Emergency Bathroom repair (Long)

11 years ago

Hi folks

I'm an "un"regular/regular over on the cooking forum and received tons of advice from the kitchens forum when we remodeled our kitchen a few years ago. I am cross posting this on the remodeling and kitchen forums as well to get as much help as I can so thanks for your patience.

We were away on vacation for three weeks and came home to a leaky toilet in our master bath. The water damage extends from the floor of the bathroom where the subfloor buckled thus cracking the tiles, down into the ceiling and walls of the first floor under the bathroom and further down into the wall of the basement bathroom.

Our insurance company has sent a water mitigation company out and they are in the process of removing tile in the bathroom, drywall in the bathroom and from the walls and ceilings in the rest of the house that were damaged. They also had to take out our "new" floor under the wet walls on the first floor.

It looks like we will need a new floor for the entire first floor of our house.

I am here for advice. I wasn't planning a bathroom remodel as I actually liked my bathroom 0:). It looks like we will need to retile the entire bathroom as the floor tiles go up the tub surround and up the entire walls of the shower.

I really, really, really don't want this to end up costing us more than the insurance payout but on the other hand this is an opportunity to update the bathroom a little. The only change I would like to make, is to possibly put in a bigger soaking tub as the one we have is a little small and shallow. I think the bigger tub will fit in the same space as there was a fairly large surround.

The old tile was grey but I am thinking of going a very light cream or beige now to match with the rest of our house which is warm colors but the fixtures will stay white. Also we will stain the old cabinets which were pickled pink!!! oak a dark brown color and get a new counter, faucets and sinks which will be on our expense.

What I really need from this forum is advice on what to look out for as they remove and dry up the water and then as we reconstruct the bathroom especially as I have not had enough time to do lots of research.

Then while the ceiling is open in the dining room under the bathroom, I am going to see if dh will let me put in some lighting which we've been talking about for the last oh 10 years or so. The thing is that this room is now used as a dining room by us but it is farther from the kitchen than the living room and so new owners, if we ever sell, would most likely not use it as a dining room but as a living room. What lights should we install? Recessed, chandelier, other?

Finally, I am going to need advice on the floor. We have an engineered wood laminate floor that runs through most of the first floor and the ENTIRE floor is going to need to be replaced. Which actually is not a bad thing because it seems we were ripped off and have had tons of problems with water damage from even as little liquid as a spilled drink which was wiped up immediately. So now I get to choose a new floor and I don't want the same problems. We do however need to choose something that can flow from one room to the next and function well without getting damaged from spills. Advice?

If you've read this epic post - THANK YOU! and i will really appreciate all the help.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (3)

lascatx
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I know you! Having recovered from my kitchen, I would like to redo my master bath but have been held up on trying to find a way to improve the shower. I stop over here on occasion to see if I can find inspiration. So sorry you have all this to deal with.

I think your ideas are good. Making the bath blend with the rest of the house is good, just keep in mind that it doesn't have to match if you want a little different personality. The larger tub adn less surround sounds good too. The lighint issue is hard to picture, but I don't think you can go wrong with a modest number of recessed lights and a chandelier in the center. The box for the chandelier could house a ceiling fan or different type of fixture down the road. Make sure they are on different switches and you will provide a lot of lighting options.

I have an engineered wood floor that has been down 6-8 months now. We ran it through the kitchen also where DH drips at the sink and have it at the back door where kids and dogs come in after being in the pool. We had a party where I was surprised at the number of kids who came in dripping. The water wiped right up -- no damage and I was actually glad we didn't still have our tile, because even with the texture, that much water would have had someone on slipping and falling on it. Mine is Bella Cera, but it is marketed under different names in other areas. They did a floating installation but I watched them put glue along all the edges, so that may help seal the edges. There used to be a thread on HGTV that had a series of photos of what appeared to be my same flooring under the Palmetto Road name. Mine is Bella Cera Amalfi Coast by Southern Floors. I can't find that now, but here is a photo from their website that was one of those on HGTV. I'd have taken the house with the floors, but I like them in mine too. ;-)

