Did Water Damage Your Tallahassee Subfloor?

1/7/2020 (Permalink)

When water enters your subflooring, structural issues can occur. SERVPRO has the training to dry your flooring. Call us today!

Removing Water from Plywood Subflooring in Tallahassee Homes 

Carpeted areas and other floorings in your Tallahassee home can become highly damaged by standing water soaking through the layers to the subflooring. In most modern homes, the supporting layer beneath the carpet and padding is either plywood or OSB board. Both of these engineered wood options, created by pressing either layers of veneer together with water-resistant resins or fibers and strands, use the same adhesive. 

When standing water becoming a threat to the property, it is vital to understand how to begin water removal for Tallahassee homes when the water has reached this layer of flooring. The first thing that our SERVPRO professionals must determine is the extent of the moisture damage to this layer, the padding, and the carpet. A penetrating moisture meter can often identify where moisture has traveled in this engineered wood layer. 

A visual inspection of this layer is often advisable, too, especially when the layers above it required removal. Any signs of warping and distortion should be enough to encourage replacement. Changing the composition of these materials can provide weak areas or vulnerabilities that could eventually collapse. As a whole, OSB and plywood are more resistant to direct water damage than other subflooring products because of the use of water-resistant glues in pressing the layers together. Even still, delamination or disintegration are probable outcomes when water exposure happens over several days. 

Our SERVPRO professionals can show that We’re Faster To Any Size Disaster, but what we can do for a home depends on how efficiently the team gets notified of a loss incident. With fast responses to these emergencies, we can expose the subflooring and put air movers and dehumidifiers to work. In most situations, specialty equipment like our drying mats are not necessary, which can help to increase overall drying times. 

While carpeted areas exposed to standing water for several days might not be salvageable, the floor itself might not be a total loss. Our SERVPRO of North Leon County team can help with direct strategies designed to limit tear-out and reconstruction in your home after a water loss incident. Give us a call today at (850) 536-6599. 

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