Thank you so much for sharing this! We just had a very similar thing happen in our bathroom, found it while I was preparing to hang wallpaper. Thanks to your video I was able to fix it and am now just waiting for it to dry so we can sand and finish things up. Thank you!
Thank you for the great content. A lot of people don't think to repair the original floor, they immediately think to replace everything and like you said end up paying a fortune to pay someone to fix it when it could be a simple fix like this. Good job mate! 👏
I have a similar issue. very small amount of old water damage that has been corrected and dried. When putting this bondo type material on the subfloor, will thinset adhere for tile?
question, I have the same problem I found coming from in front of my tub. I don't have two layers of subfloor, only the Hubus OBS. I am drying it out now and already tackled the mold issue, that I can see anyways. Workers around here can't be trusted to do anything professionally so I now try to do everything myself without cutting corners, like they do. My floor didn't have a moisture barrier put down by builders when built, I didn't know, esentially is what has caused this problem and then adding a quarter round at the tub with no filler put down. Sad. I have stripped my entire bathroom except the tub bc that isn't a project I am really wanting to do. Does this method work with only one subfloor, putty and sand that and then put down new subfloor? I cant tell from the video what is going on there, what do you think?
I have two sub floors because I had to build up one side to compensate for unevenness on the other side. If you have only one sub floor and it gets damaged then you can only do the scraping and filling method if there is enough sub floor left to hold up the weight of a person after the repair is done. If the floor is down to 1/8 of an inch in thickness or less, then I suggest that you cut out that section and replace with a new subfloor. You will have joists below the floor to hold it up so there is nothing to worry about. If you don't want to completely remove the tub then you can always lift it with a floor jack (if heavy cast iron tub) and put back down after the repair is done. No need to remove completely.
@@ModernDIYProjects How would you know how long it's been going on? I only recently pulled up my flooring to replace and found water in front of the tub.
I could see a contractor or handyman making this a Complete Remodel? ( Big Time ) Merry Christmas to you and your Family. for future repair like that you should cut back the dry wall and replace it with no rot green board. or cement board. that will eliminate future mold problems in a wet area.
Thanks, Merry Christmas to you too! You bring up a good point. I was going to use green board, (since I have some spare pieces), but that green board is only 1/2" thick. Since I had to fill in the damaged portion of the wood, I decided to use 3/4" drywall instead to make it less trouble for me having to fill and even out the wood in the back. But normally I would have used the green board.
Can you show exactly what you re-sealed to stop the water damage from happening again? We have the same problem. We have newly built home and our contrator has no idea how to fix it. Please show what you re-sealed.
All I did was remove the existing caulking and refill with new water proof caulking. The previous caulking had separated allowing water to get behind it. It's not difficult, it just wasn't visible to me until I starter pushing on the caulking and could see water squeezing out. You probably have a similar situation.
Is there any way to waterproof (or at least make more water resistant) an area of drywall near the shower? We have an area next to the shower that, due to the way our bathroom is shaped (hard to explain), it regularly gets little splashes and moisture. It not so much due to something not being sealed correctly, but more due to kids taking showers, sometimes they forget to make sure the shower curtain inner liner is all the way covering the area, kids just being kids that get water all over the place, etc. I’d have to monitor every time anyone got in the shower to keep the area totally dry. I can patch the area and put in new drywall no prob, but I feel like I should do something more to help the drywall not get the moisture. Any tips? Thx
I understand what you mean. That is a difficult situation. Most water sealing materials will leave an ugly stain or discoloration so you really don't want to do that. They are not aesthetically pleasing. The only things you can do is paint the area with an oil based paint. Use exterior grade paint for best results. Water based paints are worthless against water, no matter what anyone says. Also if you are patching the drywall use the Green or Blue drywall those are made for wet areas. The only other solution is to use a clear barrier over the area with like a plastic film that can be applied to the area. Like a clear bra for a car, similar idea. So there are a few thoughts you can see which one works best for you.
industry standard is to have a waterboard (durock or such) running out (vertically) to where the tub is framed in, this will keep moisture from eating at the sheetrock. Also most peoples water issues come from older hot/cold/shower valves... if this is the case, repairing the damage is a bit pointless as it will be that way again in quick order.
Yes you can waterproof it, you’d just have to change the material. I have 6 kids and I know exactly what you mean. Just moved into a new house and the bathroom is all messed up, so we’re replacing the flooring, tub and toilet anyways and taking this time to go ahead and waterproof the floor and walls. We did the same thing at our old house about 10 years ago
When water seeps from over the edge of tub over time, on the floor in from of the tub, does the water also seep under the tub? I am trying to figure this out before I bother cutting up a perfectly good shower, (shower not floor).
