7 Tips to Repair Water Damaged Wood Furniture
Water damage can happen at any time at your home or business. Whether it is caused by floods, natural disasters, or a simple leak, it can cause major damage to your belongings. One of the items that are vulnerable to significant water damage is wood furniture. It may seem like wood furniture cannot be saved after experiencing damage from water or flooding, however, most furniture can be repaired with the proper methods and a little elbow grease.
If you’ve experienced water damage to your wooden furniture, here are some tips you should follow so that you have the best chance to restore them and get them in great shape again:
- Dry the wood:
If you’ve experienced damage to your wood furniture, you can help dry it by putting it in the sun, or you can use fans and dryers to speed up the drying process. Always check the weather before drying furniture outside to make sure you do not put it out in humid conditions and possibly cause mold growth, or in too dry weather which can cause cracks in the wood.
- Use more fixings:
Once the furniture has dried, you will need to visually examine it and determine what needs to be fixed. You can always add more nails, screws, bolts, brackets, and frame fixings to provide more support to the furniture.
It is a great idea to use a belt or finishing sander to sand the furniture after it has dried. A belt sander is best for straightforward sanding such as a tabletop, however, a finishing sander is best for getting an ultra-smooth surface in the end. You can also use a combination of both to get the best results.
- Apply a marine-based polyurethane coating:
Marine-based polyurethane is a coating for boat exteriors that helps protect the surface from water and sunlight. It also works well on furniture, railings, tables, countertops, and more.
- Treat white spots:
White spots are usually created due to contaminated water seeping into wood furniture. However, it can be treated very easily with a spoonful of baking soda and toothpaste. You can dip a damp cloth into this mixture and scrub the spots. Once the furniture is spot free, you can shine it further with a dry cloth.
- Black mold spots should be cleaned:
When wood absorbs too much water, it will form white spots, but these spots will turn black which means that the water has gotten into the deep pores of the wood and has damaged its finish of it. This could also indicate that there is mold growing on your wooden furniture. To remove the black mold spots from the furniture, you will need to first remove the upper finish and clean it with a peroxide cleaning solution and then put on a new coat of finish. However, if you have an extensive amount of mold, you should call professional mold remediation companies.
- Fix the furniture veneer:
Usually, when there are white spots and black mold on your wooden furniture, this also means that the furniture veneer may also collapse if it contacts with water. You can soak it using a moisturizer so it can become flat once again. When it becomes flat, make sure you clean and dry it. Next, you should fill it with veneer glue and make sure to inject the glue slowly inside. The needle should be pointing between the furniture and its coating. Once you see the glue going into the wood, you should remove the syringe and put something heavy over that surface so that the veneer sticks. Do not remove the heavy object off the veneers too quickly as the glue will need to fully dry out first.
Call Professional Water Damage Restoration Company
If you’ve suffered major water damage at your home or business, we can help with our professional water damage restoration services. Whether the water damage was caused by rain, flooding, burst pipes, or sewage backups, we can help save your building materials and your belongings.