Have you ever asked yourself what happens if water gets under vinyl flooring? This is a cause of concern to many homeowners, especially those with vinyl floors in moist areas. The issue of water getting beneath your vinyl floors can bring various situations that might compromise the quality of your floors and even the state of your home environment. So, what exactly happens when water penetrates beneath your linoleum floor?
When water soaks under vinyl flooring, it may cause it to warp, buckle, or bubble up. These defects result in unevenly surfaced bumps, which are not visually appealing. Besides, exposure to wetness for long periods promotes molds and mildew growth, thus affecting people’s health as well as spoiling the floor.
To maintain its durability and protect indoor air quality, preventing water intrusion into the sub-flooring is critical. If one checks regularly for any signs whatsoever of water intrusion and quickly deals with leaks or messes on them, this will help ensure that they remain intact.
What Happens if Water Gets Under Vinyl Flooring?
Ever thought of what happens if water gets under vinyl flooring? Let’s explore some possible damages it can have on your floors and how they affect your living space.
- Warping and Buckling: When water seeps under vinyl flooring, it can cause the material to warp or buckle, resulting in uneven surfaces and unsightly bumps.
- Mold and Mildew Growth: Prolonged exposure to moisture can create an ideal environment for mold and mildew to thrive beneath vinyl flooring, posing health risks and damaging the flooring over time.
- Odor and Discoloration: Water infiltration can lead to unpleasant odors and discoloration of the vinyl flooring, diminishing the aesthetic appeal of your space.
- Structural Damage: In severe cases, water damage can extend beyond the flooring, affecting the subfloor and underlying structures and leading to costly repairs.
Warping and Buckling
Once water gets under vinyl flooring, it weakens the material’s stability and causes it to warp and buckle. This creates noticeable bumps and uneven surfaces that don’t look nice at all.
Mold and Mildew Growth
The moisture trapped beneath vinyl flooring makes it a comfy home for mold and mildew to grow. It’s a big problem since these types of fungi can lead to health problems for the people in your home. The growths themselves will ruin floors over time as well, so you’ll need to replace them eventually.
Odor and Discoloration
Water coming in can cause some pretty nasty smells. Alongside this, small pools can sit underneath the floor itself, causing more problems than just smell. While sitting there, it will discolor the floor. Anytime something is discolored in your living area, its appearance will be instantly diminished.
Structural Damage
If left untreated, water damage from sources other than spills can seep deep enough into your house in unexpected places under the floor covering that you don’t even know about yet. By seeping into those areas like a damn, it’ll compromise the integrity of your home’s structure, And you definitely don’t want that happening if you live with your family.
What do You do When Water Gets Under Vinyl Flooring?
We know how to get rid of spills, but what happens when we have no idea where the leak or flood came from? If we act quickly by following these tips, we should be able to prevent most damages:
Assess What Happened: Check how bad things really are before calling anyone else but yourself for help. If you think it’ll be easy enough, then there’s no need to spend money on professionals who might not even fix anything.
Remove Extra Liquid: Use rags or towels or whatever is closest around you that absorbs liquid well to soak up as much remaining water as possible off the surface of the vinyl flooring. If you have a wet/dry vacuum, then use that to suck the rest up.
Dry the Area: In places like Florida, we all know how humid things can get pretty much year-round. Open any windows and doors you have nearby to speed up the process of evaporating water in the air. More advanced tools like fans and dehumidifiers should be used too if your house isn’t already equipped with them.
Inspect for Damage: Check if anything got warped, buckled, or discolored immediately after drying it off. We don’t want to wait till someone walks over it and falls, then try to fix anything, so do this as soon as possible. And if something does get damaged, remember that replacing tiles is always an option people usually forget about.
Inspect Subflooring: You won’t find damage in these layers of vinyl flooring, but if there’s water sitting below, things aren’t going great at all. The best way to spot this is by seeing if the subflooring has grown mold or swollen up like a balloon from absorbing moisture. Suppose you do see signs of damage bad enough; take off everything covering it and dry it out.
Get Rid of Mold and Mildew: It’s always tough working around mold, but we need to do whatever we can before anyone gets sick. Don’t think twice about putting on gloves or any protective gear just in case cleaning chemicals get thrown around everywhere since it’s better safe than sorry, right?
Final Words
To summarize, water getting under your vinyl flooring can lead to some bad things: warping, mold growth, bad smells, and even structural damage to your home. Getting rid of it is a multi-step process. First, figure out how severe the problem is. Next, suck up as much of the water as possible and dry the area well. Then, check for damage to both the flooring and the floor underneath it. If you find any mold, clean it super carefully. Finally, do everything you can to prevent this from happening again by fixing leaks and keeping things dry. Go through these steps quickly enough, and you’ll be able to keep your floors looking fresh and your home intact.
