Drying wet carpet, pad and hardwood where readings allow, and replacing them where they do not, across Wichita and Sedgwick County.
Fastest: call (833) 490-5225. Or send this and we call you back.
Carpet and hardwood floor drying takes moisture out of carpet, pad and wood flooring after a water loss, and replaces any part that does not dry to readings. In Wichita the decision is made floor by floor, with readings and photographs, and approved before the floor is lifted. Calls are answered 24/7.
A wet floor covering is one of the first things a homeowner notices and one of the easiest to misjudge. Carpet can look almost dry on top while the pad under it is soaked through, and hardwood can look fine while water sits under the boards. Both need a check beneath the surface before anyone decides whether they can be kept.
Carpet and pad hold water differently from hard flooring. The pad absorbs a great deal and releases it slowly, and it is often the part that stays wet longest. Hardwood is affected by moisture through its edges and underside, and it can swell, cup or separate when it has been wet. The crew treats each floor type on its own terms.
Call (833) 490-5225 at any hour. Tell the phone team what the floor covering is, if you know it, and whether the water reached it from above or from underneath. Do not walk on a soaked carpet or a wet hardwood floor more than you need to, and move furniture off it if you can do so safely. A technician checks each floor on arrival and explains what can be kept.
Do not walk on a soaked carpet or a loose hardwood floor more than you must, because a floor that has lost its grip can shift underfoot. Keep cords off the wet floor, and do not run a powered vacuum or a plug-in fan on water. Take care when lifting carpet tack strips, which have sharp pins along their edge, and wear gloves. If a floor is pulling away from a wall or a threshold, keep people away from that edge.
The crew checks what the floor is made of, carpet over pad over subfloor, or wood planks over a subfloor, and notes where the water entered each layer. Carpet may be glued, stretched or tacked, and the way it is fixed affects how it is lifted.
Standing water is removed from the surface, then moisture readings are taken through the covering, the pad, the subfloor and the edges of the room. The readings show how far each layer has taken on water and where it has reached.
Carpet is lifted from its tack strip where the pad reads wet, so air can reach the pad and the subfloor. Hardwood is removed board by board only where the readings and the cupping show it cannot be kept in place.
Air movers and dehumidifiers are set so air moves across the pad, the subfloor and the underside of the hardwood, if it can be reached. Readings are taken until each layer reaches the dry level, and the flooring is refitted only after that.
The decision for each floor is written down with its readings and photographs, and it is approved by you before any board or carpet is removed for good. Replacement material is quoted separately, and the crew notes which floors will need it.
Sometimes. Carpet can be kept when its pad and subfloor dry to readings and the fibre is not contaminated. Carpet that has held contaminated water, or that stayed wet long enough to lose its pad, is usually replaced. The decision is made floor by floor, and explained before any carpet is removed.
The first question is the water. Clean water from a supply line behaves differently from water that came up a drain. A carpet that has taken in contaminated water is treated as a porous material that cannot be made safe by drying. The crew says which case it is in before any carpet is lifted.
The second question is the pad. A pad that stays wet keeps the moisture against the subfloor and feeds any growth beneath it. If the pad cannot be dried to readings, it comes out, and the carpet is usually lifted and stretched again over new pad, once the subfloor is dry.
Hardwood cups when its underside takes on more water than its surface, so the edges rise above the middle of each board. Boards that cup only slightly can flatten as they dry, while boards that have swollen hard against each other or the walls may not return to their original shape.
Hardwood moves with moisture, and the boards need room to expand. A floor that was laid with a perimeter gap can take on water and still have room to move. A floor that was fitted tight to the walls has nowhere to go, and it can buckle or lift as it swells.
The crew reads the floor across its width and along each run of boards. It notes which boards have cupped, which have lifted and which have gapped, and it records the plan for each, with the readings. Keep the photographs of the floor as it was found.
Move them off the floor onto clean, dry supports as soon as it is safe. Rugs that have been wet should be taken out of the house, and furniture should be moved so air can reach the floor beneath it.
Furniture legs can hold water against the floor and leave dark marks on wood. Put a dry cloth or a board under each leg, and change it when it gets wet. Do not put rugs back onto a floor that is still damp, and do not use a rug to cover a wet area.
