Recently bought a 1920 circa cottage needing minimal renovation. The hardwood floors were beautiful, until the TPT valve on the water heater blew. This unleashed a humongous amount of water, damaging the floor. We now have severe cupping to large areas of the flooring.
A friend who handles water abatement issues helped us to dry out the mess. He has read that applying heat and pressure may minimize the cupping. But he can’t remember how to do it or where he read it. Any help out there?
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Replies
I have an 1890s house with both original and new hardwood flooring, oak and maple. My wife left the Laundry Room sink running and flooded both levels of the house. The insurance paid to have the floors completely redone. Flooring contractor told us it would be more expensive to try and replace only the damaged areas than to refloor the entire area.
You can sand down the cupped boards, but they will be gapped. Hope you have good insurance.
Replacement is probably the only real fix. But, if you want to try sanding, be sure the flooring is dry all the way through. If not the boards will eventually be crowned as they continue to dry after sanding. Rich