By Kim Brazell, Marketing Director
As we watched Hurricane Isaias roll in, everyone in the Panhandle prepared and prayed for safety. Those prayers included pleas for no damage, or only minimal damage, to our property. Luckily, for most of our area, the damage was minor. As our local communities and homeowners begin cleaning up their land and homes, it’s important to assess any damage to your home and property thoroughly and extensively. Whether you have shingles off, limbs broken in your yard, or water got into your home, here are some helpful tips from our flooring professionals to help you determine whether your floors survived unscathed or if you might need to consider repair or replacement.
After a Hurricane like Isaias, the greatest concern for your flooring is water. Did water creep into your house? Was it blown in for whatever reason through a damaged roof or windows? If the answer is yes, you could benefit from taking a good and thorough look at your flooring to ensure that there is no damage or need to bring in a professional to check it.
“The most important and first thing to do is to check your flooring for any damage,” says Barry McEntire, president and owner of Flooring Depot of Panama City. “You will want to look for any swelling, buckling, or any raised edges in your wood, laminate, or LVP floors. If you find that, it might mean that your flooring has absorbed water and it needs to be further investigated. Some of this type of damage can be repaired, but other kinds might need to be totally replaced.”
McEntire also says that while you are verifying any damage to your floors, you should look for any dark spots, stains, or discoloration. If a stain or dark spot looks new or you see discoloration near your doors, windows, or walls, you might have some water intrusion in the underlayment or subfloor. In addition, it’s important to check your flooring for any soft spots, damp carpet, or any unusual, damp, or musty odors. If it took a good soaking, then your carpet padding, underlayment, or subfloor might still be wet. Odors can also indicate moisture or mold.
Last, but not least, look for any loose flooring or flooring that has gaps between boards or tiles, or if there is any cracking grout where water could have been absorbed below the product.
“Water in this situation will be your biggest enemy,” says McEntire. “Not only can it be detrimental to your flooring by causing buckling or discoloration, but it can destroy your sub-floors and lead to mold, which is not good for your family’s health and definitely not something you want to ignore.”
If you see any of these issues, contact a flooring professional so they can inspect your floors and advise you on the best options moving forward. “Just because there may be a small patch of flooring that’s an issue, you may not need to replace the entire floor,” says McEntire. “A flooring professional can advise if a repair could be made to just that area or if it involves a larger area and it would need replacement.”
If you find out that you have water underneath your underlayment or padding in your floors and your subfloor is wet, you will want to make sure that is taken care of first. Allow it to dry out and watch it carefully. Once it is determined that mold is not going to be an issue, then you can decide what the best next steps should be.
A lot of times, homeowners will want to rip all the damage up and replace it. That’s certainly a possibility and can be done. “There are some instances where replacement is the best option,” says McEntire. “To repair sections, you will need to have extra product on hand or be able to purchase the same product from a retailer. If that is an issue, then it might be best to replace and refresh the entire space, and ultimately, you need to make the best decision for your home’s value and your family.”
“Storms are traumatic. Any time you have damage to your favorite space, it’s stressful,” says McEntire. “But we are here to help you find the best solutions for your situation and to help you make any repairs or replacements with confidence.”
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