On 25 Oct, 15:38, "J" wrote:
I had been leaning toward installing laminate flooring in our kitchen, but a
recent incident tells me that this might not be a good choice: Our water
heater resides in a closet that is part of the kitchen and during the middle
of the night, a leak sprung up that flooded the kitchen. How well would
laminate flooring recover from being flooded (or hardwood for that matter)?
With the water heater basically in the same room and our washer is also in
the kitchen, would it be more prudent to choose a different floor covering?

Thanks.

Coincedentally, I was watching Ask This Old House last night and Rich
showcased various "leak protection devices" for water heaters,
dishwashers, sinks and laundries.

They ranged from the simple alarms that go off if the floor gets wet
to some sophistcated devices that monitor the flow.

One device uses a floor sensor, say in a pan under the HWH, wired to
the cold inlet to shut off the water if the floor gets wet. Granted,
you'd still have the water from the HWH to deal with, but it would
limit the damage somewhat. If you can't get a pan under the HWH, they
showed a rubber hose that can be used a dam to contain enough water to
set of the device. This device could also be plumbed into a
dishwasher or laundry system.

Another very simple device was a braided hose with a mechanical valve
in one end that slammed shut if the hose burst. He cut the hose with a
bolt cutter and other than a quick spray of water, the hose did not
leak. Great for dishwashers, sinks and laundries.

Another device was for the laundry which included the water valves and
a power outlet. Supposedly, as long as the washer was not drawing any
current, the valves would stay shut so if a hose burst, the leak would
be limited to the water in the hose. The assumption was also that you
are always home when you do the laundry, so you'd know about a burst
hose if the device was drawing current. I'm not sure about that one.
My washer has an electronic display and although I've never tested it,
I'm assuming it is drawing some current at all times. As soon as you
touch any button or turn the knob, the display lights up, plus it
remembers the options you chose the last time you used a given cycle,
so I'm guessing it is "always on". That and the time delay means I
don't have to be home to do laundry.