Hardwood floor drying has to start fast. Solid oak and engineered floors sitting on wet subfloor start cupping within a day or two, with the edges of each board rising higher than the center. If they dry too slowly, the cupping may never go away.
Common causes in Plainfield homes are dishwasher leaks, refrigerator ice maker lines and burst pipes in the kitchen. Water gets between the boards and down into the plywood or OSB subfloor, and from there it spreads under the cabinets.
We use drying mats that sit on the floor and pull moisture up through the wood with a vacuum. Paired with dehumidifiers, they dry the boards and subfloor together. We check moisture content with a hardwood meter and compare it to unaffected wood in another room.
Some cupped floors flatten back out once they are dry. Others need sanding or replacement. We wait until readings are back to normal before anyone decides, because sanding a floor that is still wet leads to crowning later.
Laminate and vinyl plank are different. Water under a floating floor is trapped, so those floors usually come up to let the subfloor dry.
If the water came from a pipe, see burst pipe cleanup. For the rest of the house, see structural drying.
