Engineered Hardwood and Water Spills

Does anyone have any info or comments about how resistant engineered hardwood is to water spills? I know it's very resistant to chaning shape due to moisture (ie: humidity), however, I'm talking about spilling a cup of water and not being able to clean it up for a few hours (as an example). Will it swell up like laminate floors do and never return to it's original shape? Or will it behave like real hardwood and basically do nothing? Btw, my example assumes the water landed somewhere where it can get in between the pieces of wood and down to the bottom section of the engineered wood.

If you have info or personal experiences I'd love to hear them.

Thanks, Harry

Reply to
Harry Muscle
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I took a sliver of cheap laminate and immersed it in a glass of water for a month. Measured it with a micrometer. No change compared to the original.

You might try the same experiment with some left-over scraps...

Reply to
HeyBub

From my experience laminates with a pressed board substrate will swell if you dont get the liquid up within an hour or so, It absorbes down at the seems. Laminates with a plywood substrate maybe work better, but I have some pressed board stuff in a utility room and it swelled when I had a water heater start trickling. When it dried it went back to normal.

Reply to
RickH

I believe just one company approves its laminate for water resistance between boards. frankly I dont like the sound of laminate we decided to refinish our existing near 60 year old floors, probabhly next summer.

where we live during refinishing is issue my wife has asthma and we have dogs

Reply to
hallerb

Maybe 10 years ago a friend of mine had a deal with his landlady; he was paying little or no rent with the understanding that her list of improvements that she wanted would be done to the place by the time he moved out. One of those items was a new kitchen floor. They decided on Pergo, and not long after he got the floor laid the dishwasher started spewing on the floor. It buckled badly and had to be redone.

nate

Reply to
N8N

pergo... one of the best...and it buckled when flooded... good to know, I figured as much, even minor spills over time should do some damage it seems. Even solid wood flooring has limits.

Perhaps pans with drains through the floor should be fit under things like dish washers, water heaters and kitchen sinks.. especially on an ultra high end home.

Reply to
phil scott

So far everyone seems to be talking about laminate flooring. Is everyone considering engineered hardwood flooring to be in the same boat as laminate? I know laminate flooring will get totally messed up with spilled water (due to it's HDF core), but I'm specifically wondering about engineered hardwood flooring (plywood core with real hardwood veneer on top). If anyone has any input about that please let me know.

Thanks, Harry

Reply to
Harry Muscle

I have Mannington engineered woo on my lower level. A joint in the baseboard leaked and water got under it, a hallway section about 24' x 36". Dried up like nothing ever happened. I was pleasantly surprised.

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

On Wed, 15 Oct 2008 21:22:20 -0400, against all advice, something compelled "Ed Pawlowski" , to say:

I'm sorry, I just had to see that out of context.

Reply to
Steve Daniels

You should see it, battery operated. :)

Reply to
Ed Pawlowski

I can almost hear the siren song of that Mannington, trying to woo me. "Here, here.... you're such a handsome man. Come here and walk on me" it says in a soft, purring voice.

Reply to
Stormin Mormon

Depends on the manufacturer. Mannington makes the seams highly water resistant. We had it installed in my elderly parents' bathrooms 5 years ago and I can tell you that there was all kinds of standing water for all kinds of reasons and NO swelling whatsoever.

From my experience laminates with a pressed board substrate will swell if you dont get the liquid up within an hour or so, It absorbes down at the seems. Laminates with a plywood substrate maybe work better, but I have some pressed board stuff in a utility room and it swelled when I had a water heater start trickling. When it dried it went back to normal.

Reply to
Art

I have 21mm thick 210mm wide engineered oak floor treated with Osmo hard wax oil in a two year old house. First time we used the shower water leaked through the floor onto the oak in the room below. About a two pints of water was spilt. Didn't notice for 24 hours. Nothing bad happened.

We have also mopped the floor 5 or 6 times over the past two years with no ill effects. Obviously we don't soak it with water. We squeeze out as much water out of the mop as we can so the mop is just damp.

Reply to
Cwatters

Perhaps I should add that this engineered oak is 6mm oak on 15mm plywood. The plywood is good quality with about 11-13 laminations.

Reply to
Cwatters

That's what we have. See my replys on this thread.

Reply to
Cwatters

We have mannington engineered wood flooring and i give it a big F for fail. Our daughter spilled water the night before, and we noticed the next day. the surface veneer grain raised and is now rippled. I would never recommend.

Reply to
gamble.grant

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