Leaky toilet into joist!

yorkshirecath

Not really sure what to do.
I've smelt wee in our bathroom for a while and i knew there must be a leak.
Decided i wanted a new bathroom anyway and today the plumber has taken the toilet out and found that yes it has been leaking for a while. He has taken the floor up around the toilet but the joist is very wet about a foot long.
What do i do about the joist? I can't really leave it to dry out as i only have that bathroom so he is having to fit new floorboards so he can put the new toilet in. I'm worried it's just going to smell still and not dry out and the new floorboards will soak up the moisture from the joist?
Stressed is an understatement!

JohnB47

yorkshirecath wrote: »

Not really sure what to do.
I've smelt wee in our bathroom for a while and i knew there must be a leak.
Decided i wanted a new bathroom anyway and today the plumber has taken the toilet out and found that yes it has been leaking for a while. He has taken the floor up around the toilet but the joist is very wet about a foot long.
What do i do about the joist? I can't really leave it to dry out as i only have that bathroom so he is having to fit new floorboards so he can put the new toilet in. I'm worried it's just going to smell still and not dry out and the new floorboards will soak up the moisture from the joist?
Stressed is an understatement!

Well, assuming you need the loo asap, there are a few options.

You could ask him to refit the loo temporarily but with enough gaps around to let the joist dry out (and for you not to fall in!). Then wait a few weeks before completing the job.

Or, you could spray the area with an anti bacterial or bleach type spray to stop fungus and hopefully damp down the pong. Then if it must be finished soon, get the plumber to fit a piece of thin felt or polythene over the joist before replacing/refitting the boards. That will stop most of the wee soaking upwards.

Actually I would spray the joist now, no matter what the next steps would be.

The joist will dry out in time - you just need to minimise the ongoing and slowly decreasing pong as it does so.

yorkshirecath

Well he put down floorboards and a thing layer of ply.
Woken up to a saturated floor so looks like i'm going to have to have the joist replaced

Norman_Castle

yorkshirecath wrote: »

Well he put down floorboards and a thing layer of ply.
Woken up to a saturated floor so looks like i'm going to have to have the joist replaced

If the joist is solid it doesn't need replacing, just time to dry out. This will take longer than the 15 hours since your first post about this. With ventilation, about two weeks.
If the floor is "saturated" its possible something is still leaking. Very unusual for water to soak upwards out of a joist through floorboards then plywood to the extent of being described as saturated.

Grenage

Replacing the joist is complete overkill unless it's rotting. Just temporarily move the toilet and leave the area exposed. A dehumidifier with the door closed might also speed up the process. It's going to take a while for a saturated joist to dry out.

that

If you have a dehumififyer that will help, but will also suck water out of the toilet bowl and sink u bends.

A fan is also a good cheap choice to speed things along.

If you want to track the source of the water, start at the lower levels and colour it with kool-aid packets - 16 flavours - 16 colours?

Aylesbury_Duck

that wrote: »

If you have a dehumififyer that will help, but will also suck water out of the toilet bowl and sink u bends.

Not to any noticeable degree it won't. It condenses airborne moisture. It won't suck water from pipes.

Gloomendoom

that wrote: »

If you have a dehumififyer that will help, but will also suck water out of the toilet bowl and sink u bends.

Yours must have one hell of a fan on it!

that

I had one in my bedroom, up the hallway by 1m, on the opposite side is my bathroom entrance. Every day it evaporated the water from the toilet and the bath, plus sink u bends. It even took the water out of my kitchen ubend which is a good 6m journey.

Would fill two containers a day, because I had to empty one in the morning and again when I got back home as the level sensor stopped it from working

However this was in summer, but once it went winter, got a fraction of a whisky tumbler a day.

Ganga

that wrote: »

I had one in my bedroom, up the hallway by 1m, on the opposite side is my bathroom entrance. Every day it evaporated the water from the toilet and the bath, plus sink u bends. It even took the water out of my kitchen ubend which is a good 6m journey.

Would fill two containers a day, because I had to empty one in the morning and again when I got back home as the level sensor stopped it from working

However this was in summer, but once it went winter, got a fraction of a whisky tumbler a day.

The above was due to the humidity,there is more water vapour trapped in the air in summer than in winter,think about when you go on holiday in the sun ( Spain,Greece etc ) and you get a pint of cold beer/lager,within no time the outside of the glass is covered in moisture yet the sun is shining and no rain etc.

that

Ganga wrote: »

The above was due to the humidity,there is more water vapour trapped in the air in summer than in winter,think about when you go on holiday in the sun ( Spain,Greece etc ) and you get a pint of cold beer/lager,within no time the outside of the glass is covered in moisture yet the sun is shining and no rain etc.

I was of the opinion it was the gas used in the dehumidifyer, especially as the place reaches under 12C in winter, plus the toilet u bend stayed full

Yes agreed that warmer the air, the more humidity it can hold, still expected cooler air to hold some humidity.