Wet hardwood and carpet in a Kenner home dried through the subfloor, with readings that confirm when the floor is dry.
Fastest: call (833) 490-5225. Or send this and we call you back.
Hardwood and carpet drying removes the water from a wet floor covering, then dries the pad, the subfloor and the joists beneath it. A floor can look dry on top while the materials below still hold water. Kenner Water Damage Restoration dries wet floors in Kenner and Jefferson Parish at any hour, and the subfloor is read before any floor is closed up.
Hardwood and carpet are the two floor coverings most often wet after a flood or a leak, and they behave very differently. Hardwood can cup, swell or lift when water reaches its underside, and carpet holds water in its fibers and its pad. In both cases the water does not stay on top. It travels down into the subfloor, which is the layer that most needs drying, and which a homeowner rarely sees.
A carpet pulled up and left to dry on the floor is not the same as drying the floor. The subfloor under the carpet can hold water for a long time, and that water keeps feeding the wall base and the joists. Call (833) 490-5225 if your floor is wet, soft or lifting, and say which floor covering it is and whether the water is still moving.
Do not walk on soft or cupped boards, and do not stand on a floor over a space that holds water. Do not run electrical cords across a wet floor. Keep children and pets off the wet area. Do not pull up a floor covering that is still in contact with standing water until the water has been removed.
Water that reaches a carpet usually soaks the pad first, then the subfloor. The surface can look fairly dry while the pad is still wet. The crew lifts the carpet at the edge, removes the pad where it has soaked, and reads the subfloor before deciding whether the carpet can be reinstalled.
Hardwood that has taken water can cup at the edges, lift at the seams and swell in the middle. Drying depends on how far the water reached. The crew reads the boards and the subfloor, and it decides whether the boards can be dried and kept or must be replaced.
Engineered and laminate floors respond to water differently from solid wood. They can swell at the edges and lift from the underlayment. The crew reads the underlayment and any slab edge, and it checks the floor's edges for water that has come up from below.
If it's an emergency, call now. For non-urgent hardwood and carpet drying, send the form and we'll call you back.
Hardwood cups when moisture enters the bottom of the board more than the top, so the edges rise. Once the board dries evenly, it can sometimes flatten, but severe swelling or long exposure can leave it permanently distorted. The crew reads the boards over several visits to see whether they are recovering.
A board that is wet on one face and dry on the other will curl. The effect is strongest where the water sits longest, which is often the middle of a room or the edge near a wall. The drying is aimed at the underside of the boards, through the subfloor, as well as the surface.
Some boards recover well, and some do not. A board that has lifted from the subfloor or has split along the grain is unlikely to return to its original shape. The crew explains which boards it expects to recover and which it expects to replace, and it notes the readings that support the decision.
Carpet can sometimes be dried and reinstalled if the pad is replaced and the subfloor reads dry. Carpet that has been soaked with sewage, or that holds silt or contaminated water, is usually removed. The crew explains the choice from the readings and the type of water before it decides.
Carpet backing and the fibers hold water for a long time, and they can keep the pad damp. A carpet that has been pulled and dried without the pad being dealt with can stay wet underneath. The crew checks the pad and the subfloor before it advises on the carpet.
Where the carpet is kept, the crew checks it for stains, odor and fiber damage. Where the carpet is removed, the homeowner chooses the replacement. This site does not quote a price for either option.
The crew reads the subfloor from the access point where there is one, from a small opening in the floor, or from beneath the house where the space allows. Moisture meters show where the water has reached, and equipment is placed to dry the joists and the subfloor from below where it can be reached safely.
A small opening in the subfloor can give the crew a way to read the joists and to place equipment. The opening is kept as small as possible and is explained before it is made. Where the joist space is too tight to enter, the crew works from the access point and reads the readings from there.
A subfloor that is soft or rotted is noted for the homeowner. The crew does not repair the structure itself, but it records what it finds so that the carpenter or flooring trade can plan the repair from the readings.
The factors are the area of floor affected, the floor covering, how far the water reached into the subfloor, and whether boards or carpet must be removed. Access to the joist space also changes the work. Each job is priced after the walkthrough, and no price is quoted over the phone.
