Putting My Foot in It!!

I’ve post-dated the time for this post to appear live on my blog, just in case any of you fellow Brits were concerned about my sleeping patterns! Not long ago, I posted a couple of photos to Twitter, which should give you some idea of what I’m going to share with you now… These were also taken with my smart phone.

Putting my foot in it – literally!!

I’d just finished my shower, I was dressed and, as I gathered my things ready to leave the bathroom, I suddenly found my right foot down and amongst the foundations of our house!!

That was certainly the last thing I was expecting!!

I’ve blogged already this year about the state of this floor and my intentions to rip it up and replace. I previously had a brief look underneath one of the loose tiles (the one absentee nearest the bottom of the above photo) but I never suspected it would be rotten, right through!

At first glance, I saw plywood. After grabbing a plastic box to chuck it all the waste in to, I also found short, sodden lengths of softwood… It doesn’t look as though the existing floor was anything more than 18mm or ¾in in thickness, which suggests that a sheet of ply may’ve been inserted once before to account for a bodge or botched attempt at fixing the job.

We’ve been here just over nine-years now.

Underneath, there is a shallow puddle of water, which may well be leading from the combi. boiler I mentioned in my last post. To the other side of the puddle; towards the external wall; the floor is dry. I can see a rather rogue-looking bit of pipework underneath (that’s what I’m assuming it is; I don’t like touching too much shortly after a shower) but, it still makes me wonder about why the floor gave way so easily, in this one area…

It could again be a result of the lack of ventilation. One of the tiles that used to sit about the hole was cracked from before we moved in. Damp and moisture rising up the joists? But then, why haven’t they crumbled away?

My temporary patch is to lay a sheet of 12mm(!) MR MDF over the top, butting up to the toilet, until I can find the time to get in there and ‘fix it’ properly.

A temporary cover!

Around the toilet, the floor also feels quite wet so, I’ve told everyone to be extra careful in there, just in case! I am glad we have a downstairs bathroom, or else I might have found myself falling down through a ceiling!

I’m thinking that pretty much everything will need to come out so that I can look at this properly. Yep, the toilet would need to come out in order to fit a new floor covering anyway. It might be best to get the units out (if I can) and also the bath cover, just to assess the true state of this floor.

…I’m also quite relieved that I haven’t already fitted the vinyl floor covering!!

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