Wet hardwood floor drying and repair in Los Angeles

Cupped hardwood has edges higher than the middle of each board because the underside absorbed more water than the top. It looks alarming, but it is often the most recoverable condition. We dry from both sides, with mats drawing moisture up through the finish and a dehumidifier lowering humidity in the room. As the boards dry, most cupping settles back. Sanding a cupped floor before it is dry is the common mistake, because the edges sand off and the floor then crowns.

Buckled planks have lifted clear of the subfloor, sometimes by inches, because the swelling had nowhere to go. The fasteners have usually pulled free, so these boards rarely lie flat again. We remove the buckled section, dry the subfloor underneath, and replace boards to match, weaving new boards into the existing floor so there is no straight seam. A matching stain and finish on the repaired area, or a full refinish of the room, completes it. We save sound boards from the removed section where we can.

Engineered and laminate floors behave differently from solid hardwood. Engineered boards have a thin wood layer over plywood, which can delaminate when wet; laminate has a fiberboard core that swells at the edges and does not shrink back. Engineered flooring can often be dried if caught quickly. Laminate that has swelled at the joints is usually replaced, and floating floors are lifted so the slab or subfloor below can dry. The underlayment beneath them usually has to be replaced as well.