Rotten floorboards/joists in bathroom - help!

[Richard Dixon]

Dear All

Disaster! Having resealed and tiled around my bath, I've just taken up the vinyl in the bathroom of the house I recently bought, I can see that the floorboards are in an advanced state of decay - crumbling wood, the odd hole

- which is enough to reveal that the joists (is that the correct word?) on to which the floorboards are joined are also crumbling, which for a DIY novice like me is probably a job too far!

Would it be best to get some quotes from carpenters or flooring specialists on this sort of problem? Presumably also the bath needs removing to get to the floorboards under - how easy a job is this to do, or does this require a lot of plumbing experience?

Sorry for all these naive questions, I thought I'd come here to get some advice before I even start thinking about speaking to some "specialists".

Many thanks Richard

[Al Reynolds]

specialists

If by joists you mean the bits of wood that run at 90 degrees to the floorboards, which are about 6-8 inches deep and about

2 inches wide, and they really are crumbling, then it's probably time to get a structural engineer to have a look before your bathroom ends up on the floor below...

In the past when I've wanted a verbal opinion from a structural engineer, they've been prepared to come out for about £25. I explained to them on the 'phone what I wanted them to look at and they took about 15 mins to have a look and tell me what's what.

It might be that the joists are just a bit rough and not actually crumbling, in which case it'll just be a case of replacing the floorboards.

HTH, Al

[Pete C]

Hi,

You may be able to repair the joists by bolting and/or glueing another joist to them, but you would definately need guidance from a structural engineer on whether/how to do this.

cheers, Pete.