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Flood Damage Over Antique Solid Oak Flooring

I have an 1868 lodge house with original oak flooring, it's about 2.5" wide each strip, we were flooded in the storm last week and the floor had water/mud all over it, some of it has remained wet now for a week. The insurance put in big de-humidifiers 3 days after the flood then 18 hours later phoned and told me to turn them off, but they had already started to lift the oak, causing what I am told by a friend is cupping?

Can you offer me any advice/opinion without prejudice if this method of drying would be right for what I guess is an antique floor?

Thanks very much for your time / any help you can offer.


The dehumidifiers will speed the process in a "gentle" for the wood manner, worse will be drying with trying to increase the temperature in the area. Cupping will, unfortunately, come together with any excessive leak on the wooden floor. On a narrow strip like the one described, I would expect cupping to appear only in cases where the amount of water was excessive. As it sounds that will be the case, I would expect the situation to worsen over 2-3 weeks, while the timber is drying.

Three-four weeks after the flooding the timber will stop moving and eventually (over the next 2-3 months) go back to a certain stage - how much it may calm down would depend on the amount of water absorbed.


Our Flooring Topics:

 Wood Floor Sanding
 Wood Floor Finishing & Staining
 Stairs Stripping & Restoration
 Installation of Engineered Flooring
 Installation of Reclaimed Flooring
 Moisture and Water Leaks Damaged Floors
 Installation of Solid Wood Flooring

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