sinking floor

Cbierwiler · Wed Jul 31, 2013 9:50 am

We have an 1986 doublewide and one spot in our floor in our master bathroom is starting to cave, i believe its from a leak in the shower so we have stopped using that shower but the floor under the corner of shower is squishy and seems to be giving away. You can almost feel the outline of the floor piece that is getting bad through the flooring when you walk across it. How do i go about replacing when the bad piece is under the corner of the shower/tub unit as well as the side interior wall. i have attached a picture of the area.

ponch37300 · Wed Jul 31, 2013 10:13 am

I don't think you're going to want to hear my answer! About the only thing you can do is to rip things out and replace the floor. You most likely have press board subfloor which doesn't like any water. Once it gets wet it basically falls apart and not much you can do except tear into things and see how bad the damage is and replace what needs it. The good part is this forum is filled with knowledge of people that have been in your exact situation, myself included!

Cbierwiler · Wed Jul 31, 2013 10:34 am

Thats what i figured. so really just have to yank out the tub and see where we are at then. i want the tub out anyways. will the wall need to come down too or just yank the tub then remove flooring from under wall the slide plywood down and under wall?

JeffInFL · Wed Jul 31, 2013 12:34 pm

If your place is anything like mine, the wall is attached to the subfloor from underneath the subfloor with about 1000 staples, so the plywood probably won't just slide out from under the wall.

bobfather99 · Wed Jul 31, 2013 3:45 pm

Wouldnt be surprising to find some kind of plumbing problem in the wall. Check for leaks.

ponch37300 · Wed Jul 31, 2013 5:00 pm

Once the tub is out you can start digging into things and figure out exactly what all is damaged and what your options are. My interior walls are only held in place by a few 3" long screws in the bottom and top plates. But to get to those screws the drywall has to come off. But if your floor is that bad chances are the drywall has been wet also and has some mold on it and will need to come out anyway. When my bathroom had an issue similar to this I just gutted it and fixed what needed.

Greg · Wed Jul 31, 2013 7:38 pm

Unfortunately there is only one way to find out for sure how it is put together, and thats take it apart.

The bottom line as Ponch said is you have to dig into it and find out just how bad the damage is. I always tell people to plan for the worst possible case, that way if it is not as bad as you planned you are time & money ahead.

Plan on at the very least new subfloor (use PLYWOOD) and flooring. you may have to get into the walls a little depending on the damage. If the shower base is cracked, plan on a new base & as long as you are that far a whole new shower (Full size) is not that expensive or hard to install. As long as you are doing the shower may as well do the vanity & toilet also. If you are doing the work yourself it really is not that costly when you figure what you gain.

OK stop me when I've spent enough money.

Greg