Flooded Basement with Pergo Laminate

Q: We have Pergo laminate flooring in our basement and it recently flooded (3″ of water) Do we need to pull the flooring and padding out or will it be OK? HELP!!
Vycki
A: Flooding can be some real bad news for any wood floor. Your best bet here is to get a dehumidifier in there to help pull up as much moisture as possible if your goal is to salvage the floor. Also, its a good idea to pick up a moisture meter and continually test the floor until it gets back to somewhere around 6-9% moisture content.
Now this being said, its likely that this has simply been too much water and your Pergo may have to be replaced entirely. Standing water, especially to the point of flooding is devastating to wood flooring and it will case problems. You can try to remove the moisture and see if the floor will remain good, but its likely that whatever warranty you still had in place would now be void because the floor has been exposed to something it is not built for. The good news here is that homeowners’ insurance typically covers problems like this and should replace the floor for you with a new floor of your choice.