Floor repair

Hillsteader · Fri Apr 17, 2015 10:38 am

I am replacing water damaged floors in a few sections of the house. Two bathrooms, laundry room, and under the kitchen sink. I plan to use 3/4" plywood subfloor and loose-lay vinyl plank as the finish floor. My questions are about underlayment. Since these are potentially wet areas, what is the best option for underlayment? Cement board or something else? Could I just use "enhanced" plywood that is water-resistant as the subfloor without an underlayment?

The vinyl planks I want to use (Cryntel eZ flor loose lay vinyl plank) can be installed over concrete or plywood but the instructions say it cannot be installed over "sealed" sublfoors. Is cement board considered a "sealed" subfloor?

Thanks for any advice.

Greg · Fri Apr 17, 2015 8:17 pm

Most use plywood. It will take a lot of water to ruin plywood. depending on your flooring that will usually give some protection also.

Greg

bobfather99 · Fri Apr 17, 2015 9:59 pm

Don't forget to double check your plumbing....you don't want to have a leak get all over your nice new floors.

Check your connections on the supply and drains, and add shutoffs at each fixture if they're not there now. That way you can quickly isolate leaks and keep damage down to a minimum.

Hillsteader · Sat Apr 18, 2015 7:17 am

Great, I was hoping plywood on it's own would do

We're also replacing all the plumbing, we had frozen pipes this winter and leaks all over the place, hence all this floor repair. The tub in the master bath, however, has been leaking since long before this winter. So it's in the worst condition, with water and mold not only on the floor but on all three walls surrounding the tub. We removed 2 layers of tub surround and 2 layers of wall paneling to find one section of wall framing damaged. The other two look ok, no mold. Now, how do we go about replacing that wall frame? Hopefully you can see in the pic, the damage is mostly on the bottom of the wall, the bottom plate and the bottom of the four joists.

JD · Thu Apr 23, 2015 7:14 pm

You can just cut out the bad portion of sill plate and studs and sister new wood to replace it. A small reciprocal saw like the Rigid One Hand Reciprocal Saw or one of the smaller types sold with cordless drills are ideal, mostly because they have a 1/2" throw, rather than the 1 1/4" throw on a full sized sawzall. Throw = distance of blade travel. These saws are nimble and controllable enough to remove the rot without going through the paneling. You could also use a handsaw, even a skillsaw for about 3" of the cut and finish with a hand saw. If you are replacing the sill plate, you can carefully measure and nail the replacement 2x4 part on the sill before setting it into place. They can be toenailed in as well. Then install a piece of 2x4 as a "sister" to connect the new piece of stud to the old stud. You want at least 18 inches of sister wood above the cut area. If you are going to try to save the paneling on the other side, I would make my cut above the damage and then again right at the seal plate, cutting the nails holding it in place, then try to wiggle/pry the rotted section out. You may pull a staple through the paneling in this process, but it only leaves a small hole. Be careful with a prybar on that paneling. It will go right through that stained part.