Will I have to tear out my floors?

My bathroom flooded from a water line breaking under a built in tub and ran for almost an hour before I could cut water off. It ran under my tile floor to the next room. When the restoration company came in later that day they said they weren’t tearing anything out. They put in a large dehumidifier and multiple fans to make sure moving air covered the area including in the cabinet under the tub.

Sure enough, within 3 days it was all dry based on moisture meter measurements on any wood that was wet. They said that as the moisture got pulled out from the edges it would continue to pull from under the tile.

I used this method recently in my new house when we discovered a shower pan leaking through a wall onto my closet floor. Got the equipment from Home Depot and did it myself much cheaper than calling out restoration company.
I’d say if you can get that set up asap, you’ll be fine. Shut the door of the room with the large dehumidifier in it and put a rolled towel at bottom of door to seal it and let it roll a few days.

I made the mistake of calling insurance right away and the total claim ended up being for only $2500 since they didn’t rip anything out. The water claim is on my record for 5 years and will cost me well more than $2500 in premiums.

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I made the mistake of calling insurance right away and the total claim ended up being for only $2500 since they didn’t rip anything out. The water claim is on my record for 5 years and will cost me well more than $2500 in premiums.

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Yeah this is why I don’t want to call them right away

The flooring/subfloors in your home are probably not exactly flat and the water will migrate to the lowest point. So, while the sink overflowed in the bathroom, it may have traveled to an adjacent room. I'd pull the flooring up until you stopped seeing moisture. The good thing is you will more than likely be able to re-use the flooring once it's dry, you already know the floor installer to call and the flooring you chose is still in stock. The vinyl floor is going to act as a vapor barrier and prevent the floors from drying. If you find more water than you expect or it migrated under the vanity or walls, you can rent a dehu and dry the remaining items in place without demo.

A water claim like this is one of the worst types of claims you can file under your homeowners. If you can resolve it yourself, do it.

I had the same thing over a larger area and additional item was to pull the baseboards and shoe moldings. That helped with the drying efforts in addition to using fans, dehumidifiers, etc. that others have mentioned . I ended up replacing the boards and molding.

You should be able to pull it all up and let it dry. Then, reinstall it. NUmber the pieces so you know which ones go where. That's part of the beauty of LVP

Definitely would be best to pull them up. 100% would if you have a moisture barrier underneath the LVP, which most do. You could imagine water trying to dry on top of a tarp and how long that would take, it'd essentially be like that but with floors on top.

You could take them up, going back a row at a time without damaging them, and see how far the water has traveled. I'd pull back a few rows even after you don't see water because it could have travelled (I've done jobs where the water leaked in the bathroom and there was more water in the hallway than the bathroom because of slope). Since they are already cut to fit you could probably re-install them yourself when your slab is dry if nothing has warped. I'd for sure run some shop fans in there if you have them,

My main concern would actually be your baseboard and sheetrock behind your baseboard. One of the things I do for a living is water and fire mitigation and mold remediation. LVP is a good product and does well with water, but if water got to your baseboard for any sustained time it will eventually warp and if it got to your sheetrock it will develop mold.

That's when an insurance claim would come into play. If I came out there and it was a bad enough leak I'd be taking out floors, running dehumidifiers, wall cavity dryers, air purifier and air movers. Even in a small bathroom. But we'd remove the base and cut out any needed sheetrock that got wet. It's not a simple "I need new floors" insurance claim. It's "I'm taking care of every single thing that might have been effected and ensure there is no mold growth" claim.

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If the flooring does have to come up and is ruined, you may consider biting the bullet and having tile put in the bathroom. Since you have young kid(s), expecting them to never again make a mess in the bathroom is unreasonable. With tile, you can caulk the base/shoe to the flooring. This isn't 100% waterproof but will buy some time to get towels on the floor to soak up the mess.

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The bathroom is tile, the flooring in the hallway is LVP, which is where the water got under the baseboard and into the hallway/under the floor.