Flooded Basement with Pergo Laminate

Q: We have Pergo laminate flooring in our basement and it recently flooded (3″ of water) Do we need to pull the flooring and padding out or will it be OK? HELP!!
Vycki
A: Flooding can be some real bad news for any wood floor. Your best bet here is to get a dehumidifier in there to help pull up as much moisture as possible if your goal is to salvage the floor. Also, its a good idea to pick up a moisture meter and continually test the floor until it gets back to somewhere around 6-9% moisture content.
Now this being said, its likely that this has simply been too much water and your Pergo may have to be replaced entirely. Standing water, especially to the point of flooding is devastating to wood flooring and it will case problems. You can try to remove the moisture and see if the floor will remain good, but its likely that whatever warranty you still had in place would now be void because the floor has been exposed to something it is not built for. The good news here is that homeowners’ insurance typically covers problems like this and should replace the floor for you with a new floor of your choice.

Pergo for a Bathroom

Q: What do you think of laminate flooring in a bathroom? Also if you use Pergo would you still need and underlay and what type?
Thanks
Leo
A: Laminate can work in a bathroom, but if you have younger children or expect to have standing water or wet clothing on the floor relatively often, you might want to look into another flooring option. The biggest concern here is moisture getting into the seams of the laminate where it is unprotected. When this occurs, warping and buckling tend to follow. This does not mean that is impossible to have a successful laminate floor like Pergo in your bathroom – especially if your home has no younger children and you should not have wet clothing or towels sitting on the floor.
A few tips for success here. You must use an underlayment under any floating floor – so look into a underlayment which is approved by Pergo and try to get one which is denser as this will cause the floor itself to move less when walked over, reducing the chance of exposing the joints. Cork underlayment is a great option here as it supports the floor rather than cushioning it. You could put a very thin bead of glue into the seams when installing the floor to act as an additional moisture seal, but again this is not really necessary for an adult household. When installing, take you time and ensure that all of the planks are snugly fit together and you may want to put some silicone caulking into expansion gap areas near the shower and around the toilet to act as a good moisture seal.

Wood Flooring Over Uneven Wood and Cement Subfloor

Q: My husband and I recently purchased an older home and are remodeling. We pulled up the old carpet in the family room and discovered that a little more than half the room has the original raised, wood subfloor while the rest is a cement slab from an expansion/addition the former owners had constructed. We would like to put down real hardwood or engineered hardwood but are unsure of how to prepare the subfloor. Where the two material meet they are a bit uneven. We were considering a self-leveling compound but we fear that the wood will flex and the cement won’t resulting in cracking and an uneven floor. We’ve also considered covering the whole floor with thin plywood or a similar material. What would you suggest for leveling a floor with two completely different types of subfloors? Thanks!
Kristin
A: Depending on which area of your subfloor is lower, will determine what method is best to do. Let’s look into a few options:
First of all, I would not suggest putting plywood over the concrete. To do this you must glue it in place and unless you have done this several times, it’s a pain to do and has a higher rate of failure than other options.
If the concrete portion of the subfloor is lower, than using a leveling compound is a good bet. If you have worries about it cracking because of the wood expanding more than the concrete (which does expand and contract some) make sure you use a latex additive to give the leveling compound some elasticity. Another option would be to build a slow, sloping ramp, but it’s a bit less work and more reliable to simply bring the entire concrete portion level.
If the wood subfloor is lower, than using some plywood nailed in place to shim up the floor is a good bet. Follow-up with a bit of leveling compound to make sure that the concrete floor is level as well and you should be all set for installation. Remember, you want your subfloor to be flat and dry. If there is a sizeable gap between the wood and concrete portions of the subfloor, fill it like you would repair a crack in your concrete.
For the flooring itself, you will want to use an engineered or 5/16″ solid hardwood floor which is approved for a glue-down installation. You could also do a floating hardwood, but you must have a moisture barrier in place over the entire floor. In the case of glue-down, the adhesive will act as your moisture barrier. Before installation, give the flooring plenty of time to acclimate and ensure to moisture test before installing. Try to make sure the flooring and subfloor’s moisture content is within 4% of each other, and try for 2% if doing glue down.

Flooring for a Bathroom with Children

Q: Can you use wood flooring in the bathroom, which get very wet with children? Thank you – Nancy
Click Below For The Answer!

Waterproof Flooring

Q: We are refinishing our basement and I want to use a waterproof flooring material to prevent potential flood damage, yet it must be very comfortable to walk on (no ceramic tiles). What do you recommend?
Thanks!
Drew & Lauren
A: There are very few truly water-proof floors available. Your best bet considering that this is concrete would be to either install a rubber floor, such as RB Rubber’s zip tiles, as these provide a bit of cushion and are water-proofed. Another option would be an epoxy floor. Simply put this would be one of the most resilient options available, but similar to tile, you will get a more solid floor.
Basically, any floor which will be water-proof is going to be a rather solid floor, such as composite floors, stone/tile, epoxy, etc. Rubber flooring is about the only floor which is water-proof that will have a bit of cushion underfoot. You could look into something like a vinyl plank flooring such as Konecto which is made to be water proof and makes a great choice.