A small room with carpet that dries in place is a different job from a whole floor of solid hardwood that must be opened. The number of rooms and the number of boards removed both change the time and the materials.
The replacement flooring is a separate cost, quoted by the trade the homeowner chooses. The crew's scope covers the water, the drying and the removal, and it is confirmed in writing before the work begins.
Towels and a fan can help a small spill, but they do not dry the subfloor. Keep the floor clear, keep the air moving if it is safe, and avoid walking on soft boards. Do not put rugs or carpet back on a floor that is still wet.
A fan can dry the surface of a board and make the room feel drier than the subfloor really is. The moisture below will continue to rise until it is removed, so the readings are the only reliable test.
Avoid walking on boards that are cupped or lifting, because they can crack or spring loose. Keep furniture off the wet area, and move small items to a dry surface.
Standing water is extracted first. Wet carpet is lifted from the tack strip so the pad and the subfloor can be read and dried. Hardwood that has cupped or lifted is assessed for whether it can be dried in place or must be removed.
Moisture meters are used on the carpet pad, the boards, the subfloor and the joists. The readings are marked on a sketch of the floor, so that each visit can check the same points. The subfloor is read from the access point where that is possible.
Carpet pad that has soaked is removed, because it cannot be dried back to normal. Hardwood boards that have swelled beyond recovery are removed and replaced by the homeowner's chosen trade. Subfloor that reads high and is soft is opened and assessed.
Air movers are placed to move air across the floor surface, and dehumidifiers pull moisture from the room. Where the joist space can be reached, equipment is placed beneath the floor to dry the subfloor from below. The two are run together and checked against the same readings.
The new covering is not laid until the subfloor and the boards read dry at the marked points. A new floor over a damp subfloor traps moisture and can cause cupping, so this step is checked and logged before anything is installed.
Floors in Kenner homes that stay wet after parish flooding need the subfloor opened and dried, not just a carpet pull. The town sits on the south shore of Lake Pontchartrain beside the airport, and water that has come in from low ground can soak the subfloor and the joist space before it reaches the surface. A carpet pulled up and left to dry will not fix that.
The September 2024 storm left floors wet across many Kenner homes after the drainage pumps stopped, according to parish officials reporting that three of four pumps in the town had failed. A floor that was wet during a storm like that can keep holding moisture for some time, so the crew reads the subfloor at several visits before it lays a new covering.
A floor drying call in Kenner comes through the same line as any water call. The phone team asks which floor covering is involved and whether the floor feels soft, because those answers tell the crew which tools to bring and whether the subfloor needs to be read first.
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Mold growth after a flood in a Kenner home, limited by fast drying and assessed from readings before any work starts.
A leaking washer, dishwasher or refrigerator line in a Kenner kitchen or laundry, dried from readings.
Storm-driven flooding in Kenner homes, from extraction to drying, with readings at every step.
Water behind a wall or under a floor after a storm or a plumbing failure, traced with meters before any drying is planned.
A water damage restoration quote in Kenner depends on how much water came in, how long it stood, how far it reached into the walls and floors, and how much material must be removed.
Storm rain flood cleanup follows a fixed order: make the building safe, remove the standing water, read the structure with moisture meters, remove what cannot dry, dry the building to normal readings and confirm before anything is closed up.
A floor that looks dry after parish flooding can still hold water in the subfloor, the joists and the pad beneath the finish.
Mold starts when moisture stays in building materials long enough to support growth, and flood water leaves exactly that kind of moisture behind.
Some boards can be dried and kept, and some cannot be saved once they have swollen or lifted. The crew reads the boards and the subfloor and explains which it expects to recover.
The crew removes carpet and pad that cannot be dried. Whether carpet is kept or replaced is decided from the readings and the type of water, and the homeowner chooses any replacement.
The crew reads the subfloor and the boards with a meter and compares the readings with normal levels. A floor that feels dry on top can still hold water underneath.
Not until the crew has confirmed the subfloor is dry. A rug or carpet laid over a damp floor traps the moisture below.
Only where the readings show the subfloor is wet and cannot be reached any other way. The opening is kept small and explained first.
A crew is sent as soon as one is free, and calls are answered at any hour. No arrival time is promised.