Water Under Laminate floor. What to do?

XsApollo

Tap in downstairs toilet was left on.
Toilet floor is tiled and laminate flooring in the hall.
There is a load of water under the laminate ,can hear it squishing and you can see the water in the joins of the floor.

What can i do ?

Will a dehumidifier dry it out?
I am going to go hire one off a building supplier first thing in the morning if it will help.

I really don't want to have to get that floor pulled up.
The floor covers the hall,sitting room, the eating area in the kitchen.
Its wet nearly half way down the hall if it makes the sitting room i am screwed.

michael999999

I don't think a dehumidifier is going to help you mate. I'd pull up some of the floor near the toilet, and hope you can mop/scoop up as much as you can before it travels too far.

I fear it may be too late by now though!

JIdontknow

Unfortunately I have to agree with the previous poster, for that quantity of water I don't see a dehumidifier solving it or drying that area of floor properly, also another issue to be aware of is mold or the likes over time developing under the floor ( the underlay or membrane will soak some water into it) I think you may have to take up some of the floor, is it glued or just tongued and grooved together? Taking up some would allow air in to help dry it more. Another thing is laminate flooring can warp or separate/split after it gets wet and dries again. sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Any chance you've house insurance that you could use to help?

XsApollo

Thanks for the replies.
I think i have home insurance, only in the house a year so just got what we had to to get in the house.

House was a new build , wouldn't mind but when we bought it the first thing i wanted to do was rip up the hall and landing and carpet it, but the dude that came out to look at carpeting it said we would be mad to pull the floor up because it was very good quality.
So we didn't.

Anyway.

I pulled up the metal strips where the tiles and laminate meet,its tongued and grooved.
How is this stuff put down?
What i am seeing is concrete, underlay then the laminate would that be correct?

Also It won't be easy to pull up because the floor was laid and the skirting and architraves and stuff were put on after by the looks of it.
So wouldn't be able to do that tonight.

So can't do anything tonight was hoping a dehumidifier would solve it.
Will see about pulling up some of it tommorrow.

JIdontknow

Often it's what's called a "floating floor" ( sorry no pun intended) but what it means is that the floor is free to expand and move, and that's correct the skirting boards and placed afterwards allowing or covering a gap between the wall and edge of floor ( can be 10 mm each side) to allow for movement or expansion. Depending on the floor some people use glue on the grooves for added stability, you could probably remove one piece of skirting tomorrow and strip back some boards to see the extent of the water. I've never been in that position before so I could be totally wrong though. I hope you get it sorted. If worse comes to worse you may be able to claim on Insurance, take up the old floor and put down new one, but keep the old floor boards incase you have a spare room or study that you could use it on. Might be worth assessing the extent of water damage, I'm not a carpenter so I'm not sure how easily water affects laminate flooring but maybe show this post in the wood working / carpentry forums and see can they offer better advise.

A2LUE42

Your best bet it to take the floor up starting from the water source. You might just have to swap out the hall laminate and use a joining strip between the old and new laminate, normally at the door. Taking the skirting off and putting it back is normally easy enough.

dodzy

Removing a section of flooring may prove difficult depending on the location of the bathroom and getting a laminate match might also prove difficult. OP, bang the heating up full. Leave it a couple of days. You will know you're screwed if the boards show sign of warpage, buckling etc. it might dry out depending on the level of water ingress. If not, you can always go the insurance route later.

XsApollo

It's definitley not easy to pull up.
Where the toilet is and the kitchen door isn't straight hall it's all off at 45deg so the edge of the floor isn't straight.

Just gonna try dry it and see what happens.


I got 2 fans from work that they use for drying waxed floors and I'm gonna see if I can wedge the floor up and blow air under and hire a dehumidifier for a few days, easiest thing to do for me now.

Thanks for the replies and help.

WilyCoyote

Floor has got to be taken up, skirting taken off (if it has got wet as the water will migrate up the plasterboard), the floor and wall plate allowed to dry before relaying a new floor. The Insurance will cover it.
The reason that it is damaged beyond repair is, it would take a very long time to dry out and will buckle eventually. If it's glued the glue will break down, so will the joint in click. Just think, if you put a wet towel under a sheet of perspex and tried to dry it out without removing the perspex.

Let us know how you got on

Outkast_IRE

Can I ask why didn't the overflow on the sink work ?

Ardent

I can tell you from experience that the floor has to be taken up. Before long you will begin to notice a smell of mould and distortion of the laminate flooring.

beertons

Take up the floor man. You're saving yourself hassle in the long run.

cerastes

Outkast_IRE wrote: »

Can I ask why didn't the overflow on the sink work ?

presume the tap was on fully open and the overflow couldnt empty the amount of water filling up, the plug fell in and was either completely or mostly covering the drain?

XsApollo

Yea floor boards are warping.

The overflow didn't work because there were rags in the sink.

I'm gonna check with home insurance.

Also I think the floor is solid wood not laminate the pieces look very thick like 15mm thick.

dodzy

XsApollo wrote: »

Yea floor boards are warping.

The overflow didn't work because there were rags in the sink.

I'm gonna check with home insurance.

Also I think the floor is solid wood not laminate the pieces look very thick like 15mm thick.

semi or full solid so. Warping. Game over. Insurance time!

michael999999

XsApollo wrote: »

Yea floor boards are warping.

The overflow didn't work because there were rags in the sink.

I'm gonna check with home insurance.

Also I think the floor is solid wood not laminate the pieces look very thick like 15mm thick.

I'd be leaving the rags part out of the story for the insurance.

Outkast_IRE

cerastes wrote: »

presume the tap was on fully open and the overflow couldnt empty the amount of water filling up, the plug fell in and was either completely or mostly covering the drain?

Just from experience, I am a plumber and in most well designed sinks the overflow should be able to cope or at least significantly delay it, unless you have a tap with a huge flow of water coming through for a long time.

As the poster has said, he had rags in the sink. I would defo leave out that part of the story when talking to the insurance company, although be prepared for them to ask, if I thought of asking the question they might too.

XsApollo

Whats rags are ye talking about lads:o

Anyway.
My insurance is covered for Accidental damage to buildings and contents.
This would be classed as accidental would it?

Have to wait till Tuesday to find out as phones are closed and its a bank holiday weekend.

dodzy

XsApollo wrote: »

Whats rags are ye talking about lads:o

Anyway.
My insurance is covered for Accidental damage to buildings and contents.
This would be classed as accidental would it?

Have to wait till Tuesday to find out as phones are closed and its a bank holiday weekend.

Yes, you're covered

XsApollo

Just thought i would update.
Im gonna rip up the wood and put tiles down instead.
Its 13sq yards , so at maybe 20euro a yard for tiles that would be 260euro.
Excess on the insurance claim would be 250.
70 euro for adhesive and grout and a mate is gonna lay them them for a pint or 2.

So tiles will be down before the end of the week.
I hate the wood anyway