What does water damage on wood look like?

Stains & Discoloration These spots are usually dark brown, dark yellow, orange, or even green. These unsightly discolorations are caused by the salt and minerals left behind when the water evaporates. White discoloration can also be seen on wooden furniture if the finish reacts with water.

Water damage

In some cases, you'll also notice that the floorboards and the nails that hold them together are lifted. It's not pretty at all and can eventually spread to nearby boards. As noted above, water damage usually leaves walls soft to the touch or deformed, bent and crumbling. That's why it's commonly used as an active ingredient in deck cleaners, and restorers use it to remove gray or black water stains on furniture (see “Oxalic acid breaks down rust, below).

Although it has excellent resistance to water damage, it can still shrink when exposed to water. Water damage can come from many different sources, such as hurricanes, severe thunderstorms, local floods, broken pipes, and leaking appliances. You are left with water-damaged wooden floors as a result of floods caused by ice dams, faulty appliances, broken pipes, or another incident in your home or office. Water damage occurs when water is allowed to saturate a wooden floor, often the result is a condition often referred to as windy.

After about a week of drying water-damaged wood floors, call your flooring contractor. First, we'll conduct a detailed assessment of the property damage and determine the extent of the damage so we can create an appropriate cleaning plan.