If there is not a proper sealer and the floor slopes toward the shower pan, then yes water will travel anywhere it can. If the floor is sloped away from the shower pan then the chances are less. If this is a single story then maybe to can go under the house to get a look under the shower for damage if you have a crawl space. If its a slab, well then maybe you can drill a small access hole under the shower pan and use an endoscopic camera to get a look under the pan to see if there is any damage. If it's a two story then you can drill a hole in the ceiling from below the shower and use an endo camera also.
Nothing. You apply the bondo right to the bare wood. The only thing I used was Bleach to kill any mold that was on the wood. The black stuff was an adhesive from the old floor.
Monday October14,2024@5:13pmcst MODERN DIY I REALLY APPRECIATE your way EXPLAINING STEP-BY-STEP instructions!👍 Showing the Products and Items NEEDED for the project👍 PROFESSIONAL, YET YOU KEPT THINGS SIMPLE, and SPEAKING IN EASY TO UNDERSTAND TERMS, EVEN a Young person,as WELL as Senior citizen may be able to THIS DIY👍 GOD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU IN HIS WILL, WORD, AND DIVINE PURPOSE, IN JESUS NAME🙏❗ AMEN🙏❗
This looks similar to my shower, but you didn’t show how you fixed the leak from the shower. I suspect that the weep holes are allowing water to get behind my builder-installed tile wall. My fiberglass shower pan has a “gutter” outside of the shower with tile above it, so I don’t see how the drywall is getting wet. Any thoughts??? Doug
Can't comment on your situation without seeing it. For me it was faulty caulking. It separated causing a bad seal allowing water to seep in behind it. Scraped out the caulk and reapplied. Then did all the damage repair.
@@nicoleb2669 If it's the 2 part putty (grey putty + a tube of hardener) it cures in ~20 min. **keep in mind there are a variety of factors that can directly affect plasticity time. Ambient temperature or thickness of application for example, even something as simple as being a bit too generous with the hardener can affect the time to cure more or less cutting it in half, which has an obnoxious way that always ends in a hard blob stuck to your mixing tray with a whole sword in the stone/putty knife situation to figure out.
@@CraigP-z4t thank you for your reply I was told by contractor that my small tiny bathroom (water under / leaked by broken washer ) that he will need a 4-6 hours to dry floor after he removes toilet and old floorings
There are many asbestos testing devices on the market buy they are not cheap. Most people if they cannot afford a testing device are very careful if they believe that they have asbestos. Wear masks and wet down the area that you are working on so that the particles cannot become air born. Remember, asbestos is not some demonic beast that will invade your body. It is only dangerous if inhales in large quantities. So one or two asbestos particles will 99% change not hurt you.
Working on mine right now, mold under tiles ripped half out and it got worst, having a bio testing done at $600, plus $4,500 for treatment by water damage contractor and hope the cost won't get to high, they did tell me that if they have to remove tub and tiles it would be about $20k to redo entire bathroom remodel.
I feel your pain. That is why I learned to do stuff myself because the so called "Professionals" charge an arm & a leg and sometimes a kidney. Hope it doesn't go south on ya.
@@ModernDIYProjects I am a do it yourselfer but this was much more than I could do myself, so much mold on about half my floor. Thanks for sharing your video every little tip for the DIY helps.
@@rickg882 How much water damage? A flood or water seeping from edge of tub? (if you have a tub) Is it just the one bath? Asking because this seems excessively costly, I had a 75 sqaure foot closet I had remodeled into a bathroom and it costed 31k. No plumbing or anything was in it. Just a empty closet in the main area.
@@eastcoast2025 I did have a bit of mold, ripped out tub, walls, flooring and replaced everything and I did almost 50% of the work myself, paid about $10k - $12k, it is all done now. Contractors are crooks!
How long would it take to replace the floor under the the front 1/2 of the toilet, if it has broken through both both layers of wood? Sheet of linoleum covers floor.
First you need to find out what the problem was that caused this and correct that. Once the correction is made, removing the bad floor back to good strong wood, and adding any bracing if needed. Possibly two weeks going methodically. If you rush through it, you could do it in 1 week. If you hire a contractor, it could take a month.
@@ModernDIYProjects When you say removing the floor up to the good portion, do you mean cutting out the subfloor? I don't have two layers, I have one board of subflooring. I don't know if it has integrity or not. I don't know how to tell those things
What my 🚿🛁 bathroom is looking like with children always leaving the curtain wrong when they shower it's time to fix kitchen and bathroom and idk where to even start wonder if it will just be cheaper to get a person
Same issue here in kids upper bath. I won't hire anyone, I have multiple baths and will figure it out no matter how long it takes. I don't trust contractors, they messed up most of the things they have touched in my home. I had an out of twon contractor create an entire bathroom out of a closet and did amazing and it's the only bath not having problems 4 years later. He is no longer close enough to have do anything in my home. I have called people out regarding this and multiple other thins the builder did short cuts on, and they were...I'll be blunt morons. So instead of wasting money on getting dumb advice, I will spend it on actual materials I need.
