Washer Destroyed Floor!

[petroid]

So two years ago, I put a laminate floor in my kitchen. It's great! Cleans easy, doesn't really ever look dirty, and doesn't scratch from furniture. Then I had a water shutoff valve leak in a closet down the hall. Water ran under the laminate floor, soaking it from the bottom up before I realized what was going on. The floor was destroyed. Fixed the leak, pulled the floor up and replaced it. Wasn't terribly expensive but a pain. Recently I noticed the front seal on the washing machine which is in small laundry area off the kitchen was torn and there was some water on the floor. Ok, so now I have to fix the washer, right? Too late! It had been leaking for a while apparently but wasn't blatantly obvious and the water seeped under the flooring and it's all Ruined AGAIN! I've had it. I'm putting down some cheap linoleum and am done with laminate FOREVER! Ok. I feel better now...

[Garyshome]

cheap linoleum sounds good to me!

[imashooter2]

They make leak pans to go under washers. I hear they are cheaper than 3 laminate floors...

[freebullet]

If you get a slow leak and moisture gets under the linoleum you will have a mold contamination problem under it. If your not willing to use a pan under the washer ceramic tile utilizing thin set set mortar(don't use mastic) base would be best. Even that is susceptible to prolonged moisture exposure. Long term water exposure will damage everything under the Sun given enough time.

[Charley]

There are some waterproof laminates as well. Then, if you are not on a slab, you just need to worry about the subfloor!

[Alvarez Kelly]

I use a waterproof flooring sold only by Home Depot. It is installed similarly to the laminate, but is completely water proof. It is available in many wood grain colors/patterns and also 1 foot square ceramic tile looking colors/patterns. The wood grain pieces are 3 feet by 6 inches. The ones that look like tiles go down in 3 feet by 1 foot pieces.

You MUST leave an expansion space around the perimeter. As the tiles are adhered to each other on all four sides, but NOT glued to the floor, the whole floor is supposed to be able to "float." I set the baseboards on top of the flooring.

Something to look into to.

[Bloodman14]

Kelly, I put that 'floating floor' stuff all through my house, and it is great!! Be careful moving furniture, though; I have a gouge in one room from scooting a chest across the floor.

[petroid]

I apologize for my original post. I used inappropriate language and it was edited by the mods and I received an infraction. I didn't mean to break the rules. It won't happen again. Pete

[petroid]

I am going to pick up a drip pan for the washer today! Thanks for the advice guys!

[MT Gianni]

Hoses on a washer are another killer. They should be replaced every 5 years or so to prevent coming home from vacation and wondering why water is running out of your garage. The prevention for it is to always turn the water off to the washer when it is not in use.

[kootne]

Here is my cautionary tale of woe regarding leaking appliances. We had a valve develope a crack in our dishwasher years ago. The way things were built, the water didn't run out onto the open floor. The linoeum and mopboard prevented that. Instead, it went down the hole through the floor that the pipes came up through. This was not a drip but a pretty big stream. In the partially finished basement, directly underneath, was my "gun room". The wall the water ran down was the wall all my rifles were leaning against. None of them were improved by this incident although all did survive. Luckily this was over 30 years ago and I only had 5 or 6.
Moral of story; Don't store your guns under water pipes or appliances.
kootne

[blackthorn]

A few years ago we came home to find the dish washer had leaked all over the hardwood floor in the kitchen. I don't know what possessed the original owners to put hardwood in a kitchen, but Oh well---. We had been gone for a few days and the floor was buckled in a fairly large area. House insurance replaced the whole floor including the dinning area because they could not match the old oak floor. Washer and fridge now sit on lino pads and we have moisture alarms under and along side them.

[Charley]

Quick aside here, "linoleum" the linseed oil based old time flooring material isn't readily available any more. Most people today refer to vinyl flooring as "linoleum". That what you are speaking of? My whole house is combination of laminate and ceramic tile, except my stairs, which are oak. I hate carpet.

[higgins]

This is why I had my icemaker disconnected under the floor where it attaches to the plumbing when it quit working. My BIL replaced a kitchen floor several years ago when his icemaker leaked while he was out of town, a friend had a gun rusted and some other stuff that he had stored in a basement damaged when the icemaker on the refrigerator above leaked at a drip rate for no telling how long. The one on the refrigerator at work never seemed to work properly. Icemakers are handy, but I'll use trays and remove one potential leak from the house. I know there are plenty of other potential leak sources, but its harder to do without the other things plumbing is attached to.

[shooter93]

While this isn't your entire problem it's a good thing to mention here at the very least washers should have a single control valve and it should be turned off anytime the washer isn't running and someone isn't home. I have repair more water damage from washers than any other thing in the house. They do make a somewhat expensive vale now (and worth every penny) that goes on before the washer hoses which you can install yourself that shuts the water off automatically when the washer isn't running. I pretty much install them in every house we build or remodel anymore just as a precaution.