Water Damage
Specialty drying that can save hardwood floors before they cup, crown, and need replacing.
Water Damage
Hardwood floors can often be saved from water damage, but only with fast, specialized drying. We use hardwood drying systems that pull moisture from below the boards, giving your floors the best chance before warping becomes permanent. In kitchens, the source is often a fridge water line that has been leaking under the cabinets.
Do You Need This?
If any of these sound familiar, call us and we will tell you honestly what you are dealing with.
What To Expect
Hardwood can often be saved, but only with fast, specialized drying that pulls moisture from below the boards. We take readings board by board and dry from underneath, giving your floor the best chance before warping becomes permanent. The sooner we start, the more we save.
Reading the Floor
The shape of the boards tells you where the water is. Cupping, with the edges higher than the middle, means the underside of the board is wetter than the top. The water came from below: a wet subfloor, a leak into the ceiling underneath, or moisture from a slab.
Many prewar Brooklyn and Manhattan apartments have narrow oak strip floors over a plank subfloor, which holds water longer than plywood, and a leaking radiator valve is a common cause.
Crowning usually means a cupped floor was sanded too soon. Buckling is the worst case: the boards swell so much they lift off the floor. Engineered planks can delaminate, and once the layers separate they usually get replaced, not dried.
So we don't start by looking at the floor. We start by reading it. Before any drying equipment goes in, we take readings on the same wood in a room the water never reached. That's the dry goal for your home.
Every wet board gets read against it, and we write the readings on a map of the floor so you can see the wet area shrink.
Drying hardwood is slow work. We seal drying panels over the boards and pull air through the seams and out of the wood, with dehumidifiers running to keep the room dry. A floor typically takes days, not hours, and we read it every day until it matches the dry goal.
The subfloor matters as much as the boards. The EPA says water-damaged areas should be dried within 24 to 48 hours to prevent mold growth, and a soaked subfloor under tight boards is a place mold grows unseen.
A wet wood floor in a city apartment or a Nassau County house? All Star Restoration can be reached at 646-543-2242.
How It Works
You always know what happens next, and you deal with one company the whole way.
A real person picks up 24/7 and gets the nearest crew moving to your address.
We map the full damage with moisture meters and thermal imaging, including what is hidden.
We stop the spread and dry the structure properly. Equipment goes in the same day.
We document everything for your insurer, then rebuild and restore your property to its pre-loss condition, and walk it with you before we call it done.
Related Water Damage Services
Truck-mounted extraction that pulls standing water out fast.
See Water ExtractionEmergency removal of standing water from any level.
See Water RemovalAir movers and dehumidifiers that dry to the cavity.
See Structural DryingThermal imaging and meters that find hidden water.
See Moisture DetectionA clear scope of the damage before any work begins.
See Water Damage InspectionFast cleanup and drying after a pipe lets go.
See Burst Pipe CleanupQuestions
Often, if we start drying quickly with the right equipment. Once boards cup and crown badly and stay that way, replacement may be needed, but many floors recover with proper drying.
Fast. Hardwood absorbs water quickly, so the sooner we start specialty drying, the better the odds of saving the floor.
Not yet. If you sand a cupped floor while the underside is still wet, the boards shrink as they dry and the middle ends up higher than the edges. That's crowning, and it's usually permanent. Wait until the readings match dry wood, then decide on sanding.
Usually some of it. Water marks the finish even when the wood recovers, so expect at least a screen and recoat there. Boards that stayed cupped or turned dark at the seams get sanded or replaced. We decide after the readings match the dry goal, and we do the work ourselves through reconstruction.
Water, fire, mold, or sewage, one call starts the recovery. We show up fast and we do not leave until it is done right.
Call 646-543-2242 Request ServiceRequest Service
We'll call you right back, and give you a free estimate. For an active emergency, the fastest way to reach us is by phone, day or night.