Water Damage to Wood

8/30/2018 (Permalink)

Water Damage to Wood

Protecting your Wooden Assets

When a flood takes over and penetrates your doors, then water flows onto the wood, the wooden legs on the furniture may require special attention to restore rather than replace the heirloom. Through the years, there have been many natural disasters that resulted in flooding all through the ground level floors of homes, and tremendous loss has occurred.

Many insurance policies will not cover flood damage at all, so it’s very important to take special care when you see water inside of the house, especially touching or soaking wooden legs on tables or sofas. No matter how thick the stain or protectant, water can soak into the smallest space, thus causing mold. Not only that, but the wood will eventually rot, even if you think that it’s safe.

You can take steps to ensure your furniture stays with your family by cleaning and drying your wooden furniture legs as soon as possible after flooding. Pull the furniture outdoors in a dry space and place a fan near the furniture and dry the wood completely. Make sure the air around the space where you are attempting to restore the wood is dry because you want to pull out the moisture.

Take the legs off and unscrew them so they can be put directly in front of a de-humidifier because the quicker you can dry out the wood, the less likely your wood is to rot or mold. Time is of the essence if you want to save your furniture after being exposed to water.

For pieces of furniture that are primarily wood, you may not have the luxury of saving the piece, but follow the same procedure. Make sure you get the wooden furniture somewhere where it can dry completely while you are waiting for a restoration specialist to come make an assessment of damages. If your wood sustained deep and irreparable damage, you will want to be thinking of a cost to replace estimate to give to your insurance company, but this should have been done well before a flood happens.

Speaking of this, the best way to ensure you are insured, is to do the valuations far before a flood. This requires you to just be aware of what is going on around you at all times. You can see the potential of a flood, weeks before the flood happens.

We can help you if you have our number nearby to call us, so it’s “Like it never happened.”