First Floor/Tililing project - replacing rotting wooden panels in floor.

[Leon125]

* Mods - please relocate if need be. While the floor is wooden panels-I would like to see if tiling was an easier/cheaper option *

Hi,

First time poster - advice welcome.

In the small space between sitting room and kitchen I have a wooden floor - pic 1.



Its wooden as in wooden panels with underlay underneath. Coming back to the house after a few months I saw there was some damp between the panels so I lifted them. - pic 2.



So the underlay was completely rotted I think this was due to water coming from a badly installed washing machine (kitchen had water on the floor) and this has now been fixed. Concrete was underneath the underlay.

Of course- with the water expanding the wooden panels- they won't fit back in.

So Im looking for recommendations on an easy way to make it all look presentable again. Presumably I'd need some new underlay but is there anything else I can do to safeguard against any more moisture ?

First I thought I'd have to get more wooden panels to install (and presumably someone would come in and laminate ?).This sounds expensive though,so I was wondering if self adhesive floor tiles would be an option - and any recommendations ?

If this works out I'll look to do something similar with the kitchen. So any help appreciated.

thanks
Leon

 

[KenGMac]

Leon125, good evening.

One easy fix is to make an insurance claim on your home Insurance???

Ken

 

[bobasd]

you seem to have a cheap laminate finish flooring over whatever/underlay?
below the above you have a solid floor covered with plastic tiles.
the plastic tiles look well fixed so your theory about an appliance leak seems to show that that was the cause, and not moisture coming up through the slab?

you will need to take up all the even slightly swollen laminate - mostly it distorts as it dries, and wont go back down again but you can leave it to dry, and then check it again to see if its usable.
typically, the water damage spreads from the leak (the appliance) to the lowest spots in the room.
all the stuff/underlay thats disintegrating above the plastic tiles will have to be cleaned up.

 

[Leon125]

thanks very much for your advice. I'll start planning. Regarding moisture coming through the slab, that was the odd thing...there was no moisture i could see.It was almost as if it were coming through the laminate.I suppose I should be happy about that - as I feared it was a pipe under the concrete that had sprung a leak.

 

[Leon125]

Good evening Ken- no such luck sadly. I only took out the policy after the issue started. Thanks for suggesting however.I guess the priority at this point is a clean, relatively cheap solution. Cheers, Leon

 

[bobasd]

so, you now seem to be saying that your not certain what caused the water damage?

you'd best get a plumber in or you will be doing your cheap job twice - but first pull all wet appliances, and lift as much flooring as needed.
eg. the damage in the pics runs beyond both threshold doorways into both rooms.

 

[Leon125]

Thanks for the tip - I should have been clearer from the start:

• Replacing the washing machine has led to a huge reduction in water coming up through the floorboards (i.e. between planks)
• There is some very slight water (trace amount) but this is not often. i think this is residual water from the underlay which was soaked through.
  
• The damage started in the kitchen and went through area shown in pics and into living room.

 

[bobasd]

thanks for the further explanation but you should still get a plumber in and do what i suggested above - the idea is to find the cause (be certain) - and to permanently fix the cause and the flooring.

 

[Leon125]

Understood - and thanks once again.