While the utility of water in our daily lives cannot be denied, the hassles it can cause, especially to the floors of the house, are also something worth taking precautions about. Hence going by the adage, prevention is always better than cure, it is always better to keep checking for water damage and take remedies when the problem is in the nascent state.
The tricky part is to understand that there is a problem of water leakage and that it is causing damage to the floors. Since water damaged floors generally go unnoticed initially, it becomes all the more important to look for the given pointers below to understand if there is any water damage to the floors:
- Accumulation of water: Any form of water accumulation can lead to floor damage because standing water tends to get soaked into the floor irrespective of the material used. Once it starts to see into the floor and reach the sub-layers, it starts to spread if the water accumulation is not stopped. Hence water accumulation should be avoided at all costs.
- Discolouration: While this is more prominent for water damage of the ceiling, even for the floors there can be slight discolouration. This is not very prominent because of the texture, colour and design of the floor and hence the floor needs to be inspected minutely to check for any damage.
- Other external manifestations: Water damage to the floors can also have other forms of manifestations like:
- Warping which can be seen in the curling of the edges and gaps appearing between floor boards. This generally happens due to changes in temperature and levels of humidity.
- Buckling generally takes place in wooden floors wherein one side of the wood board gets detached from the rest and bends upwards.
- Sagging or sinking is caused primarily due to water seepage into the subflooring and causing the rotting of the floor in bits and places. Those areas result in the sinking or sagging of the floor which feels spongy to touch.
- Expansion: Absorption of water tends to expand wooden or laminated floors etc. This leads to swelling and detachment of the floor boards thereby separating them from the res.
- Odour: Any strange non-food odour can be the result of the formation of molds and mildew which start to grow in damp or water soaked areas of the floor. This is generally rampant in basements but can also be seen on window sills and other placed if water seepage is not stopped immediately.
While these are the external manifestations or symptoms of water seepage, in order to stop water damage of the floors, the source of the water that is causing the damage needs to be stopped. Water seepage, especially in the floors, can occur due to:
- Overflowing sinks or bathtubs,
- Gaps in the tiles resulting from imperfect grouting,
- Flooding from appliances which are not working properly,
- Bad pipes etc.
Water damage can lead to very dangerous repercussions with even the walls, furniture, carpet etc., getting damaged in the process. Hence it should not be taken lightly and nipped in the bud by hiring a professional water damage repairer before it causes any extensive damage.
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