Bathroom Floor boards need replacing?

laurathree

Hi all,

We have recently moved into a 1930s ground floor maisonette. The bathroom needs redoing, as it has no shower/ extractor fan etc, and just hasn't been redone in 20 years basically.

The floor is currently covered in lino, which has been sealed down very badly, especially by the bathroom door. Having had a quick look under it (it won't come up much without being ripped) the floorboards there are wet and showing signs of mould. By the door is also near the bath taps - again, very old and the seal on one tap is long gone. The previous owner used one of those temporary shower hoses that fits over the taps using a rubber hose - as soon as we moved in we realised that this was useless as it was forcing water back in the direction of the tap and the wall, and so through the gap around the hot tap - this is adjacent to these floor boards that are wet. The bathroom is being done in the next few weeks including new taps, so this problem will be fixed.

The rest of the bathroom floor under the lino is pretty solid and even feeling - to save costs we were planning to replace the lino (which is pink and brown...) when we have the bathroom done, and hopefully tile at a later date when the (endless!) new home costs have abated a bit. However, it looks like the first foot or so of the boards as you walk in the door (6 boards, about 4in wide each) will need replacing. My question is - can we do this ourselves? I'm pretty handy and we do our own DIY - happy to attempt it but as I never have before, I just wondered if its worth us doing, or just getting a pro in. I'm a little worried they will make it a bigger job than it needs to be to bump up the price...

Thanks all,

Laura

Reece_

Generally no it's not a difficult job, if the boards are continuous they may be under skirting and door frame and need cutting around first, easily done with something like an oscillating multi tool but could be done by drilling a hole and using a flush cut saw , if there's joins then probably won't have to do any cutting and it would just be a case of prying up and replacing.
If you had to cut them free you'd need to be aware of any hidden pipework or cables under the floor.
Also if they're tongue and groove boards you'll probably need to cut along the tongue to free the first board.
Not really a big job for a professional, you may pay up to a days labour for it ( not saying it's a days work but some may not work on hourly rate etc)

What makes you think they need replacing though? Being damp and signs of mould is nothing to be concerned about providing it hasn't caused any rot, the swelling and shrinking may have caused them to be a bit loose and springy but that's easily solved.
If there's no sign of rot then I'd be inclined to clean off the mould, allow them to fully dry out and put a few screws in if they've become loose.

missprice

Its an amazingly easy job to do.
I have replaced several boards now in 3 areas.
And I'm a girl, and blonde.
However there was no plaster or skirting board where the boards needed replacing.

They broke when stood on, so no problem getting old ones out. New ones cost about £44 per pack from b and q, iirc I needed 2 packs and have some left over.
Any way some were in bathroom and the bath and everything still up there so can't have done too bad a job.

ed110220

No need to replace if they're not badly rotted, unless of course you want them on display (unlikely in a bathroom). The floorboards in one corner of our bathroom I found were slightly decayed as there had been a slight leak for a long time in the shower grouting. Once dried out I could tell this was nothing to worry about and nothing a new floor covering wouldn't deal with.

I'd lift up the lino, let it dry and see what the damage is before going down the route of replacing.

Ed

firsttimebuyer2013

The only other problem you may encounter is getting the right depth boards. The likes of B&Q I believe only sell metric boards. Yours are likely to be imperial. If you have a builders merchants near you should be able to get them there.

muckybutt

One thing to point out before you go ripping things up is how old is the lino ?
Early lino had ACM's (Asbestos containing material ) put into the lino to make it hardwearing.

laurathree

Thanks all for your advice! I will tear up the lino I think. As I mentioned bathroom being redone in the next couple of weeks (by brother, so money saving mates rates!) So it has to come up soon anyway. Will LST it dry (and double check that the leak is coming from exactly where I think it is also). We'll see how bad it is then. One of the boards has broken for sure (the one you step on almost every time you enter) but maybe the others will survive.

Know all about the ACMs in Lino but this is newer than that. Just not new by any stretch!

Will report back on the damage...

laurathree

Thanks all for your help - turns out the problem is very minor and hardyback boards will remedy it before the tiled floor goes down! Phew!

Now, to choose a stylish bathroom suite that doesn't cost the earth...