{"id":224,"date":"2016-11-25T22:59:34","date_gmt":"2016-11-26T05:59:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/econscience.org\/blog\/?p=224"},"modified":"2017-02-21T19:20:33","modified_gmt":"2017-02-22T02:20:33","slug":"diy-permanent-bathroom-floor-made-with-cheap-cork-underlayment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/econscience.org\/blog\/2016\/11\/25\/diy-permanent-bathroom-floor-made-with-cheap-cork-underlayment\/","title":{"rendered":"DIY permanent bathroom floor made with cheap cork underlayment"},"content":{"rendered":"

There’s no home-improvement motivation like sewer water dripping\u00a0through the ceiling onto your couch! \u00a0I had noticed the cracked tiles around the base of the toilet a couple years ago, but chose to ignore them. \u00a0Our “master bath” (shower+toilet) had clearly been a cheap finish to a big addition and I wanted to believe the cracked tile\u00a0dated to the 1998 toilet installation, rather than suggesting an underlying problem.<\/p>\n

Of course, I was wrong. \u00a0A quick examination of the toilet bolts showed that they were rusted through on one side and nearly corroded-through on the other. \u00a0The subsequent\u00a0rocking of the toilet had allowed flushed water\u00a0to leak past the wax seal and slowly saturate the particle board underlying the tiles, as well as the 19mm plywood sub-floor. \u00a0The moisture and rot further destabilized the toilet and the surrounding tile began to crack with the rocking. \u00a0Luckily, the ceiling rafters were unscathed (dry, no rot), so I only had to demo about 1 m^2 of the subfloor and 2 m^2 of the drywall ceiling in the playroom below (after cleaning the poop water out of the couch).<\/p>\n\n\t\t