bathroom hardwood floors leaking?

[tarakparekh]

Hello,

We had recently visited an old house which had hardwood floors in the bathroom on the 2nd floor. Whilst taking a shower some water must have splashed out of the shower curtain, and the wallpaper on the ceiling on the first floor got damaged. I am just wondering as to what might have caused water to go through the hardwood floors to damage the wallpaper.

Any thoughts?

thanks, TP

[Mike Marlow]

Gravity.

[David]

LOL!

Dave

Mike Marlow wrote:

[Brian Elfert]

Hardwood floors are not water resistant. Water will easily seep through.

There may also have been or still is a leak in the plumbing somewhere.

Brian Elfert

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Probably not through the wood, but the joints between boards and at the ends under moldings. Caulk edges, seal the rest of the floor.

[No]

Dang - You beat me to it!!! LOL

[Leon]

Actually many hardwood floors ARE water resistant. They are not Water Proof.

[Leon]

Have you ever noticed the cracks between the boards?

[D. J. MCBRIDE]

I suspect they're seams; he didn't mention any cracks. Or joints; yeah, joints.

[J. Clarke]

Could be a plumbing problem. If it's a three-valve shower rather than a single-lever then the center valve may be leaking with the leak running inside the wall.

[Markus Romanoff]

Sounds like the hardwood flooring was "engineered flooring". That type of flooring is prefinished so you don't put a coat of polyurethane on it like regular hardwood flooring. the lack of that "sealer" coat could allow water to leak between the slats.

[Robert Bonomi]

The first word would be appropriate if the boards are BUTTed together, no?

Or am I being a little cheeky?

[Mike Marlow]

That'll make any clean up down the road quite a chore. How about fixing the problem and not worrying about the floor? The floor will survive a bathroom with no leaks just fine. Fix the leaks, the floor is happy.