We have just experienced a winter with unusually high rainfall and invariably this leads to all kinds of damage, not the least of which can be damages to all parts of your home, office or guesthouse.
Damage from water to floors can sometimes be easily detected but in some cases be quite subtle, so if you suspect you may have suffered damage to your floors because they have experienced a high level of exposure to moisture then consult your flooring experts to have them checked in just in case. The type of things they will look for are…
- Buckled boards or boards or rising from the subfloor
- Areas of the floor that squeak or move when stepped on
- Cupping or ‘rippling’ in between the boards
- Delaminating layers of engineered flooring boards
- High moisture readings are checked utilising a digital wood floor moisture meter
- Dark areas or discolouring
- Boards that are warped
- Boards that are blistered or the finish is peeling
All of these are potential danger signs and we at Libra Flooring can advise you accordingly as to what further steps to take.
Severe water damage
In the case of obvious flooding, whether from excessive rain entering the room, or a plumbing issue where the floor has become flooded, immediate action can alleviate a lot of the damage you may be facing. For this reason we suggest these important four steps to follow for flooded or damaged floors…
- Remove the source of the water leak – If the damage is from rain you need to immediately attend to where the rain is coming in to the room to prevent further damage, or in the case of a plumbing leak or flooding try to immediately remove the source of the leak, like simply turning off the water source in the premises.
- Clean up visible water – As best as you can try to clean up, with towels or whatever you have at your disposal, the clearly visible water and the obviously damaged materials.
- Try to dry – With fans, heaters or a vacuum designed for this type of work, try to get the flooring area as dry as possible, as quickly as possible.
- Contact Libra Flooring! – As soon as you have done the immediate damage control, contact us so that we can immediately begin to assist with, assess, address and advise on the damage and your immediate course of action. In most cases this involves beginning a course of action to be taken with your insurance broker or company to get you back on track as soon as possible – and we are experts with that too!
Watch this space for our next article on ‘Streamlining your damaged flooring insurance claim process!’ – and pop into our showroom in Montague Gardens Cape Town sometime to view our full range of flooring products, carpets, rugs, blinds, shutters and many more! We look forward to seeing you!