Does this sound right - wet floorboards ?

[ReindeerRockabillie]

We had a pretty major leak in the bathroom underneath the bath that brought down the ceiling in the kitchen below. The insurance company is absolutely adamant that the floor boards are solid and do not need replacing, despite having water poured onto them for six hours. They have mould on them which the insurance company concedes need sanitising. My concern is I do not want the plywood floor laying down on top of them until they’re dry. So how long exactly should I be waiting and realistically all these floor boards going to dry?

Have you had a damp surveyor out to see the moisture levels in them?
Recently had a water leak in our cellar. They came and used their moisture meter thingy probes to see the levels. We then had dehumidifiers for a few weeks and levels reassessed . They then had to supply a drying certificate before any companies would touch the work that needed completed.

Deffo one to ask the insurance to send out!

Also regarding the mould. I quoted the dangers of mould spores and the concern I had for our daughters health.... That made them move much quicker to get dehumidifiers to us. X

Hi OP my partner has a hardwood flooring company so I asked him what he thinks. His response is if they are solid floorboards then they might dry eventually but if it is an engineered floor which is sitting on top of the original floor then it won't. He really doesn't like the sound of the mould and thinks it's probably pretty fucked to be honest. What a nightmare for you.

It is solid floor boards and they have been out to see them, but they’re absolutely adamant that they will just dry out and it will be fine and they’ve offered me a grand to piss off basically.

My flat roof blew off and the ceiling came in, exposing the flat roof wooden structure which was soaked. The claims company sent men with a huge blower drying machine, could you ask for these? I was also paid for the electricity use.

I'd be calling them tomorrow and saying that you have sought advice and you are requiring a full damp survey and dehumidifiers..... Lay it on thick about the mould. Say its making you unwell etc.... You need a contractor with a moisture meter in order to see how wet they are and this is something they must supply ASAP. Do not take a pay out, stand your ground.... Good luck

The floor boards will be fine. If the leak was a slow one for months, you’d have a problem. Wet for a few hours, no issue at all. They just need to dry. You could run a dehumidifier for a while.
What is the plywood floor you are putting over top?

Its been three months though. They still arent dry.
They want to put 6mm ply over it, then SVT sort of waterproof laminate

Get a dehumidifier and leave it in there with the door closed. Surprised you haven’t done this already.
I presume the offending boards have the bath on them which would make replacement complicated? You could also pry up anything accessible to leave open the underfloor void to help drying, or use a jigsaw, or is it one of those free standing baths with the floor visible?

As someone who has had to deal with this regularly in my job... it takes ages for moisture to be taken out. You will have to get an industrial dehum in the room, doors and windows all closed and leave on for at least a couple of weeks. You can get a moisture reader, which is a metal probe you stick into the wood which will tell you the content.

Take the £1000 and get new floorboards.

Will that be enough ?

If they are going under another floor, they don’t have to be floorboards at all. Modern houses have chipboard flooring in sheets. Maybe get a quote? Assuming it’s a smallish area, I would have thought so.

Chipboard flooring is the work of the devil, anybody who knowingly puts this in there house needs there head looking at 🙁. They put it in new builds because it’s cheap. Not because it’s good.

I was shocked to find all the floors in this bungalow but one were cheap chipboard. They were all covered in mould and mushy with the condensation, which I later found out was because the company the seller used had used ordinary wood for the joists, with a plastic bag over the end. I did ask her about it as I'd actually invited her to stay if she came back to the area, so had her number. She was very defensive saying that she had 'supplied me' with the floor surveys - I never received them. If I had received them I would have taken action sooner, it might have saved my pets.

I didn’t say they were wonderful but many many houses have them with no issue snd they are totally normal. My house is not a cheap house and we have them in many rooms upstairs. My suggestion is that because the OP was covering them up anyway, what’s the point in wanting top quality boards you will never see again? If any floors are damp, you are a fool for not cure the source of the damp. It’s not the fault of the floor!

I had a leak in the bathroom in the house I owned & the insurance assessor included a new floor in the payout I got.

Nothing wrong with chipboard. Makes for nice flat floors that don’t squeak.
If it’s nailed rather than screwed, less good.

Why would you replace perfectly good solid timber floorboards, which have survived a soaking (albeit they need to dry out) - and more to the point would survive another similar disaster - with cheap chipboard which will be wrecked next time this happens? It makes no sense!

The floorboards are wet! The op has been offered another £1000 to settle. This means she can get the floor sorted out. She’s covering it anyway! Did you read the thread. They are not perfectly good floorboards!

If the ceiling is down, then it can dry from underneath.

I'm surprised you have mould from a six hour leak. It seems more likely that it was leaking for a long time.

If it's already been weeks since the flood, the wood should be fully dry. It really doesn't take that long for wood to dry out.

Is your house heated and ventilated?

I'd suggest getting some wood preservative from Screwfix and slapping on a few coats to kill the mould and prevent rot and woodworm.

www.screwfix.com/p/sika-wood-preserver-clear-5ltr/47030

Leave the ceiling off until late in the spring, so that you can leave the windows open, to make sure it's fully dry.

I would say they will be alright one they dry out, and definitely better than chip board. If you are in a hurry to get it sorted, or they are particularly uneven or butchered, I'd replace with decent 18mm or more thick ply. Last time I bought it was about 30 pounds a sheet, but no doubt it's double that.
Most of the cost will be labour and disposal of the old boards if you can't DIY.

Bit late in replying, sorry. But there's nothing in this thread to suggest there's anything wrong with the floorboards. They just got wet. They'll be fine as long as they dry out. This wouldn't be the case for most chipboard you could replace them with.

Has anyone ever soaked a wooden chopping board? You're not really supposed to, but plenty of people have. It serves as an example of how solid timber behaves when it get wet. Sure, the board may swell a little when soaked and crack with repeated soaking, but it won't lose all integrity and disintegrate on first contact with water.