I can't recommend cork from the stuff we ordered but did not install. I wanted it and would have loved it if it had been something that would clean. What we laid down to check the color with the hardwood was a very different color from the sample, but the real killer was that the floor dust that got on it when we had it down wouldn't clean with anything dry and both the recommended Bona cleaner and a barely damp microfiber cloth created a haze on the finish. Didn't look like anything we could live with so we put the wood down throughout. It's holding up great.
0
pricklypearcactus
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
I am not an expert, but I have done two bathroom remodels and a laundry room remodel. The laundry room was actually prompted by an unfortunate main sewage stack leak (small) that ruined the floor. Because our leak was slow over time (behind a wall), our insurance company would not pay for any repairs claiming it was a "maintenance issue". You know, because we all regularly open our drywall to check on our plumbing to make certain nothing is leaking.

In any case, I had a company come out to do the water damage cleanup. We had very minimal mold, though I ended up removing significant drywall and an entire layer of underlayment that was all ruined. The disaster cleanup company removed some of the subfloor under a wall and applied appropriate cleaning product to kill off any mold or bacteria. I was not impressed with their "cleanup" as they did not completely remove the underlayment under non-supporting walls, but they removed as much as they could.

Ultimately I would recommend making certain that the treatment company is thoroughly removing damaged material, using any appropriate cleaning products to make certain the remaining material (such as joists or subfloor) are free of mold and mildew, thoroughly drying the area before repairs, and making certain the remaining structure is completely solid before rebuilding. Whatever rebuilding is done in your bathroom should be solid work: appropriate waterproofing in the shower and tub area, good underlayment under tile (I highly recommend Ditra).

Someone I know recently had nearly complete water damage in their basement and were struggling with what the insurance company would pay to replace. For example, some of their matched bedroom set (master bedroom in the basement) was ruined, but the insurance company would only pay for the damaged pieces regardless of the set being matching. So you need to find out exactly what the insurance company is covering in your bathroom. Will they cover complete tile replacement if only the floor is damaged?

