where did this water come from ?

[phil]

I had my own little old house trauma today. I refinished the floor in my kitchen and worked so hard removing tiles, ripping up and replacing old fir flooring, bleaching , staining , poly-ing and did a beautiful job. I had it all covered with a rug and some rubber tiles with paper underneath, to keep the floor in nice shape until I complete other renos.

this morning as I'm putting my boots on for work , I found that the paper was soaked, in an area about 6 feet square and the water had been there for who knows how long, invisibly hidden by the flooring tiles. I lifted them all so it can dry but they were so soaked that the boards are growing tight and swelling near the cracks. It has poly is pretty ok but the water really penetrated so it is heaving up at the cracks and expelling the fillers which aren't waterproof.

I think it might be caused by a leaky hose for the dishwasher. Somehow I'll fix it but it was so disheartening because I worked for months to get the floor restored. I'm thinking that although I love wood, a wood floor in the kitchen it just isn't so practiacal.. anyway I'll survive. Worst comes to worst I'll do a strip of cork flooring parallel to the counter.

[Sara]

That is disheartening, phil. Sorry you're having to see your hard work ruined by water. Water seems to be the enemy of most old houses these days.

[Vala]

Oh dear, I'm so sorry for the terrible news.

[Gothichome]

Not a good day for old home lovers at all for some of us. Phill I too feel your pain, had the feed for the ice maker/indoor water leak over night in my Calgary home. Got up in the morning, my fridge was teetering on top of a foot high mound of swelled oak flooring.

[phil]

It wasn't so bad. I found that the door seal on my dishwasher had failed. mess dried up, flooring wasn't too buckled, and it'll lay flat again when it dries a bit more. we are going to uncover the floors and enjoy them now. at least I can see if they get wet. the problem was caused by the water creeping under my rubber mats and going unnoticed for a few days but at least it wasn't anything like a constant flow of water. It actually feels nice to uncover them and enjoy the look. I forgot what they look like ! I might add a strip along near the counter, maybe a runner with a rubber backing or something suitable. I had half the floor covered with these interlocking rubber matts and half covered by a big rug. Now Im just going to have a little rug where the table is to hopefully protect the floor from moving chairs.

[Don M]

Now Im just going to have a little rug where the table is to hopefully protect the floor from moving chairs.

Maybe some plastic glides on the chair legs?