A little while ago, a problem developed with the flush valve in the toilet in our main bath. A repair kit was purchased and the repair started. Because the toilet was installed in the mid-70's the brass bolts which held the tank to the bowl were about useless. A new toilet needed to be installed.
We picked up a new toilet and removed the old one. We thought that as long as the toilet is out now, that we might install new vinyl floor tile as we had been thinking of doing. The old vinyl was removed. There were areas of the top subfloor that felt 'soft' and looked water stained. We assumed it was from the use of the bath and water leaking between vinyl tiles. A new subfloor would have to be installed before adding new tile.
The original subfloor was removed to reveal this:
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(The debris is from pulling out trim and this photo was taken about a week into it. Luckily, we have another bath!)
The main floor was almost completely rotted. There was a small leak near the front of the tub which had obviously been leaking for YEARS. The previous owners 'patched things up' by laying a thin Masonite layer over the damaged floor and then vinyl tile. We were unaware of the leak as the leak was between floor layers and did not effect the top layer - yet.
The leak had affected the entire floor, including under the tub, under the closet walls and within the closet. To effect repairs,
everything had to come out.
The closet walls, ceramic tiles along with the concrete backer around the tub were removed, followed by the 800 lb cast iron tub:
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Finally the floor was removed. We discovered the main tub support joist was severely water damaged and was about half way rotted. New joists were installed:
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After about two weeks with no floor, we finally had a new floor installed!
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While the new floor is in, we have a ways to go. New wall joists to accommodate the new tub and surround, Closet framing, finishing the ceramic tile floor, fixture installation, drywall and painting work. This has been a very costly and unexpected surprise. You cannot have a home with no bath, or with a miniature closet sized bath to use as your primary. Luckily we have that closet bath or we'd be forced to go out in the woods and bath in the stream!
I'd advise anyone who may be in the process of purchasing a home do a thorough inspection. We had one done by a professional inspection company and they missed this very costly bit of damage.