Wood Flooring for Bathrooms

Q: Is a wood floor ok for a bathroom?
A: Tough question because the answer is not simple. Yes and no both apply here, so let me dig in a bit and explain. Generally speaking you can install some wood floors in bathrooms successfully without it being a massive risk of the floor being ruined.
Assuming you don’t expect standing water from splashing around, wet clothes on the floor or general spills and those using the bathroom are typically all adults of older children, than you can install some wood floors. I would not suggest 3/4″ solid wood or even engineered wood floors if this bathroom has a shower or bath tub, as the risk involved with spills can be detrimental to these floors. Cork and laminate both are good choices here.
In bathrooms which do not have a bath tub or shower, engineered or even solid wood floors can be looked into, but I would highly suggest either site finishing these floors, or at the very least finding a product which is suited to glue-down or glue-together installations. The reason here is to get a small bit of glue into the tongue and groove area to help give a bit more sealing against moisture.
Even with these cases, I would still caution against solid or engineered wood floors in bathrooms because wood and water do not mix. A high-quality laminate, bamboo or cork floor is a great choice here as they are a bit better suited toward this environment when compared to traditional hardwood floors.
A great alternative for a wood looking floor would be the wood appearing vinyl floors made by Konecto or Congoleum. Konecto is a bit more user friendly when it comes to installation and durability, but both of them make great floors for environments like a bathroom while still keeping a wood look.

Moisture Concerns in a Basement

Q: I’m finishing a basement on a concrete slab, that is about 800sq ft and I want to do a small bathroom also in the area, the home is at the beach and even though the basement is dry I’m concerned about moisture.
What product do you recommend for the floor in the basement and can I use a pergo or similar floor for a bathroom floor, my contractor suggested an engineered floating floor.
Thanks
Dr Brenner
A: With any basement installation, moisture is a concern; however, it is fairly easy to over come these issues. One important factor here will be what floor you choose. Laminate, like Pergo, and floating engineered hardwoods are good choices in a basement, but you can also look into glue down engineered floors as well.
Keep in mind the key here is to ensure you have a moisture barrier. In the case of glue down floors, the adhesive itself acts as a moisture barrier, but for floating floors you will need to install 6mil polyethelyne or visqueen moisture barrier. Ensure that all of the seams are properly taped up before laying down your underlayment and installing your floor. When installing the moisture barrier, make sure that you bring the 6mil poly (or equivalent) about two inches up the wall to protect the sides of the floor.
For your bathroom, you can install Pergo or similar laminate, or an engineered wood floor. Although moisture heavy areas are not great for wood floors, with proper care during installation and if you prevent water from getting on the floor (standing water, wet clothes, etc) then you should be fine. A quick tip for these areas, make sure you put a small bead of glue into the joints of the floor to act as a back up moisture seal.
As always, when installing any wood floor, especially in areas with a concrete subfloor or more moisture, give the flooring itself plenty of time to acclimate, preferably in the room it will be installed into.

Quick Step Laminate Floor & Water Damage

Q: I have Quick-Step (Perspective 4) laminate (only 6 months old) installed throughout my home and we recently experienced flooding from the flat above. Water fell on to the floor from the leaking ceiling and MAY have passed through the laminate, but I cannot be sure. This happened over a week ago and the floor appears to still be perfect, flat, without any bending, warping or damage.
Do you think the floor could warp at a later date, or would I have seen damage by now? It would be a major job to lift the flooring to check underneath and I would prefer not to if possible.
Many thanks
Gill
A: Typically you will begin to see some signs of water damage in this amount of time; however, the best way to check here would be to get a moisture meter from a local home store (should run you around $25 or so) and test at the seams of the planks. If this rating over 8% then it has a bit more moisture than is normal, if this is beyond 10% you will want to get a dehumidifier and run it to help remove some of this excessive moisture. What could be happening is that any moisture has absorbed into the wood and the floor has expanded, but as the moisture slowly exits the floor as the home returns to a normal environment the floor will lose some of that moisture and warping could then occur as the additional moisture leaves.
Again I suggest testing the moisture as it will give you a precise idea as to if potential damage may or may not occur. You could also try to pull up a plank or two at the edge of the floor to see if any moisture is underneath the floor with your underlayment.

