How To Repair Hardwood Floors Water Damage

The proper way to replace planks in a wood floor takes time and the expertise of a craftsman.

How to repair hardwood floors water damage.

Use fine steel wool to remove wax and sandpaper to remove a surface finish. Fixing the water damaged floor by replacing damaged flooring you may sand refinish and re coat the wood floor to repair water damage but is not a permanent solution. Depending on the size of the repair area hand sand with a rubber sanding block see b or machine sand with a random orbit sander. Removing water stains if your hardwood floor dries with a white hazy film on the surface you might get rid of it using a soft cotton cloth and a very mild abrasive such as tooth paste polishing compound or even tobacco ashes mixed with mineral oil.

In both cases start with 80 or even 60 grit abrasive and sand to 100 grit. For many water damaged wood floors the best way to repair the damage is to eliminate and replace the affected boards and then to refinish the entire floor. Step 1 remove stains if the water just managed to stain the hardwood then you can remove the stain without a lot of other work. Scrub the entire floor and all related woodwork baseboards stairs and newel posts etc with a stiff brush rinsing the brush frequently in the bucket.

The best way to avoid and fix water damage for wood floors is to get them repaired. Clean with clean water in a bucket. Do not pour the water onto the floor there s no reason to add more water to the problem. First remove any wax or surface finish.

For this you will have to take out the affected planks and replace them with new boards. Scrub thoroughly to remove all dirt mud silt and organic material all of which can promote mold growth.