It is always annoying when your floor gets damaged by water, but usually, there is little you can do to prevent it. However, when you find yourself in this situation, you can do a few things to fix the problem.

Wooden floors are often the victims, but water damage can seriously affect your vinyl, laminate, and tile floors. When this happens, you want to have a few tricks up your sleeve to help you deal with them.

This short guide will highlight some of the causes of water damage on your floors and some DIY tricks you can apply to fix a water damaged floor.

Causes of Water Damage

Many things cause water damage. Some are preventable, while others are not. The common causes are leaking water pipes, flooding, rain, clogging of drains and gutters, septic tank overflow, and faulty appliances.

Factors like flooding and rain are unavoidable, but there are things you can do to prevent and fix leaking water pipes before they cause severe damage to your floor.

Four Steps to fix your water-damaged floor

Here are a few tricks you can use to recover your floor when it has been damaged by water:

Identify the Water Damage

Depending on the type of floor, there are different signs you might see. Usually, the most common sign would be the discoloration of the floor. In addition, you might see dark spots, buckling, and crowning on hardwood floors.

Dark stains are also common on tile floors, along with displaced and moving tiles. If you suspect water damage, you might want to watch out for molds and insects like termites and ants on your floor.

After successfully identifying the water damage, it is time to take care of the source.

Deal With the Source

The water damage has been done, and you have noticed it. The next thing to do is find the water source and rectify the issue. If the source of the water damage is from water leaks or emergency flooding, you may need to call a plumbing professional to help rectify it.

Dealing with the source of the damage makes it easier to repair the damage on the floor. If you don’t fix the source, you might have to keep repairing and replacing the floor continuously.

Clean the Floor

The first stage of repairing a damaged floor is cleaning the floor. You need to get as much moisture off it as possible. Get a shop vacuum to help with the cleaning, and use a sponge or dry cloth to dry it as much as possible. Don’t forget to wear a pair of rubber gloves when you do this.

If there is mold, use detergent to clean it thoroughly. Scrub as hard as possible until the mold or dark spot is removed from the floor.

Repair or Replace the Floor

Depending on the level of damage, it may be wise to either repair or replace the floor. Hardwood floors, for instance, might need replacement if the damage is severe. You don’t have to replace everything, just the part affected.

Sometimes, what you need is to give the floor a good scrubbing. For example, you can pry affected tiles off the floor, clean them thoroughly and let them dry before fixing them back.

Conclusion

Sometimes, you cannot prevent water damage. When you find that water has damaged your floor, the best thing to do is to call a professional to help fix your water-damaged floor. This way, you save yourself a lot of time and energy.