Can anyone offer me any advice on this building matter please?

[Kingfisher101]

Hi, I got a plumber out today because the overflow disc fell off on the bath and needed putting back on. He took the side off the bath to do it and discovered a leak!! and said I needed a new floor, new bathroom because it would have to be ripped out etc. Upon further inspection he said I needed to contact the home insurance because the joist had totally rotted due to the leak and that he couldn't put a new bathroom in and that it was a builder I needed? He showed me it and the joist had definitely rotted.
Its a very small bathroom say 2M by 2M, Is anyone on here a builder who could give me a very rough estimate of how much a replacement joist would be please and new bathroom floor? I've checked the home insurance and I don't think it will cover it due to the leak taking place over time. Obviously I would have dealt with it straight away and not allowed the joist to rot. I'm so fed up about this, its one thing after another. ATM.

 

[ClichéGuevara]

How far along has it rotted?

Would it be possible to cut out the rotten section and 'splint' the existing one onto fresh wall hangers with a 2m long replacement joist, or if it's on the ground floor, can you build a supporting buttress under the new joists?

 

[Kingfisher101]

How far along has it rotted?

Would it be possible to cut out the rotten section and 'splint' the existing one onto fresh wall hangers with a 2m long replacement joist, or if it's on the ground floor, can you build a supporting buttress under the new joists?

I don't know to tell you the truth, I'm not up at all on building work. It looked totally rotten from what I could see. It is the ground floor. I haven't even been able to eat anything today I'm that upset.

 

[newts]

Very difficult to give a ball park figure without seeing the job.
The bath will have to come out, this means removing at least 1 row of tiles to get it out. The floor repair should be straight forward once the bath is out. Can you post some pictures of the bathroom layout & the rotten floor?

 

[Cycleops]

Oh dear, sorry about that. You might be able to do most of the hard work yourself to minimise the cost.
By that I mean ripping out the bath, toilet and tiles. Are you handy?
Then get a good carpenter to splice in a new joist, should be possible. Is the flooring tongue and groove? Even easier if it's grooved chipboard. If so should be fairly easy to remove the affected parts. Again a carpenter could make good.

 

[Kingfisher101]

Very difficult to give a ball park figure without seeing the job.
The bath will have to come out, this means removing at least 1 row of tiles to get it out. The floor repair should be straight forward once the bath is out. Can you post some pictures of the bathroom layout & the rotten floor?

Thanks for your reply, I'm not sure how to post photos on this forum. I'll take some photos tomorrow.

 

[Drago]

Fix the leak, put the panel back on the bath, move house.

 

[Cycleops]

To post photos click on the Attach Files and select the folder on your phone/tablet and mark the required pics. It will then upload.

 

[Kingfisher101]

Oh dear, sorry about that. You might be able to do most of the hard work yourself to minimise the cost.
By that I mean ripping out the bath, toilet and tiles. Are you handy?
Then get a good carpenter to splice in a new joist, should be possible. Is the flooring tongue and groove? If so should be fairly easy to remove the affected parts. Again a carpenter could make good.

No I'm not that handy, I can do very basic tiling only and painting/decorating etc, that's it. The flooring is wood and then it has non stick tiles over the top. Under the bath its just the wood.

 

[Kingfisher101]

To post photos click on the Attach Files and select the folder on your phone/tablet and mark the required pics. It will then upload.

Thanks, I' will take some tomorrow and upload.

 

[Cycleops]

If you can do that you should be able to do the stuff I outlined, shouldn't be that difficult, just hard work.

You don't need a need a new bath/ toilet if you don't want to replace them.

You might be able to find a handyman locally who can help you out. I found an old boy when I was doing my house in UK. He was retired and didn't want much money, just enjoyed the work to keep him busy. Ask around and look on notice boards.
Whatever you do don't hire a man with a white van and a broad southern Irish accent

YouTube is your friend when it comes to this sort of thing:


View: https://youtu.be/wVRn3sYzK0w

 

[winjim]

Fix the leak, put the panel back on the bath, move house.

Yep, literally done that. I'm sure I've told the tale of selling a house with a tiny leak in the bathroom and some slight discolouration on the kitchen ceiling and returning to pick up some post a couple of weeks after moving out to see a mahoosive hole where the discolouration used to be...

Caveat emptor and all that, I'm sure they must have had a survey done.

 

[TissoT]

I undertook the the same work for a client due to the joist being rotten from a leak from the shower trap.

It was paid for via a insurance claim.

Removed the bathroom suite removed the joist and replaced with new and fitted the existing suite inc new tray shower screen.
The bathroom was 3.8 x 4m
Total £4.800 3 years ago.

 

[PaulSB]

25+ years ago we had an undetected bathroom leak. When it eventually became obvious we claimed and our insurers paid out.

You can't know the insurance position until you've spoken to them. It's impossible to know what's happening under the floor until you have reason to look which is what you have done.

This is why people have insurance.

 

[D_97_goodtimes]

Hello,

Now into the second week of fixing my downstairs bathroom- a leaking tap has soaked the floorboards. It’s not that difficult but it is time consuming

Isolate the water
Remove fixtures and fittings
Remove floorboards
Examine joist with a view to replacing the joist or treating it with wood treatment (Ronseal)
Examine floorboards to see if they can be re-used
Find and fix the leak
Let everything dry out
Repair the joist
Remove any rusty nails
Assure yourself that you are leak free
Replace the floorboards (18mm planks should do it) and screw them to the joist
Refit fixtures and fittings

Good to go

You can always follow the earlier advice of claiming on your insurance or you could get someone in.

And all things considered it’s only a leak.