Flooded laminate flooring -- any hope of rescue?

[Percival P. Cassidy]

A window well filled up in yesterday's torrential rain, flooding our basement. The carpet -- which we were thinking of replacing anyway -- is not so difficult to get reasonably dry with a carpet cleaning machine. But the room with the flooded window well has cheap laminate flooring over thin plastic-faced felt underlayment. The surface or the boards is dry and the adjacent carpeted area is reasonably dry, but there is a squelchy sound when we walk on the laminate floor, and the edges and ends of some boards are curling up. Any hope of saving this floor?

Perce

[hrhofmann]

The only thing that I can think of is to wait until everything has dried out and then sand the floor and refinish it. But that assumes that the laminate floor has a thick enough wood layer on the top that it can be sanded smooth without going through the wood where it is curled up.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

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Laminate has no wood. They call it "laminate" because it is laminated plastic. Engineered wood is a different product.

In any case, water under it has the potential for mold and mildew. I'd tear it out and replace it after everything is properly dried.

[ransley]

Is it a locking floating floor maybe removing a few end strips, run a fan and dehumidifier now. Its well known to use a wet-damp rated floor in basements, and kitchens.

[HeyBub]

I'd suck out as much water as possible, enlist a de-humidifier and hope for the best.

It sure won't get any worse. With patience and suitable placement of carpets and furniture, you may not even notice any lingering problem.