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Carpets, Lino & Flooring

water seeped under laminate floor, will wood fibre underlay be ok?

Anonymous user 28/02/2024 - 3.53 PM

I defrosted my freezer and accidentally flooded my kitchen, the water ended up under the vinyl flooring and was easy enough to fix but the water managed to spread across the floor to my living room where I have laminated boards. The boards are on top of wood fibre underlay and when applying pressure to the edge of the flooring water seeped out. The skirting was put on after making simply pulling the boards up to check a nightmare and I'm hoping it's not as bad as I fear and doesn't warrant clearing the entire room and tearing off all the skirting to pull up all the boards. At the moment the edge by the kitchen door has been lifted a few mm with a fan-assisted heater directed at it. There doesn't appear to be any clear damage besides the edge of the fibreboard being dark and the water that was squeezed out this morning but I'm worried about mould forming if the boards don't get dried properly. Is there any way to know for certain if it's dry and safe without pulling everything off the walls and floor? Is it possible that just a little water soaked into the edge and that's it?

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4 Answers

Luxus

Rating: 3.9 out of 5

Ashton Under Lyne

Hi, You need to ace the moisture content checked with a reader. It’s will dry out eventually it will just take time. But as I say the only way to check with pulling floor up is to check with a moisture content reader. James Luxus

Answered12 September 2020

Anonymous user

Hi I wouldn't take anything up yet but I would put a dehumidifier in for day or two to draw some moisture out the room..no need to take all skirts off if does need a repair to a section just a length as close to the damaged area so you could take up and replace but wait to see if laminate blisters or starts lifting first

Answered12 September 2020

Oakleaf Wooden flooring

Rating: 5 out of 5

Magherafelt

If the laminate flooring has got severe water underneath, and we assume this has only happened, I'm sorry to say your floor will blow up around the edges, so if you act quickly and remove skirting boards and floor, your floor could be safe, if you leave it you will end up wrecking the floor, if it's a standard living room it wouldn't be that hard to remove store in another room, and let laminate and floor to dry properly!!!

Answered12 September 2020

Alex Day Contracts

Rating: 5 out of 5

Oxford

There is no way to be sure without uplifting the floor but In my opinion water damage to the wood fibre underlay is never good and requires replacement before it effects the laminate on top The water damage should be covered under home insurance

Answered13 September 2020