Dishwasher Leak Hardwood Floor Damage — Clearfield, UT

Loss Type: Category 1 Water / Dishwasher Supply Line Failure
Location: Clearfield, UT near State Street corridor
Response Time: 58 minutes
Job Duration: 5 days
Insurance: Yes – Progressive

The Situation

A homeowner near the State Street corridor in Clearfield, UT came home from work to find their kitchen flooded. The braided supply line connecting their dishwasher to the hot water valve under the sink had separated at the fitting and had been running water onto the kitchen floor for an estimated 6 to 7 hours. Water had spread across 290 square feet of engineered hardwood flooring in the kitchen and dining room and had begun migrating under the baseboard into the adjacent living room.

The homeowner shut off the water supply and called Upkeep for immediate water damage restoration. Our crew arrived within 58 minutes.

The Problem

Engineered hardwood is more dimensionally stable than solid hardwood but is not immune to water damage. After 6 to 7 hours of exposure, the flooring had begun to swell along the seam edges in the kitchen and a section near the dishwasher showed visible lifting. The more critical concern was the subfloor beneath — moisture readings showed the plywood subfloor had absorbed water across the full 290-square-foot affected area, with the highest readings concentrated in the kitchen near the dishwasher and sink cabinet.

The living room carpet along the shared wall had also absorbed water at the base, and moisture had wicked 4 inches up the drywall in the dining room corner. The homeowner filed an insurance claim that same evening.

What We Did

We began extraction immediately and removed the dishwasher from its bay to access the subfloor directly beneath it — the highest moisture zone. The dishwasher bay subfloor showed moisture readings nearly double the acceptable drying target and required direct airflow to bring down.

Rather than pulling the engineered hardwood immediately, we attempted a floor mat drying system across the full affected area for the first 24 hours to determine whether the flooring could be saved. Daily readings on the hardwood surface and subfloor tracked progress closely. By day 2, the dining room section of hardwood was responding well and moisture was dropping at an acceptable rate. The kitchen section near the dishwasher bay, however, showed minimal improvement — the seam swelling had locked moisture beneath the planks and the mat system could not draw it out effectively.

On day 2 we lifted the kitchen section of engineered hardwood — approximately 110 square feet — and continued drying the exposed subfloor directly with the following equipment:

• 4 air movers directed at the exposed kitchen subfloor and dishwasher bay
• 2 floor mat systems continuing on the dining room hardwood
• 2 LGR dehumidifiers running continuously
• Wall cavity drying panel on the dining room corner wall
• Twice-daily moisture readings across all zones

All readings reached target moisture content on day 5.

The Outcome

Approximately 180 square feet of engineered hardwood in the dining room was saved. The 110-square-foot kitchen section required complete flooring removal and replacement along with the dishwasher bay subfloor underlayment. The living room carpet was dried in place without removal. Progressive covered the full scope. The homeowner’s contractor reinstalled matching engineered hardwood in the kitchen section and the floor transitioned seamlessly.

“Six hours of water while I was at work and I thought everything was ruined. They saved most of my floors and were incredibly thorough about checking every corner. The Progressive claim was handled smoothly because of how well they documented everything.”

— L. Hawkins, Clearfield UT

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