must have a water leak. He now wants $500.00 more to replace the flooring over that spot, nothing about even finishing the job (the 2′x20′ section). From everything I’ve read in researching probable causes for this problem, it seems that he didn’t install properly. The spot was NOT leveled and there are uneven levels of concrete where he “leveled” the spot. When he removed the few planks of buckled flooring, the pieces left are cracking if you step on them, where the concrete is unleveled and there is nothing under to support it. I can find no signs of a water leak. What can I do to make the contractor fix and complete the job right? How do I prove it was installers error and not the supposed water leak?

A few small stains

Tuesday, September 20th, 2005

We have a few small stains on our hardwood floor. They are either from water or from paint. Can we sand and recoat just those small spots, or would we have to do the whole floor?

Damage from a window air conditioning unit

Friday, September 9th, 2005

I am wondering what kind of damage a window air conditioning unit could cause. I had a window unit in for about one week during this exceptionally hot and humid summer, and there is an area of flooring that has buckled. Could this have been caused by the weather, or could a small window unit cause a floor to bubble up in such a short period of time?

Dark rings on floor

Saturday, August 27th, 2005

My boyfriend left a set of tires (don’t ask!) on his hardwood floor. There are now dark rings on the floor that will not come off with regular cleaning. Do you have a suggestion on how to get rid of these marks?

Water stains on unprotected floor

Sunday, August 7th, 2005

I have just moved into a house which is 55 years old. I have oak floors which have been sanded down but no protective coating on them. A large plant that I have has now left water stains on the oak and I am wondering how to remove the water stains. What do you suggest?

Installing hardwood in kitchen

Saturday, July 30th, 2005

We are building a new house. I love the look of hardwood and would love to have it in the kitchen. The problem is we have three children and I’m afraid it won’t hold up in the kitchen area. I’m also concerned about water damage. At this point I have requested ceramic tile in the kitchen but really want hardwood. The hang ups I have are durability and water damage???….. Help! What’s your opinion?

Black spots all over old floors

Friday, July 29th, 2005

We recently bought a house built in the 1920’s. We removed the carpet to find that there are black stains all over the hardwood floors. We have sanded the floors and the stains are still there. How can we remove them without knowing what caused them?

Dish on the floor leaves white circle

Friday, July 29th, 2005

My daughter left a dish on the floor and it left a white circle (from the moisture). How can I get that out? I’m not sure what kind of finish we have. I know the house was built in 1959.