Keep photographs of rugs and furniture before they are moved, because your insurer may ask about contents as well as the building. Write down what was in the room and where it was placed.
By readings in each layer, compared with the dry level for that material and with the readings in the dry areas around it. A floor is not judged dry by its surface, because the pad, the subfloor and the edges can stay wet after the top looks finished.
The readings are taken at several points in each room and at the edges, where water tends to stay. A reading that is dry in one place and wet in another means the job is not finished, and the crew says so in the log.
Once the floor reads dry, the covering is refitted or replaced, and the floor is checked again after the work. Keep the final readings with the rest of the log, so the floor's history is recorded.
Not always. A matching product may no longer be made, and the repair may show a difference in colour, grain or finish. The crew can explain what is available and what will be different, and you approve the replacement before it is ordered.
Ask the flooring installer to show you samples and to explain how the new floor will meet the old one at thresholds and transitions. A new floor laid over a dry subfloor that was not fully dried will cause the same problem again, so the timing of the repair matters.
Keep the record of what was removed and replaced. A clear description of the old floor helps the installer match it, and it helps the insurer understand the scope of the loss.
Wall-to-wall carpet is usually lifted at its edges and dried from beneath. The pad is the critical layer, and if it cannot be dried to readings it is removed and replaced, even when the carpet fibre looks clean. Carpet that has been under water for a long time may not be restored to its former condition.
Solid and engineered hardwood can cup, swell or separate when wet. Boards that have lifted or cupped may flatten as they dry, but boards that have swollen against the walls or each other may need to come up. The crew checks the expansion gap at the perimeter and sets its plan around it.
Laminate and vinyl plank can trap water beneath them and swell at their seams. Many of these floors cannot be dried in place once the seams have opened, and they are lifted and replaced. The underlay is read for moisture and removed where it is wet.
Wood or carpet laid over a concrete slab can hold water on the slab's surface, where it cannot easily dry. The slab is read for moisture, and the floor covering is not refitted until the slab reads dry. A slab that reads wet is dried with air movement across its surface before anything is laid over it.
Floors in Wichita include carpet over pad, solid wood and engineered boards, and many other surfaces, and each one is dried in a different way. The crew checks the floor covering that is actually in the house rather than assuming a type from the age of the building, because the house may have been refloored more than once.
Ground-level floors and rooms with a slab underneath are often the ones where water stays longest, because the slab is cool and holds moisture. Floors that sit over a concrete slab are read with the slab in mind, and their drying time is planned around that.
Wichita has had several heavy rain and flood events, and in a storm water can reach floors through a door, a window well or a basement stair. Floors near the entrance and the lowest step of a stair are checked first in a storm loss, and the readings there show whether the water came in from outside.
A crew is dispatched as fast as one is available, and you approve the estimate before any work starts.
Not sure if you're covered? Check your ZIP code.
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A building is dry when its materials read at the dry level for each material, not when the surface looks dry.
Sometimes, if the boards are only lightly wet and the subfloor is dry to readings. A floor that has cupped, lifted or gapped may need its boards removed and refitted once the readings allow. The crew explains which approach fits your floor before work begins.
In most cases, yes. Carpet that has taken in water from a drain is usually removed, because its fibre and pad can hold contamination that drying does not remove. The crew explains the decision for each room and photographs the carpet before it is removed.
A smell after cleaning usually means moisture is still in the pad or the subfloor. The readings should be checked before the carpet is judged. A smell that stays after the readings are dry should be reported to the crew, which can check the pad and the floor beneath it.
A floor that cupped or lifted because it took on water may settle back, or it may stay uneven if the boards swelled. The crew reports how the floor is changing as it dries, and a flooring installer can say whether the floor needs repair after drying is complete.
A floor that is still wet should not be walked on more than necessary. The crew tells you when the readings are at the dry level and when the floor can be used. Until then, keep foot traffic off the area and the edges of the room.
That depends on your policy and on the cause of the loss, and the insurer decides the claim. Keep the readings, photographs and the replacement quotes, because they show what was damaged and what it cost to put right. The Kansas Insurance Department is the state regulator to contact about a claim you cannot settle with your insurer.