I just noticed some damage to the hardwood floors caused by moisture (from the recent rains) seeping in from the outside of the house.
Any ideas on what the best way to resolve this is ?

The picture from the outside shows the sealant is missing in some of the parts under the sliding window. (this may have been where the moisture came in from). What kind of sealant should I put to close these gaps ?

For now, I have put a heater next to where the wood has swelled up to try to dry up the moisture ? Is that the best way ?

Someone recommended putting some heavy weight on top of the wood as well to try and get it back as much as possible. Will that work ?

Link to pictures showing the damage

(By the way, here is more information on the type of wood that we have.)

Bruce
Hardwood Floors from Armstrong
Solid Hardwood Flooring
Solid Oak
C5011
40 Sq ft.
5/16 in x 2 1/4 in
(7.9mm x 57.2 mm) Width
http://www.bruce.com/hardwood/C5011.asp

The cause of this is pretty obvious: You have a sliding door unit (or full length window) where the level of your floor is at or very near to the level of the brick patio outside. It rains & water will get through and under your flooring.

It's a poor design. Sealing from the outside will do nothing since the bricks of the patio are not a solid, unbroken and waterproof surface. Because of the patio design, they never will be. The only option to seal it will be to remove the unit, clean everything well and use generous amounts of silicon underneath the bottom plate of the door/window unit.

However, it's only matter of time as any such barrier that relies only on caulk is going to fail again. The only real fix that will last over time is to remove the patio and redesign another that is several inches below the slab of the house. (I am assuming that this is a slab floor and not framing over a crawl space).

The flooring does not look too bad as yet, but will be difficult to fix. Drying out will be better done with a dehumidifier as opposed to the heater. Drying will help shrink the floor back to where it should be but those areas that have pulled up are not going to go down 100% and stay without being reglued. When you remove the door/window unit you should be able to see the exposed edges of the finished flooring. At this time, you may be able to pry up the edges enough so that you can get some adhesive underneath. If the flooring has dried out and if you keep some heavy weight on top of the floor while the glue cures, you may be able to bring the floor back. Otherwise, you'll need to rip up the damaged flooring and replace with new.

Jaybees spot on. You have one of the single most common builders mistakes out there.
Code states the opening can not be within be within 4" minimum of any grade.
The right way to fix this working with what you have would be to remove all the bricks along that wall and add a drain tile to give the water someplace to go.
Remove the door and header and add a row of bricks on the bottom and raise the header.
Add a sill pan (the best way) or at least properly flash under the door.
http://www.jamsill.com/
http://www.bing.com/images/sea...39AEC6BB7C&first=300

http://inspectapedia.com/BestP.../Doors_Exterior3.htm

Without that kick plate under the outside of the sill to fully support the threshold and act as a solid surface to keep water out instead of just brick it's still going to leak.
I like to use 1X vinyl lumber for this. Never going to rot and 100% water proof.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: joecaption,