Bessy
Well-known member
"Would you be able to replace the broken tile in the bathroom floor for me?" She said, "It shouldn't take that long." She said...
Background: I'll spare you all the long winded version, but essentially I am to replace a broken floor tile in the bathroom for my neighbours. She asked a few weeks ago, and through the grapevine (husband) I learned that the toilet had had a leak in the past. I walk in expecting to pull up the pieces of tile, remove the mortar from underneath, reset a replacement tile, and call it a day.
This is what I find:
[/url]IMG_20171206_114931 by Corey McCulloch, on Flickr[/IMG]
Here folks, is where I introduce you to the ever so familiar Snowball Effect. So much for a quick tile replacement (a project that so many internet sources will say can be completed "in no time")
So the plumber that they had scheduled to fix the toilet is down and out with an injury, no idea when he's going to be back up and running, so I offer to install the seal on the toilet as well, that's now on the to-do list right near the top just under "fix the damn floor". I take a tour down to the basement to see how much rot I'm dealing with.
Keep in mind as curious as I am about how far this water goes (I managed to take off two layers of punky wood with the shop vac in no time flat) I've still only removed one tile because I have self restraint, and only six spare tiles should anything go wrong.
In the basement I find that there is visible water damage to about a 1.5" radius larger than the hole that the pipe fits through, call it seven inches total diameter for those counting.
[/url]IMG_20171206_190211_01 by Corey McCulloch, on Flickr[/IMG]
I poke around with my pocket knife and discover that it's likely just the edges of the hole, and at least from the bottom, it doesn't appear that someone will fall through the floor while on the throne. My knife didn't plunge into the wood as easily as it did up top.
So I fire a text over to the neighbour with a few pics of what I'm dealing with and explaining that it's potentially more work than she had originally considered. She responds by saying: "Oh boy, plumber is still injured, if you could [fix the toilet/floor] that'd be great, Thx."
Here's what the top looked like after scraping away most of the punky wood with a putty knife:
[/url]IMG_20171206_114632 by Corey McCulloch, on Flickr[/IMG]
My knife did still sink into the wood some, and every time I touch it, my fingers go brown, so there is obviously some level of moisture/breakdown still present.
So that about brings to me where the project stalled for today. I did however get the caulking installed around the sink and shower, so I can knock that off my todo list.
At this point, I'm going to await the arrival of said neighbours, and go over their options, which is where you lovely people come into play. Correct me if I'm wrong, but here's how I see things:
Option 1: Replace the single broken tile, grout around it, seal up the toilet and call it a day. The floor is not rotted all the way through, and as long as I can get some dry wood to adhere the tile to, which should be fine until such time as they decide to redo the floor entirely.
Pros: It can be completed easily in a few hours, and at the cost of materials already invested into the job.
Cons: It's cutting a corner and not doing the job correctly which irks me.
Option 2: Pull up the next three to five tiles (total count being four to six of the six I have to replace them with, clean out the rot/mold, repair any damage done by the water, and repeat steps one through three of option one. See what I mean by the snowball effect?
Pros: Allows me to find out how much rot there is to deal with, and fix it accordingly and means less chance of the problem becoming worse if there is ever any more liquid introduced to the floor (it is a bathroom after all).
Cons: I ONLY have six tiles, meaning the margin of error is basically nil.
Option 3: Get an idea of their timeline for renovations, and suggest that they bite the bullet and install all new (and significantly cheaper) laminate in lieu of the tile (as it runs out of the bathroom and throughout the entrance way, maybe 100 sqft total, (no I have not measured it, that's a total guess).
Pro: All new modern looking floor, water issue fixed correctly, makes everyone happier in the end and it doesn't need to be redone in a few years.
Con: More time, more cost.
And go.
Thanks,
B.
Background: I'll spare you all the long winded version, but essentially I am to replace a broken floor tile in the bathroom for my neighbours. She asked a few weeks ago, and through the grapevine (husband) I learned that the toilet had had a leak in the past. I walk in expecting to pull up the pieces of tile, remove the mortar from underneath, reset a replacement tile, and call it a day.
This is what I find:
Here folks, is where I introduce you to the ever so familiar Snowball Effect. So much for a quick tile replacement (a project that so many internet sources will say can be completed "in no time")
So the plumber that they had scheduled to fix the toilet is down and out with an injury, no idea when he's going to be back up and running, so I offer to install the seal on the toilet as well, that's now on the to-do list right near the top just under "fix the damn floor". I take a tour down to the basement to see how much rot I'm dealing with.
Keep in mind as curious as I am about how far this water goes (I managed to take off two layers of punky wood with the shop vac in no time flat) I've still only removed one tile because I have self restraint, and only six spare tiles should anything go wrong.
In the basement I find that there is visible water damage to about a 1.5" radius larger than the hole that the pipe fits through, call it seven inches total diameter for those counting.
I poke around with my pocket knife and discover that it's likely just the edges of the hole, and at least from the bottom, it doesn't appear that someone will fall through the floor while on the throne. My knife didn't plunge into the wood as easily as it did up top.
So I fire a text over to the neighbour with a few pics of what I'm dealing with and explaining that it's potentially more work than she had originally considered. She responds by saying: "Oh boy, plumber is still injured, if you could [fix the toilet/floor] that'd be great, Thx."
Here's what the top looked like after scraping away most of the punky wood with a putty knife:
My knife did still sink into the wood some, and every time I touch it, my fingers go brown, so there is obviously some level of moisture/breakdown still present.
So that about brings to me where the project stalled for today. I did however get the caulking installed around the sink and shower, so I can knock that off my todo list.
At this point, I'm going to await the arrival of said neighbours, and go over their options, which is where you lovely people come into play. Correct me if I'm wrong, but here's how I see things:
Option 1: Replace the single broken tile, grout around it, seal up the toilet and call it a day. The floor is not rotted all the way through, and as long as I can get some dry wood to adhere the tile to, which should be fine until such time as they decide to redo the floor entirely.
Pros: It can be completed easily in a few hours, and at the cost of materials already invested into the job.
Cons: It's cutting a corner and not doing the job correctly which irks me.
Option 2: Pull up the next three to five tiles (total count being four to six of the six I have to replace them with, clean out the rot/mold, repair any damage done by the water, and repeat steps one through three of option one. See what I mean by the snowball effect?
Pros: Allows me to find out how much rot there is to deal with, and fix it accordingly and means less chance of the problem becoming worse if there is ever any more liquid introduced to the floor (it is a bathroom after all).
Cons: I ONLY have six tiles, meaning the margin of error is basically nil.
Option 3: Get an idea of their timeline for renovations, and suggest that they bite the bullet and install all new (and significantly cheaper) laminate in lieu of the tile (as it runs out of the bathroom and throughout the entrance way, maybe 100 sqft total, (no I have not measured it, that's a total guess).
Pro: All new modern looking floor, water issue fixed correctly, makes everyone happier in the end and it doesn't need to be redone in a few years.
Con: More time, more cost.
And go.
Thanks,
B.
shopping out of the way. Just have to go back and seal the grout and the job will be completely complete.