Rotting Wood Under Bathroom Tiles? Help!!

[Unregistered]

Hi guys,

The wood under a few of our floor tiles alongside our bath are extremely wet and starting to rot. They've been like this for a couple of months - we've been hoping they would dry out but unfortunately not. I've read online about taking the infected wood out and replacing, but as we're DIY novices amn't sure if this would be a good idea? Or if there's anything else we can do?

Thanks so much for your help in advance,

Katie.

 

[2Balls]

Hi guys,

The wood under a few of our floor tiles alongside our bath are extremely wet and starting to rot. They've been like this for a couple of months - we've been hoping they would dry out but unfortunately not. I've read online about taking the infected wood out and replacing, but as we're DIY novices amn't sure if this would be a good idea? Or if there's anything else we can do?

Thanks so much for your help in advance,

Katie.

Hi Katie, My advice seeing that your a novice, would be to contact a reputable Tiler in your area.Address the problem now especially if the Bathroom is upstairs, you don´t want the ceiling to come down!
:8:2Balls

 

[Unregistered]

Hi 2B,
Thanks for your reply.
The toilet is downstairs, and it does seem only the tiles directly alongside the bath are affected - I lifted the surrounding tiles after posting to make sure. Would you happen to know how much a tiler might charge (we don't have very much disposable income at the moment unfortunately!) for fixing this for us? It's a very small bathroom - approx. 3 'x' 2 metres. We currently have slate tiles (that were already there when we moved in) but were hoping to lay lino over the top of them. We're in Edinburgh.
Thanks again,
Katie.

 

[cornish_crofter]

Katie

I don't think you need a tiler if you are thinking of lino.

You may need a joiner to repair the rotten timbers. In your shoes I would consider removing the rest of the tiles and cleaning off the adhesive. Then you can see the full extent of the problem. At this stage get some quotes from some joiners.

After that is fixed put down some lino as planned.

 

[CBTC]

Katie - it is unwise to leave the timber that is wet and rotting - it will only get worse. The tiles are probably fixed to a plywood layer of between 6 mm and 18mm (yes lots of diference but lets leave that for now) once the tiles are removed, carefully, you may be able to make out the edges of the ply sheet sections and be able - or someone doing the work for you - to remove just the section that is wet and rotting away. a new piece can then be put in. Leave it all open until the damp has dried away - most of it will more than likely be superficial and is trapped by the tile layer to do its worst - and then you can get in whatever trade is needed to fit the particular material, lino or tile.

We recently removed work that had small area ingressions of water where the ply was rotted away and fungal spores starting up - which is bad news.
Good luck