The goal of flood restoration and remediation services is to return your home or business to normal as quickly as possible.

But these priorities are secondary to safety. And while it is always our goal to restore the components of your property, sometimes this isn’t possible.

The degree to which your floor coverings sustain flood damage depends on the type of flooring you have, how much water the floors were exposed to and duration of the exposure.

How Does Water Damage & Flood Restoration Affect Carpeting & Rugs?

In flood restoration, carpet is arguably the most vulnerable type of floor covering, as it can absorb the biological contaminants in floodwater. Carpet pad is virtually never salvageable, although carpeting can sometimes be safely restored. Rugs can also be restored in some cases.

But both carpeting and rugs are prone to shrinkage. This may be less of a problem with rugs, but if you want the carpet to fit back where it was, it may have to be professionally stretched.

Unless your carpeting is new (or if you have some other compelling personal reason for wanting to save it), it will potentially cost more to restore it than to replace it.

Flood Restoration for Tile Flooring

Ceramic tile flooring tends to be resilient and resistant to water damage. If the flooring did not sit under water for too long, it can often be restored. However, grout can absorb contaminants.

Unless they have been sealed, natural stone tile, Saltillo, terra cotta and other absorbent types of tile flooring can also soak up contaminants from flooding and they’re highly prone to staining.

The biggest challenge in restoring tile flooring is that we have no way to determine whether the subfloor is wet without removing the tile. Like grout, the mortar used to lay tile is extremely porous, making it prone to mold and bacteria growth.

Unless the flood damage at your property was minor and flood remediation was performed right away, you will probably have to replace your tile with new floor coverings.

Flood Restoration and Wood Floor Coverings

Wood flooring does not stand up well to water damage. Laminate floor covering tolerates moisture poorly too. Hardwood flooring can warp, cup, shrink and buckle. Depending on how the flooring was installed, water damage can cause nails to pop and glue to fail. Tongue-in-groove joints also fare poorly after flooding.

And like with tile, a wet subfloor is a recipe for disaster.

If you get prompt flood remediation, you may sometimes be able to save hardwood flooring, but you’ll be wise to err on the side of caution. If your wood flooring can be saved, your flood restoration team will have to use professional drying equipment specifically designed for this purpose.

Because most of our water damage clients have to replace their carpet, tile or wood floors, AAA Restoration offers a comprehensive line of wholesale flooring products in our Murray wholesale floor coverings showroom. You can browse through samples of carpeting, ceramic and stone tile, wood, vinyl and more.

We can also install any type of flooring, whether you purchase yours from us or elsewhere. And the best part is that you don’t have to be a flood restoration client to purchase your wholesale floorcoverings from AAA Restoration — contact us today to learn more.