Storage shed floor base - potential problem

[4 Ever-Fish N]

I've been rebuilding this storage shed for awhile. After walking on the floor a lot lately, I'm starting to think I have some weak flooring. My thought is to drill a hole or two and see if it's rotted. Based on that, I may need to pry it up and replace it. Any thoughts on a different or better way to do an inspection? Thanks.

 

[southalabama]

What’s the floor made from? On joists? On ground?

If you posted a pic it didn’t show up.

 

[4 Ever-Fish N]

What’s the floor made from? On joists? On ground?

If you posted a pic it didn’t show up.

The floor is plywood. It's on beams, about 6 to 12" off the ground, so I can't crawl under shed for inspection. I don't thing a picture would show much at this point. I'm getting ready to use a moisture meter and see if that tells me anything, then drill a hole to see if the plywood is solid or not.

 

[Mick56]

Could you just lay more plywood on top. Maybe spray some Bora-Care first, if there are termites in your area.

 

[4 Ever-Fish N]

Could you just lay more plywood on top. Maybe spray some Bora-Care first, if there are termites in your area.

That's definitely something to consider. A couple of other guys mentioned this too. I'm currently putting in ceiling and insulation, so I will tackle the floor after that. I appreciate your suggestion. Yes, we do have termites in this area.

 

[Sincerd]

Rip it up. Don't just cover the problem. Material is cheap compared to time ripping all that up if the middle 2x material is rotten and new stuff sags. Gl

 

[4 Ever-Fish N]

Rip it up. Don't just cover the problem. Material is cheap compared to time ripping all that up if the middle 2x material is rotten and new stuff sags. Gl

This is probably the best way to go. Getting close to finishing the ceiling but had to postpone while I fixed a minor plumbing problem in the house. Thanks.

 

[Kpaige]

So here lies your issue the plywood is laid down before the walls. So you will need to saw all the bottom plate from the floor then cut the floor out. Just giving a heads up on what’s ahead.

 

[4 Ever-Fish N]

So here lies your issue the plywood is laid down before the walls. So you will need to saw all the bottom plate from the floor then cut the floor out. Just giving a heads up on what’s ahead.

Thanks. Hadn't given that any thought to be honest. Looking at my current saws, it looks like the closest I can get to the wall is about 1". Any other tool or method you'd recommend?

 

[Kpaige]

Well you would cut out as much as possible with the saw you have. Then if you can pull the fasteners that attach the wall trough the floor you could ship up the wall and pry out the plywood. But how we would do it is cut out as much as a skill saw will take then we would use a sawzall with a 10 or 22” demo blade and cut between the floor snd the bottom plate of the wall. Then using same tool cut under the floor plywood between the plywood and floor framing then pull it out slide the new plywood in and nail/screw.

 

[Kpaige]

Goto YouTube and search replacing shed floor lots of good videos.

 

[4 Ever-Fish N]

Thanks. I will check out the youtube videos and go from there.

 

[CraigStu]

We don't know the details of how it is constructed but, if you find rot, proceed carefully. My worry would be that some of the flooring that is under the walls is rotten also. So you cut out the floor close as you can to the walls, replace it, feels great walking on it, but your walls are sitting on sponge wood.

 

[Renegade1LI]

If it were me, depending on what size the shed is I'd empty it and jack it off the base. An 8 x 12 empty shed doesn't weigh allot, bolt some double 2 x 8s a foot past each end. Use 2 or 4 bottle Jack's and lift it off the base, add some cribbing and redo the floor.