Definitely looks like water coming in from your door - we had water come in under a floor - looked just like that

UUuggghh I didn't want to hear that. :( So now what?

We have a new roof so I guess it is the sliding door. :( Bummer. I've never seen water but I know it's possible. Will they have to pull up the floor and can they just do that one area?

You might have had ice damns during one of the snow storms. The first three rows from the door does not look like it is affected by moisture that much. So, the leak maybe coming from somewhere else.

Hmm. The dishwasher isn’t too far away. Last question: can we just fix this area without tearing a whole lot out? Thanks.

It appears that your hardwood is cupped. Cupping of hardwood floors is typically the result of moisture problems like a leaky exterior door, dishwasher or refrigerator ice maker line. In my experience. cupping will relax with time if the cause was an event and not an ongoing moisture issue.

Thank you. We will look into this and hopefully it’s nothing too drastic.

Your dishwasher drain line maybe loose or the clamp is not on correctly.

I had a client with cupping along the entire length of her kitchen. She thought it could be from the dishwasher but we didn't find a leak. We discovered it was actually from her cat's automatic water dish. A tiny leak under the mat that eventually traveled 12'.

Thanks all. Took the dishwasher out and nothing was wrong. Found the culprit - the sliding door. We calked the door where it was worn out, etc. Still have the fans blowing and dehumidifier. Hopefully this will solve it without taking the wood up!

Give it time to dry out. It could potentially take months for the moisture to migrate out. If you have access to a dehumidifier, it would be placed over the affected area with a plastic tent built over the top so it concentrates drying on the bad area. Most likely you'll have some gaps to putty after it's all dried out.

" We calked the door where it was worn out, etc. "

What is worn out? Where did you caulk? Where was the water infiltration?

Dyan, can you explain what was wrong with the door, and exactly what you did to fix it? Take some pictures please. Caulking just may not be what you need to do, and you may end up with this problem again, if there is another proper fix.

My husband could answer that better but yes the caulking on the bottom of the sliding door had gaps and he said he could tell that is where the water was coming from. Yes there is water infiltration. I don't know if we are out of the woods yet. We definitely have the "cupping" of the wood - will it ever go back? Also Timothy Winzell - when you said "gaps to putty" are you talking about the outside of the house where he calked? Thanks!!

Pics.

He did this last night after a super long day traveling for work etc. He said he will work on it more this weekend.

I had that problem with a 20 year old patio door. The wood went back to "more normal" during summer (very hot and dry) but never all the way. We put in a new door, new floors and built a roof over the balcony 2 years ago, zero problems in the same location. When we pulled the old floors up, that spot had water damage to the sub flooring even though we never saw actual moisture anywhere near.

Ugh - our house is 20 years old. Floors are relatively new. I really don't want to pull these up! At all!

It looks like they are oak; they build boats out of oak so it's hopeful, unless the subfloor can't be dried, out that they will be fine. I'd keep doing what you're doing and give them time. Tenting the area for the dehumidifier seems like a good suggestion.

If you've ever seen lumber as it comes out of a kiln, you know that some pieces are distorted in shape as a result of the rapid drying process. As much as you'd like to speed up the process of drying the floor and subfloor, I'd be concerned about rapid drying causing a permanent set in the flooring which will require sanding and refinishing. I've had areas of cupping in my personal home which returned to an acceptable condition with just natural drying over time. Patience is a virtue, as they say.

Charles Ross - so we shouldn't have the fans going all the time? Just curious - I was wondering about that.

I would think the heat from a kiln used for drying wood is different than room temp air circulating with a dehumidifier. I'd be worried about the subfloor not drying quickly enough and forming mold.

You'll need to return the moisture levels in the hardwood, in the subfloor, and in the layer between them to equilibrium levels. Drying from either side is diffusion limited. So it's a process which is going to take some time. My experience (a dishwasher leak and a refrigerator ice maker leak at my former home) was that oak strip flooring can return to normal without special drying measures-- but it takes weeks. I'm concerned about the unintended consequences of trying to dry out the hardwood flooring too rapidly. I'm not at all concerned about rapid drying of the subfloor. Perhaps some flooring contractors can weigh in on what they've found and whether rapid drying is a legitimate concern.

Considering that the wood is essentially coated with a moisture barrier on top, is nailed over plywood, and can only be dried from one side, it's unlikely that using a dehumidifier could dry it out too quickly. I've done this with customers dozens of times over the years. I feel that the sooner you can dry it out, the more likely it is to flatten out.

Since the boards both cup and grow in width when they get wet, I suspect you'll have some spaces between them to fill once they dry.

My opinion, best way to dry is rip out the wet flooring and allow subfloor to dry. This helps with elimating edge crushing. Serverely wet boards will over expand and will permanately crush the edge leaving yoiu withe unwanted gaps. Best way to elimante this issue is board replacement.

Once the base is dry, you can start replacing/re-installing new flooring. You may need to refinish a entire room or space depending on the layout.

Removing the wet floor and subfloor is the sure way to get all the moisture out, but once you remove it, your course of action is set. If your floor flows throughout the house, now you've signed up to refinish the whole thing, to repair a small area by a door. I've seen quite a few floors that were removed, where the wood probably would have dried out.

The new row of caulking your husband put outside the door, should have been smoothed out. It isnt full coverage, and definitely not water proof.

we had to replace just one board that had been scratched when the repair man pulled out the dishwasher.. We had extra boards our flooring company had left. The scratch was about a foot out from the dishwasher. We called the flooring company and they we able to remove the old board and install a new one. Perfect job and no dust when they cut out the old one, he used some type of device that sucked up the dust as they cut. So , yes yes, they should be abe to remove just the damaged wood.

zorroslw1 Sure they can remove and replace the wood, but that doesn't mean it will match. It sounds like you have prefinished flooring. The OP's flooring in the picture appears to be site finished. If boards are replaced they will need to be sanded and finished to match the rest. The flooring is smooth, without bevels, so the area will likely look like a patch.

Yes it was site finished and it's looking pretty bad. The guy that installed it told me to wait a couple of months to see if the gaps fill in with the weather changing but I have a feeling we have a mess on our hands. As far as homeowners insurance - can I wait that long to file a claim or can we wait and see what happens just in case it turns out "ok"?

Hi, Dyan,

If you wish to file an insurance claim, I suggest you consult your agent now rather than at a future date. Your homeowner's insurance may be different than mine, but mine doesn't cover damage done over time--such as a leaky door, but it would cover damage due to an event like a dishwasher hose breaking and flooding the area around the dishwasher.

Ok I will look into this. Thanks.

Your gaps will not close up. You have crushed edges which means permanent gapping.

I agree with Charles Ross. Leakage at a door or window generally isn't covered by insurance. It could take months to dry out, and may never go back down all the way.

Wonderful... :(