Home improvement gurus

Sooo need some advice here. Long story short this hole in one of my house bathrooms needs to be fixed and I'm not 100% sure how to with out ripping up the whole floor. The way it looks is who ever built the house put a layer of plywood over the floors frame and then did the tile job on top of that. Problem is water leaked in from the shower which I'm planning on replacing and rotted some stuff causing it to collapse. Anyhow seems I could just rip up the old tile a couple if feet in either direction and screw on some good treated 2×4's to parts of the fram that are still good and then add a layer of treated ply wood then retile everything buuut im not much if a carpenter so wanted to see what yall thought. Sorry for the crappy pictures by the way

This is something I deal with quite a bit- there is a good procedure to get it back in shape but 1) get the shower you are replacing out b4 you decide anything- there is likely a lot of work to do there. 2) forget 2x4s- get treated 2x6 if not 2x8s to match the flooring joists which are no doubt weakened. Don't skimp.

Use framing hangers and box in the area of repairs whether it is the entire floor or just a portion. To do this, you sister onto each joist and hang extra cross members between them (perpendicular) to support both the edges and the inside of the area of repair. Buy screwing the hangers onto the new wood- you can get a reasonably firm floor which you need for about any floor finish but it is especially important for tile.

Yup! You’ll leave the repair better than you found it and do it the right way

Thanks Rob- I also should have added that it might not be all that fun but run the new wood as far along the rotting floor joists as you can to get to good wood again. Getting new wood secured to good wood will greatly enhance the overall repair.

Good luck Wolfie- think of it this way. No matter how talented you get with the welder- you cant weld to rust. Same principle applies here.

Nothing to add other than I hope your AC is working.

I had to do my bathroom some years back. Same thing, leak for years, and when I noticed the floor getting soft it was bad. I started tearing stuff out. Ended up when you opened the bathroom door there was no floor. Could see dirt. You need some kids. They will motivate you to get the shower and toilet going.

I used treated lumber as was suggested. Have not had another leak. I take a look under there now once or twice a year. Thinking if its a leak that doesnt show up inside again that treated lumber ought to last till I see the leak. Old leak was in the drain. Not the water lines. I have no idea how many years it had been leaking.

If you feel like you have to use treated lumber then it sounds like your not confident about fixing the leak. Tear everything out until you get to the point that there’s no more water damage and take care of the leak. There should really be no reason to use treated lumber indoors. I would have yo assume that there’s some mold issues going on to so i would address that also.

Plumbing sucks find the good studs and fill in between them, I'd do treated lumber also just to avoid ever having to do it again.

If you use treated lumber you need to use galvanized fasteners, Not just bright nails or sheetrock screws.

I would gut the entire room. Don't install new tile over plywood. Too much flex. Lay half inch cement board over the subfloor and the tile on top of that. Be sure to consider how much clearance you have under the door if it opens into the bathroom. You might need to trim the bottom if the new floor is a bit higher

If you have carpenter ants down there, you may be ripping out more than you thought.
They like damp wood.

Dkrug the carpenter ants up here will eat anything, even my boots!!

I've done dozens of repairs that looked very similar to what you've got there. White pretty much nailed it.



I've never used treated for this type of repair. Only reason to use treated would be if the joists are less than 18" above grade in a crawl space. As mentioned, if you use treated, make sure you use approved fasteners. The chemicals in the treated wood will deteriorate standard fasteners relatively quickly

Once you crawl under the house, you'll see how far you'll need new wood to run.

You'll also see if you need to improve cross ventilation, depending in the mold you may find.

Ya gota do this from under the house.

These guys got it covered well.

