And just as we sat down, we saw a huge puddle coming from under the entertainment unit, emanating from the freshwater fish tank in the corner, and soaking our new living room floor.
We mopped, we moved things, we fixed stuff, we swore in ways Bet Yeager would approve, and we put a fan on the problem. There is damage. There is also a waterproof underlayment, which assured it spread, but it spared the downstairs ceiling.
We thought we stopped it.
This morning there was another puddle. I swore some more and this time yanked the wretched filter system completely out and installed a simple Penguin filter (yes, Paul) that cannot leak—dried off the floor, and think I have it solved.
The good news is there are only 6 planks that have water-risen edges, and we have 4 extra boxes of laminate. We should be able to repair the floor. The problem is, the installation is directional, in terms of how they go in, but we think we may be able to do it in reverse, and work toward the wall rather than away from it.
We are so very tired. There is no joint that does not ache. WHY the tank leaked has to do with a pipe fitting, I think, but I have now taken that entire pipe out of service, so I do not think we will have a repeat.
We are just glad that we were sitting there when it happened. It was a cold dinner, but if the whole 50 gallons had gone—it was about 8, total—we would have had to order more floor.
Oh no! This is not good, this is not fun. Take care of yourselves, and the glorious tanks too.
Wha’d I do? I’m innocent, I tell ye!
Something wierd is going on with WP/WWAS, but fortunately it won’t wet the floor. When I saw this posting on the main page it said there was “1 comment”. Normally I can click on the “1 comment” and go to the entire thread. This time that one comment, ready4more’s (which was visible in the left column), did not appear.
I decided to bring mention this, logged in, and now the comment is there. I can read it. Never used to be like this! 🙁
Do you think something got out of adjustment when you moved things around to put in the floor?
I imagine Bet Yeager doesn’t begin with ‘firk-ding-blast!!’
In terms of flooring, I am ready to scorch Home Despot a new one. A matching piece of transition floor trim (for doorways onto linoleum tile) was supposed to be delivered with the Pergo. It somehow missed getting into the truck, so I said I’ll go down the next day and pick it up; the delivery guy called the store and told them to put it in will-call. Next morning, I was there, but they had neglected to put the trim in will-call. After 15 minutes of being bounced from will-call to customer service, I told them I had to go to work and I’d be back at lunch. Lunchtime, once again they had forgot and I waited another 20 minutes for them to send someone to fetch the missing piece. Got it home, looked at it, and they had given me the wrong style. Made a special trip today, and lo! It was out of stock. I have more faith in your ability to fix soaked flooring and screwy plumbing than I do in Home Depot.
Call your home owners insurance agent. When our washing machine over flowed and ruined our floor, insurance covered it. Having insurance pay a pro beats doing it yourself.
Sometimes drying it thoroughly with a hairdryer while putting weight on it will help it to dry straight, but with the bigger heavier planks you’ve got it’s probably less likely to help than it did with my little thin ones.
Thank heavens you’ve got extra laminate!
It’s happened to me twice. Once in the living room with the fishtank, when I was at home so it didn’t get to soak in for long – that’s where the föhn and the heavy pikes of books helped, so I didn’t have to refloor.
Once in the hall before the bathroom, when the washing machine caused an inundation. That one happened while I was at work and had time to soak in; those I’ve had to replace.
One thing about this: once it’s happened and the planks are dry but curled up, waiting won’t make it worse. If the curled edges are where you won’t trip on them you can just leave it for a while until you’ve recovered, before you tackle this.
If it’s in a walkthrough area, I’ve found with my bathroom entrance, putting an area rug over it meant I didn’t trip on the edges and it put the ugly curled edges out of sight. I needed to sort out my attic to find the remains of my parquet to refloor that bit, and that took me a few months; but with the area rug in front of the bathroom door that was OK.
If you can do something similar, just putting a small rug in front of the fishtank for now, you can give your backs and muscles time to heal, and yourselves time to rest up, before starting on this repair.
That sounds like very good advice *takes notes*. Please rest up a bit before tackling any more crises!
Water on any floor is not good! Glad that you were there to catch the problem before it turned into total disaster! I’m thinking not only of your floors but the potential harm to your fishies.
We have had a few water disasters. The hose on the washing machine passed out. Fortunately we were home and heard what sounded like a waterfall. Not a happy indoor sound! Get out the mops, get out the sponges. Even worse was Proge waking me up at 2:00 AM saying I had to get up immediately. The water heater had sprung a leak and was streaming water. That was a next day replacement! One of the upstairs sinks started leaking onto a shelf of greenware (unfired pots). Did not have a huge survival rate!
The thing about having an older house is that there will always be upkeep; that’s just the way of life! I am a huge fan of having all our water stuff and my studio on the first floor slab.
Water heaters can be such fun. I remember the afternoon when the inside seam blew out on our 50-gallon heater. Fortunately the heater was in a closet outside the house, and the water went into the garden, but it was a mess. (It was also under warranty at the time.) People wondered why my mother wouldn’t have a water heater inside the house without a good overflow drain….
Possibly the water damage will abate with time. We had damage a few years ago due to a fridge leak and we were in despair, but after a relatively short period of time the edges went back to where they belonged and you couldn’t see where the damage had been.
I had a dishwasher do that to a wood floor repeatedly. I found that if you let it dry for 2-3 weeks, the cupping goes away. Good luck with it!
It probably depends on the kind of planks and the kind of wood. My thin little toplayer parquetry planks were still cupped after almost a year under the rug, when I finally dug out their replacements.
But it does demonstrate that if you can give it time, the problem may go away: there’s no need to hurry this repair, unless you’re tripping on it.