I'm sorry that you came home to such a disaster. I hope things work out for you and you're happy with the result. If you have any specific questions about how your bathroom should be rebuilt or what materials to use, I hope you'll come back with your questions. This forum is incredibly helpful and I've learned so much from the experiences shared here.
0
Related Discussions
Who wants to help me plan a bathroom remodel? (super long, sorry!)
Q
Comments (13)
Thanks guys! This is the clawfoot tub I am considering: http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/atq/5280827575.html. It is pretty - look at those legs! I would paint the outside a different color though. And if I went drop in, it would probably look a lot like the one in JLC's last picture -- in fact, that picture basically encompasses the whole look I am going for - wainscoting, the closed in shower, the little mosaic tile on the floor. So thanks for that picture! I'm still torn on the tub issue - JLC's post had convinced me that I want drop in (especially the part about it being easier to get in as you age) but amberm is swaying me back again with the prettiness factor. When I look at my inspiration pics, there's a pretty even split between drop-in and clawfoot. One other factor that I didn't mention is that we currently have a laundry chute built into the side of the tub deck -- in my original picture, you can see the hinges where it opens near the floor -- the front of the tub deck pulls open and I can toss laundry down into the laundry room. This is an awesome feature. If I go with a drop in, I will keep the chute where it is (well, it will move back a few inches with the rest of the deck but that will actually make it fall in a better spot in the laundry room so that is fine). But if I go with a clawfoot, I am either going to have to put a trap door in the floor or build some kind of cabinet...and since it would look odd to have either of those right in the middle of the room, I will have to move the whole laundry chute back under the center of the window, which drops the laundry in a less convenient but still workable spot in the laundry room. But then I have to figure out if I want a trap door in the floor or to build some kind of little cabinet or flip out wall thing to serve as the door to the laundry chute -- I'm a little nervous about just making a trap door because it seems dangerous if someone accidentally left it open. So if I went with a clawfoot, I would probably build some kind of cabinet that ran from the edge of the window back to the corner -- the full top of it could server as a ledge for plants and holding stuff you'd want while in the tub while the part that is exposed (not behind the tub) could open for the laundry chute. But this is seeming very complicated and hard to visualize vs. just replicating what we basically have now....and have I mentioned that I'm bad at visualizing?!? I guess it would look something like the way the ledge runs in JLC's Charleston Beach Cottage picture....but looking at that pic, I can't imagine how they are going to get back there to clean the floor under there and I'm worried about having the same problem. To address the counter space concerns, the vanity width is just shy of 80". The current plan is to have a neighbor custom-build my cabinets (that's what he does for a living), so I was going to go with 2 29" sink base cabinets and a 20" drawer unit in the middle. I am also planning a recessed shaker-style built-in medicine cabinet unit that should give me a ton of storage for the stuff that is currently sitting on the counter. So hopefully I wouldn't need a bunch of counter space. I envision it looking something like this: I want it to run the full width of the vanity area. I think I worked out the math and it should be doable and line up with the sinks if I use 20" doors and 4" spacers in between (6" on each end)....but here's where my issue with proportion comes in -- is that too much space? Who knows! Hopefully the cabinet guy has some kind of visualization software where he can dummy it up and I can see what it will look like. There is another window over the back of the tub that isn't visible in this picture so I'm not sure I could make a vanity over there....but I do think I should keep the tub. It is not our only tub but the other one is a regular small tub/shower combo in the kids' bathroom and it would be nice to have one that is a little nicer/bigger. Please keep the feedback coming...you all are bringing up things I haven't thought about before and I really appreciate it!
...See More
Help! Long horizontal crack in bathroom shower stall wall
Q
Comments (14)
If I "ignore" the issue, and just caulk over the crack, what's the worst that could happen? Second worst: Water leaks behind the caulk, destroys the studs behind the tile and the joists in the floor, and you have to rip out the whole shower stall, wall and floor and replace everything. And do mold remediation. Worst: Water leaks in there, destroys the studs behind the tile and the joists in the floor, and you step in the shower one morning and the joists give way and you and the shower stall end up in the basement. No fooling, this happened to a friend ... he caulked around the base of a leaky toilet because he didn't want to have to remove/replace toilet and fix the problem. About a year later he sat on the toilet and ended up in the basement because the joists had rotted. The paramedics were amused.
...See More
Cost to repair bathroom tiles falling/coming off
Q
Comments (29)
FWIW, I live in a high rise condo in Los Angeles and recently finished a gut remodel which included taking the shower to the studs and some reframing of walls. The Code in Los Angeles for a multi-family high rise requires steel framing and studs so there isn’t any wood. The framing in the shower and everywhere is metal. I imagine Code for a high rise in any jurisdiction also requires steel. I got a bit of education in construction as I also learned that the metal framing has to be placed at specified spacing. I would imagine this is for fire safety as well as structural integrity but a structural engineer would no doubt have the exact reason. Just another reason why hiring a designer and/or general contractor familiar with high rises specifically is a good idea to minimize screwups.
...See More
Bathroom Plaster Repair and Insulation
Q
Comments (3)
If the wall cavities are empty, they can be filled with blown cellulose by an experienced contractor. It's commonly done. If the wall cavities are filled with wood shavings, the shavings can't be removed without opening up the walls. Huge job. The walls getting cold doesn't indicate either way that wood shavings are in the wall cavities or not. I hope you find the wood shavings only in the attic.
...See More
lascatx
11 years ago
last modified: 9 years ago
Prickly pear is right -- do make sure all damage material is removed and you get everything dry as quickly and completely as possible before anything else happens. Doesn't sound like your situation should be including any mold problems now, and you don't want to start any by sealing up damp moisture. Make sure you know what they will pay for and how much they are going to pay for it so that you don't decide to do some upgrades and then get hit covering more than you expected.

Do you have records or samples, photos of what you had? They might help you make a case for what is needed to give you replacement value.
0

Emergency Bathroom repair (Long)

Comments (3)

lascatx

pricklypearcactus

Related Discussions

lascatx

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US