If that is the shower part it dosen't look like they used a 40mil rubber membrane tp keep the water from leaking. Do as suggested above with out treated lumber 2x8 or 2x10 what ever was where before.Jim

This should buy you some time doing the repair properly. Its not good to be rushed with those woodworking projects


https://www.amazon.com/Medline-Port...aWNrUmVkaXJlY3QmZG9Ob3RMb2dDbGljaz10cnVl

just use a bucket with saw dust , and spend the other 50 dollars on lumber


the others have it well covered for what you need to do , I like to sister things up for a good distance as long a dimensional lumber as I can get in the space if you can get all the way to a girder that is great.

White made a good point about the cement board, NEVER lay tile over plywood. The movement of the wood will eventually cause the grout to crack at minimum, but a lot of times the tile will crack on the plywood joints over time. Good luck with your project.

Pretty much what everyone has said. Easily done yourself if you have a few tools. Rip out all the rot and replace it with new stuff. I have even gone as far as leveling up a house with a few big jacks and driving in supports to make an old house level again. You gonna need a BFH and a sawzall will make it all go so much easier.

Also dont be afraid to try your hand at laying some tile back on the floor. Its fairly easy to learn to do with the spacers and stuff they have available these days.

x3 on what White17 posted and would be a good time to upgrade the plumbing with flexible supply lines and pvc. Costs more now but a young guy like you will surely get your monies worth in the long run.

Wolfdog91,

Well, I've been down this road before. My son noticed that he thought his master bath floor flexed when he walked on it. After pulling a few tiles he found the both the one piece Fiberglas shower and the toilet both had contributed to water leakage. The wax toilet ring had deteriorated and the shower had a barely perceptible crack in the base, leading to this.




The only correct fix would be to remove all of the flooring and one piece shower unit.



The flooring framework was fine, as you can see. Replaced sub floor and used cement board instead of drywall where the shower walls would be. A new shower pan, and ceramic tile finished it up.



Definitely use cement board on the floor, screwed down. PossumMan is correct..... A Sawzall is a must, also with a short and long demo bar, the ones with the 90 degree turn in one end.

Lots of satisfaction when you're done.

Thanks for all the advice everyone, well looks like I got an excuse for a new tool . One of the perks of working at Lowe's is I can price all this stuff on my breaks

Hey..........there are a few things I need .............

Me too!

if you don't have a circular saw it is another very versatile tool you will want.

I miss the worm gear saw I had when I worked in construction

I have a nice Milwaukee with magnisium shoe but it is the blade on the right direct drive and not the worm drive with the blade on the left

solid investment of a saw https://www.lowes.com/pd/SKILSAW-7-...cular-Saw-with-Magnesium-Shoe/1000607587

sky hook https://www.amazon.com/SKIL-WDHK01-...w&qid=1594172262&s=hi&sr=1-1

this guy has some very good videos on skilsaw skills and I like the way he sets up his saw skyhook and long cord

Never could get used to left blade circ saws.

the longer handle on the saw leads to less turning in the cut and the worm drive seems to give better torque

it feels a little weird at first but then if you are a right handed person you don't end up looking over the saw to see where the blade is cutting but your right it does put the blade away from you.


looking at the current saw it looks like skill ships it with the sky hook built in now.

I guess you really can't teach an old dog new tricks.

I've been running a right blade circ saw for forty-plus years. Two years ago an employee wanted me to try his new left blade worm drive. We had to rebuild an apartment building/garage that a large tree had fallen on. I agreed to use his saw for the duration of that job which lasted almost three months. Another guy had a left blade Milwaukee cordless circ saw that I used on the roof a bunch of times.

Never did get used to either one and am back to using my tried and true DeWalt right blade circs.

You have a great set of ideas here IMO. Stainless screw, backer board under type, EPDM under the shower pan, and measuring the door height to plan your floor finish are all next level, do it right the first time, and never deal with it again type plans

Here's what my ex son In law did. He replaced all the doors In the house all the floors In the house were hardwood but one bedroom had been carpeted. So the new door was to long and wouldn't open so what did the idiot do he cut out a section of the carpeting so the door would open.. You can't fix stupid.

So I take it you are more than a little concerned about the grand babies.