Replacing the Bathroom Floor

Little did I know it, but the best encouragement for my own work...was the work of others.

When I first purchased this foreclosure, one of the toilets didn't sit too straight.  I was made aware of this by the numerous plastic shims found below the toilet itself.  Well, I wanted to put down new linoleum, but this uneven floor was a problem.

The bathroom as acquired.  Notice the shims underneath the toilet.

So I removed the toilet.  Oh boy...

What I found wasn't too encouraging.  The toilet had been leaking for quite some time.  It could have been leaking before the shims were installed, or it could have been leaking now due to a poor seal with the wax ring because of the shims.  Who knew.

After removing the toilet...water had been leaking for some time creating soft wood.




The mold around the toilet flange.

All I knew is that I had had a leaky toilet...and that created wet wood...which in turn created mold.  Agh, there is ALWAYS something to do with a home!!!

Well, I started peeling up these sticky vinyl tiles to figure out just how bad it was.  It wasn't looking too great.  I needed the floorboard replaced.  So I called up a few contractors.  One by one each would walk in, assess the damage, and think out loud!  I tell you, THAT was worth its weight in gold to me.



I removed all of the VERY sticky tiles to see how far the damage had gone.

"Well, huh...yeah, it looks like you are going to have to cut out the floorboard here and install new..."

"What I would do is cut out the floorboard from here to here...and I'm not sure about the vanity here, but that may have to be removed, too...yeah, huh, how bad is it here..."

Time and time again, these men would walk in and think on the fly.  Then inevitably would come the price.  $200.  $300.  Unknown.

But the more I heard them talk, the more I realized that I myself could do that work!!!  Shoot, if they were just going to cut wood, I could do that, right?!

That was my philosophy anyway.

So that's just what I did.  I talked it over with Dad for a bit, and that's what we decided to do.  He understood more about floors than me, but that's what seemed to be the best bet.  Cut out the floor, then install some reinforcement, and replace with a new floor!  Easy, right?

Well, the work wasn't all that hard on paper, but Dad and I struggled with this little project.  For whatever reason, the supports that we installed between the floor joists was a pain for us!  We had one guy in the crawlspace, the other guy in the bathroom, and communication was breaking down.  And frustration was building.

But we worked through the frusration, and we ended up with a "brand new" floor.

Dad and I cut out the floor.  Here you can see down into the crawlspace.

The new floor installed.

We replaced the area that had soft wood.  The rest was still strong.  I sprayed bleach on the rest of the wood.

The project itself wasn't too hard in terms of what it required, but it just ended up being work.

But the GREAT news was that the project cost me less than $20 for new parts.  And the floor was ready for the linoleum guy to come install!

The luan being installed before the linoleum.

He installed luan down, then applied the new linoleum.  I had a brand new floor for around $150!  I'm thrilled!  I added a new white toilet seat, and voila!  The bathroom looks so much better!!!

Before...

After!

I love it!