How can you tell if you have a rotted floor?

Question

I thought that the water in the basement was coming from outside when it rained or the snow melted until today after my oldest son who is almost 6 went to the bathroom and I heard it raining in the basement. Than I went into the bathroom and there was water all over the place. I'm nervous about wether or not my floor may rot because I know it is expensive and this has happened before. Any suggestions? He's already not allowed to use toilet paper by himself I'm giving him only a certain amount everytime he goes!

Also, since the floor has gotten wet I have put fans and dried the floor really good, is there anyway I can prevent a rotted floor besides not letting it happen again?

The toilet overflowed I think I had mentioned the water all over the floor.

Answer 1

Use fans to dry the floor.
Flush the toiley & see if it's leaking from the base, if so replace the wax seal.
Check the tub/shower make sure it's caulked properly, & keep the shower curtain inside the tub when using it.
Once the flood dries, see if it feels spongy, if it does, you have to redo it, if not, you're good to go.

Answer 2

There is not much you can do now except get as much of the water up as you can!! lets hope that you don't have a floor vent and the water ran down the duct work into the furnace!! You will have major problems then!! Long as the water hasn't sat there and soaked into the floor you should be okay. Sounds like it's draining in the basement. If the floor has give and feels squishy..the damage has been done! Tell him from now on he will need supervised wipes until he can learn how to use the toilet paper in a fair amount. Good luck with this...

Answer 3

If the toilet didn't overflow, then the wax ring seal under the toilet may be leaking. It's not a big job to remove the toilet and replace the seal, so find a handyman who can help you do that. The wood will dry out and won't rot unless the toilet is leaking all the time. So you really need to remove the toilet to make sure it's not leaking unless your sure the water overflowed the toilet bowl. Make sure the overflow holes around the underside of the toilet bowl rim are clear and open.

Answer 4

Since the floor seems to drain well and rapidly into the basement, it is not likely that it has a chance to set there and rot. If the wood seems to have a spongy feel after it dries or has a lot of give after it dries you might have a problem. I don't think you have anything to worry about with just a couple of occurrences.

Answer 5

If you have dried out the floor completely after each incident, then the problem should be minimal. Check from below to see if there are any spots that are feeling spongy. Rot shows up as sponginess.

Is your son deliberately flooding the floor, or is this something that happens whenever the toilet if flushed and the sink or tub is drained? If it happens every time, then you need to bring in a plumber to fix whatever problems are causing the flood, broken or blocked pipes, rusted out water lines, whatever. It will be expensive but less so than replacing the floor and joists every few years.

Answer 6

Take the fan and go to the basement and set it up under the bathroom to dry the floor joists and underlayment. Take corrective action to prevent this from occurring again. If the house was built to code you should be ok for now if you can get the problem stopped. Leave the fan on in the basement for several days.

Answer 7

one or two times usually does not affect the integrity of the flooring or sub floor, what causes damage is water leaking over a long period of time... and this usually causes mold also...

Answer 8

Water normally has to sit and leak for long periods to make it rot.You should be just fine