I don't feel 'vibes' when I enter a building - don't feel the previous owners looking down on me. But I do know when a place feels friendly.-Penelope Keith
What a disaster! I feel like those poor people on Love It Or List It! You know they think they're getting that fabulous open kitchen so that they can see their toddler play in the living room while they cook? What they're really getting is all new wiring, or plumbing, or floor joists, because unbeknownst to them their toddler has been living in a death trap all this time. Before you know it, all their money is gone, the house is finally safe, but they have to list it because they still can't see their toddler from the kitchen. That's what my life has turned in to.
Yesterday I was worried because my fireplace hearth had crumbled into oblivion leaving me with a huge hole, a great chasm really, into the underbelly of my home! After today it's not so much on my mind. Not because my husband covered the hole with new subfloor, but because of what I found in my laundry room/bathroom.
We knew when we bought the duplex that at some point in it's recent history there was a leak in the shower plumbing in this bathroom and at another time there was also a toilet leak there. Well, someone at some point "fixed" it. I use the term fixed very loosely here. New studs went in around the shower and new flooring too. By new flooring I mean they put in 1/4" ply wood and newer vinyl right over top the soaked 1978 orange vinyl and sound board.
The new studs, the inside of the dry wall and the paper backing of the insulation had become it's own eco system teaming with mold. I removed the studs, the dry wall, the insulation and proceeded on ripping up the floor by the toilet. The sound board was so wet it resembled the coconut dirt I used to fill our hermit crabs tank with. It was completely shredded. As I sat there scraping up the loose floor I saw the moisture had seeped into the tongue and groove floor boards underneath all of this, so I began removing it as well. I now have a new hole open to my crawl space.
If you ever feel tempted to just cover over flooded bathroom flooring, I hope these pictures will convince you to just start over. Never trap moisture under new floors or new dry wall. The mold, the wood rot, the agony... Just simply not worth the headache. My one day tear out is going to become a week long project I'm sure.
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