replacing wet wood under linoleum in front of shower stall

Pawl

House was built in 1965. Floor in front of shower pan. I am removing wet plywood under thin linoleum that attaches to thick floor joist. Shower door swings open to the left so the original inside gutter attached to the bottom of shower door has some of the runoff water coming out and over the floor. I have pulled some of the thin plywood or shredded wet plywood up and notice some of the thick floor joist are wet on the top and shredding so I dont have a flat surface to nail replacement plywood too. I know how to chip away and get to the dry part of the floor joist I just need some hints on what to do after that. Do I just try to shim it up and get it level so I can attach new plywood to it? The replacement piece of plywood is going to be about a 20 by 20 " measurement so there will be strength in that piece of wood because 80% of it will be attached to the flat dry joist from the middle of the bathroom floor going back towards shower pan. I just cant afford to have any flexing close to the shower pan or I am right back to where I started.I have between 15 to 20 " of wet plywood going from the very left corner of shower pan to the right away from the shower pan about 3". You know probably right under the hinges that hold the shower door together to the wall/tile. With the door open water is dripping on the floor.And there is obviously no way I am replacing joists. Any thoughts? Thanks

Mills314

Pictures would help.

But if I am reading your post correctly, it sounds like you need to remove the subfloor and expose your floor joists so that you can repair them. Then once you remove the rotted portion of the floor joist, you need to replace the subfloor and then continue on from there. Are you simply looking for a solution in regards to getting your subfloor level when you put it back down on the floor joists?

If so, talk with your building department and find out if it is acceptable to add blocks or gussets on the sides of the floor joist that you are repairing, and then shimming the damaged one. Then gluing and screwing the new subfloor on top of that.

Once again, thats just a guess based on what I read. Like I said, pictures would help.

Pawl

I apologize for no pictures. I tried in the past and gave up on another project because veryone suggestion didnt work. I have the subfloor off at this time.I just measured the problem areas of the joist. The joist are 5" wide butting up next to each other. My problem area is 3 of the joist or a little less than 12" total wide. And about 3" from the shower pan. So 12" by 3" is the amount of area. I can take a screwdriver and shred the moist wood away from the top of the 5" wide joist. So I basically have a small void on top. The problem area is about 1/4" on the top. Can I just apply something to the top of the wood that will adhere to the wood to level it out. Maybe a paste or something like that? Maybe get as much wet wood away and let a fan run on top of the wood for a couple of days until it is dry and then add a paste or something to fill in the void.Once it dries I can place a new piece of plywood and screw it in,put new flooring down and move on. It isn't a place in the bathroom that I would ever walk on once it is put back together. Even when I step out of the shower I come out on the other half of the same opening because of the way the shower door swings.
If you are in agreement maybe you can suggest a product or what will work. Thanks

Mills314

Really need to see it to suggest something man. I am sure that something can be done with collective minds working together.

Bud Cline

The first thing to do is to repair the water leak, you haven't even talked about that.

Remove the damaged subfloor. Install additional blocking sistered to the existing floor joists and at the proper elevation. Don't screw with the floor joists beyond sistering. Fit a new piece of subfloor material and your done.

No need to call anybody in city government, they don't care. Don't get yourself into a position where you have blown the whistle on yourself and they will require you to buy some kind of a stupid permit.

This is an easy fix.

Now...why is the shower door leaking?

Pawl

There is no water leak. I am replacing Vinyl flooring and was preparing floor and noticed soft wood by shower pan. The original shower door 1965 has a piece of rubber on the very bottom like a windshield wiper and I think over time small amounts of water have leaked past the rubber or leaked out of each end of the rubber because it is not a perfect fit. I had no problem cutting out the plywood but the tops of the joist are all irregular because I am basically shredding away the wet portions and as you can picture I don't have a level surface. I understand what you are saying . It will take a little time to fit a piece of wood across the 3 damaged joist and keep them level so the new plywood fits correctly. The tops of the joist are the only damaged areas. For years I have been throwing a towel on the floor when I would shower. I think most of this damage happened to the original owners.

Bud Cline

That moisture isn't coming from the vinyl floor covering.

Well then...there is a water leak.

Okay already, got that part. I told you how to fix it in my first post.

How many floor joists are involved in this disaster?
Kiss-on (sister) a block to each damaged floor joist. Use a straightedge across the tops of all the floor joists to position the blocks before you fasten them.


Yes I know, you keep saying that but don't pay any attention to the soggy tops, they are history. Forget about the damaged areas of the joists and move on.

Use blocks that are as long as you can get to fit in there.

Pawl

1.) I think this is what is causing the water to run on the floor. The very bottom of the shower door that seals the top edge of the shower pan when the door is shut has about 1/2" of rubber missing at the corner where the problem is. It's like a small rectangular opening.It doesn't appear to have torn. It might have been like this from 1965 when it was first put in. When I bought the house in 1986 there was new a vinyl floor put down. If there was any wet damage I doubt if anyone fixed it.
2.) I could not sister a piece of wood level across the 3 (5"wide) joist without first chipping out some of the tops of the damaged joists. I only needed to chip out 12" because the other 3" of one of the joist is not needed to hold flooring. It disappears under the wall. Once I had them chipped deep enough to fit one 12" by 3" length of plywood I screwed it in. But this is not an exact science so when I tightened the screws it draws that piece of wood down as it tightens. So that dropped it about another 1/8". So when I lay that final piece of plywood down 21" by 17" most of it will be laying on dry unaffected joist and attach firmly. The 12" by 3" I screwed in is going to have about an 1/8" gap between the piece I screwed in and the top layer of plywood thereby creating an 1/8" flex when any pressure is applied to it like when somone steps out of the shower.
3.) I was thinking there must be something at Home Depot that is the consistency of peanut butter that I could just trowel on or use a putty knife to build it up and set the whole piece of plywood on there and whatever material I use will self level with some slight pressure. I will screw the plywood into the unaffected joists and let my piece dry hard on its own and come back later and run some screws thru it there by solving the problem. If I have to use some weight to bear down on my piece just to keep it level while its drying I can do that.