Congoleum Kitchen Floor Buckling

Q: Hello, recently this week we had a leak from our dishwasher which caused some water to go between our congoleum floor and the wood sub-floor. Now as a result we have a thin crease in our congoleum floor about three feet long where it appears that the subfloor has buckled somewhat. It is not hugely noticeable other than a small crease and when you walk on it you can feel a bit of a rise. I guess I am wondering if this will subside over time or will this be a permanent rise in the subflooring? Any fix suggestions without having to pull the section of flooring?
Thanks.
A: Typically when something like this has occurred it will not go away. What you could try, since this moisture issue seems to be somewhat recent, is to try putting a small dehumidifier near the area of plywood which has been affected. This could remove some of the moisture and relieve a bit of the buckle, but the crease you are seeing will most likely remain and I doubt that the buckling will go entirely away. I would do your best to get the dehumidifier in from the under the plywood (along the joists) and make sure it is on a lower setting so it does not remove too much moisture from the rest of the subfloor.
Unfortunately, the only way to ensure that this buckle is gone would be to remove those pieces of plywood in the subfloor, replace them and then reinstall or replace the Congoleum tiles onto the new subfloor.

Replacing Old Engineered Water-Damaged Wood

Q: I have the first floor kitchen, living room & corridors oak. It is glued to the concrete slab. I have 2 other rooms on the floor with a wall-to-wall carpet on the concrete slab. All of this is on the first floor. What are the important steps to replace all of this with new engineered hard wood floors? How should the old floor be removed, how will the old glue be scraped off & should there be leveling?
Can you describe the process in detail & any gotchas.
Thanks
A: Removing any flooring which has been glued in place is one of the toughest jobs out there, but with a bit of patience and time, you will get the job done. Before we get too in-depth on what you will need to do, let’s first talk about time and tools. On average, removing a glue down hardwood floor will go at a rate of roughly 10sf per hour. This includes time required to scrape away the adhesive from the subfloor. With that timing in mind, I would advise looking into some temporary labor to help you out in the removal process. This could be anything from temp labor to convincing a few friends to help out in exchange for a well deserved meal from the local pizza joint.
Now let’s talk about the tools you’ll need to get this job done. First off you will need a good circular saw (aka skill saw) and plenty of spare blades. Next on our list will be a pry bar and a small sledgehammer, typically a 3lbs. sledge does the trick nicely. Finally you will need some scrapers to remove the adhesive. Typically one with a 3″ to 5″ blade is going to be your best bet.
For the actual removal process, you will want to first cut your wood flooring into sections about 12-18 inches in width using your circular saw. Make sure that you are cutting deep enough so that the blade is just barely touching the concrete. This will ensure you cut entirely through the board which is critical. Your saw blades will dull fairly quick so be ready to replace them. Also, make sure that any adjustments you make to your saw are done with the saw unplugged (better safe then sorry).
To start, make your first cut 15-18 inches away from the wall and try to follow the seam of the flooring as best you can along the entire length of this dimension of the floor. Make one or two more cuts a similar distance from this first cut, then make perpendicular cuts about every 12-15 inches along this area. This will work as a good start point to begin the removal.
After you have cut the floor into sections, you will be getting into the hard work. From here you will be using your hammer and pry bar to remove the sections of flooring. It will take a couple of hits to get the pry bar wedged underneath the flooring, but the key here is to get the flooring to come up in small sections, not in splintered chunks. It is usually easiest if you can get the flooring from the tongue side of the plank. To locate the tongue side, go along the walls of the area and look for a row with full planks, typically this was the first row of flooring as the last row is typically cut to fit. The groove side of the plank is placed against the wall, so work from the opposite side of this wall and steadily take up flooring. After you have removed the flooring, you can move onto removing the adhesive.
When scraping, keep in mind that you should flip the blade on the scraper often in order to help keep the blade edge sharp. Blades will need to be replaced as they get dull over time and how long each blade lasts will be dependent on the adhesive used and how smooth your subfloor is. Assuming your subfloor was properly leveled before the flooring was installed it should be rather smooth and easier to work with when scraping. Scraping can be more or less difficult depending on the adhesive used (older adhesives from the 70s are a real pain) and removing the adhesive may call for use of special adhesive removal equipment, but this tends to be rare if the flooring is relatively new (within the last 5-7 years).
There are a few more solvents out there that you can use to soften up the adhesive. Several are made with a citric acid base (like the cleaners you see in stores labeled as “citrus”). There are a few others that are out there made from a soy base. The key is finding one formulated for the particular adhesive used to install your floor. With these solvents, you will need to allow them a bit of time to get into the adhesive and soften it back up, so keep this in mind when planning your removal process.
After you have removed the flooring and scraped the left over adhesive away, then you will want to check to ensure your concrete is level. If needed, level out the subfloor so that you will have a nice smooth surface to install the new floor over.