Bathroom Floor Reno Disaster - Big Hole!!

12 years ago

I am in the process of renovating a small guest bath in my 50's ranch house. I am not a 50's style person and the four different shades of blue tile on the floor and walls was finally ready to be removed. Recently, I hired a contractor to remove the old stained bathtub and put in a new tub and shower surround. The new tub had a slightly different foot print/base size which was fine since I was having a new floor put in the next week anyway. All that needed to be done was to fill the void that had been left.

This is how the contractor left my floor.

Can someone please please help me figure out what to do to fix this? That part of the floor doesn't support weight. I think he "filled the void" with some type of grout(?). I need to keep perspective but I am mucho freaked out. Help!

Here are the other materials I am using (I'd love some feed back - trying to focus on the possitive/fun of the mostly DIY reno!)

Vanity Top: Distressed Black Walnut by my current favorite place - Craft Art. But mine will only have one sink and probably undermount.

Floor - cork:

Paint - ivory lace:

{{gwi:1473366}}

Hope you all like! Oh, and I hope I survive the floor horror.

Here is a link that might be useful: I love my Craft Art black walnut vanity top - Ok I don't have it yet, but I know I will love it!. (I wish I loved the floor this much)

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Comments (6)

User
12 years ago
That possibly is just a temp solution until the demo of the floor tile. Speaking of floor tile, are you really sure that you're not to splashy for cork? While the cork layer itself is waterproof, the underlying layers of MDF or HDF are not. If you end up with water on your floor, that could swell the substrate and that wouldn't be repairable.
lazy_gardens
12 years ago
Does that hole go all the way through the floor to the basement or crawl space? If so, I'd call him back, because he should have demolished enough of the floor to make it possible to have solid flooring. I would worry about a tub that has one edge apparently held up by air and the goopy stuff.

If he just grouted a shallow hole to fill in the tiles for a week, it was foolish. He should have used something that hardens better.
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I would leave it and find some beautiful cotton floor rugs in a complimentary color - there are so many beautiful blues available -and put them where you would expect to want to stand on something soft. Less floor jumping out at you when you walk in and since the floor really is neutral the eye will go to the beautiful bath rugs. I would not pay to have the counters honed. The color won't change and the upkeep will be greater - the honed surface will absorb spills faster than the polished surface. The counter surface is not that great - once you have a few accessories on them as everyone has noted it will be less obvious. RIght now all you are looking at is the floor and counters because nothing else is in yet. The rug in Monicakm's picture would be a beautiful color in yours too. I am finishing a whole house remodel and I completely understand the stress of discovering something is not turning out quite as expected. My issue is my kitchen cabinets - my cabinet maker is not quite the craftsman I thought he was. I know for a while every time I go in there my eye will go to the less than perfect stain job ;-) My DH said I was being overly picky but then we had friends come over and within minutes she was running her fingers over the bubbles in the finish that were nicely highlighted by the way the light hits the cabinet! She did tell me today what I told you - I have no counters or backsplash or even cabinet doors - there wasn't much for her to look at so she really saw what was there. However - I am going to get the brand and color of the stain and finish and I will probably be touching it up on my own after all is said and done! I can't do much about the filler that doesn't match the solid cherry at all and should not be necessary of the cabinets were built right in the first place!
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sarahhomeremodel
Original Author
12 years ago
I didn't know that about cork! I did some online research but didn't know that about the underlying layers. Back to the floor drawing board. (I have cork in my kitchen and thought it wuold be nice in the bath since it is right down the hall from the kitchen was all).

I did some... poking around.. and the hole literally goes through to my crawl space. Maybe I should have posted in the "disaster forum!"

I think I need to do some more digging (no pun intended) to figure out what to do next.

Thanks for both of your advice!
Billl
12 years ago
Cork comes in different constructions. The "floating floor" style that snaps together is just one option. They also make solid cork that you glue directly to a subfloor.
writersblock (9b/10a)
12 years ago
There are also cork-look patterns in some of the new vinyl tile lines, the ones that claim to be good for wet areas.
ntruro
12 years ago
As an earlier post mentions, the click-together cork flooring should not be used in wet areas. We have glue down cork tiles from DuroDesign in our kid's (3 and 5 year olds) bathroom. After installation, the tiles were sealed with 4 coats of urethane.

Bathroom Floor Reno Disaster - Big Hole!!

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Bathroom Floor Reno Disaster - Big Hole!!

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