Thank you!..... That is one of the reasons I created my channel was to help folks far and wide do stuff the easy way. So many other channels like to over complicate simple projects. I try to find the cheap, easy, yet effective way to do things.
You didnot show how water get behind the wall. I recently see a case of water damage on the subfloor. It turns out that water traveled from shower enclosure to the tub edge. The tub lip is about 1 inch behind the tile. Therefore, water goes behind the wall and dripped sideways to the subfloor. A temporary fix is to add sealant between the tile and the tub. I feel there is a fundamental flaw in design of the tub lip
I didn't show it but I did explain what happened. It was traveling along the the floor pan lip, under the tile and coming out at the end causing the damage. I cleared out all the caulking and resealed it.
@@luyabell76 No, this is the opposite wall to where the faucet is. The water was getting in behind the caulking on the wall and working it's way out to where the plaster was. The sealer stopped sealing but I couldn't see it until I started squeezing it and saw the water coming out. Water always finds a place to hide and cause damage.
Then you have a bigger problem because you have to chisel those puppies out and replace them. You wont know if you have a rotted substrate under the tiles unless they feel spongy or you break them out.
Thank you so much for sharing this! We just had a very similar thing happen in our bathroom, found it while I was preparing to hang wallpaper. Thanks to your video I was able to fix it and am now just waiting for it to dry so we can sand and finish things up. Thank you!
Thank you, I’m doing everything in my house on my own , I appreciate this so much
This is almost EXACTLY what I have in my bathroom!...thanks for the info...very helpful!...BRAVO!
Same!
Same here
Thank you for the great content. A lot of people don't think to repair the original floor, they immediately think to replace everything and like you said end up paying a fortune to pay someone to fix it when it could be a simple fix like this. Good job mate! 👏
Can you do a video on how to locate and and stop the leak?
Wait, how did you fix the hole that was there, I have a hole the tile sunk down in it ,what do I fill it with..,
What did you use on the subfloor gaps. Thank you in advance for the answer.
We are cementing and thin set after that.
Thanks for the info, but what did you do to prevent the water from causing the same damage to happen again over time?
This is my question as well
@@jenclawson2362 he says at the end he scraped out all the old caulking and reapplied
nice, i will do this too in my bathroom. have the same problem. thanks so much
I have a similar issue. very small amount of old water damage that has been corrected and dried. When putting this bondo type material on the subfloor, will thinset adhere for tile?
Yes, everything should adhere to it. It's just like the Bondo for car body repair but made for more general application.
Love this video. Big help 💯💯
Thank you for sharing this
Thanks. We have a similar situation with the flooring around our tub right now. Gonna give this a try.
It a common problem
.I'm having ceramic tile put one third of the way up the wall and on the floor to prevent this from happening again.
@@robinluich6626 I went ahead and used this technique and it worked well…at least it is working well so far.
question, I have the same problem I found coming from in front of my tub. I don't have two layers of subfloor, only the Hubus OBS. I am drying it out now and already tackled the mold issue, that I can see anyways. Workers around here can't be trusted to do anything professionally so I now try to do everything myself without cutting corners, like they do. My floor didn't have a moisture barrier put down by builders when built, I didn't know, esentially is what has caused this problem and then adding a quarter round at the tub with no filler put down. Sad. I have stripped my entire bathroom except the tub bc that isn't a project I am really wanting to do. Does this method work with only one subfloor, putty and sand that and then put down new subfloor? I cant tell from the video what is going on there, what do you think?
I have two sub floors because I had to build up one side to compensate for unevenness on the other side. If you have only one sub floor and it gets damaged then you can only do the scraping and filling method if there is enough sub floor left to hold up the weight of a person after the repair is done. If the floor is down to 1/8 of an inch in thickness or less, then I suggest that you cut out that section and replace with a new subfloor. You will have joists below the floor to hold it up so there is nothing to worry about. If you don't want to completely remove the tub then you can always lift it with a floor jack (if heavy cast iron tub) and put back down after the repair is done. No need to remove completely.
wow! beautiful!
This is helpful with replacing the bottom board behind my toilet.
Does something like this cause structural damage? I have this going on in my bathroom and very nervous lol I’m fixing it this weekend
If it is allowed to go long enough, yes it can.
@@ModernDIYProjects oh no!!! Thanks for the reply !
@@ModernDIYProjects How would you know how long it's been going on? I only recently pulled up my flooring to replace and found water in front of the tub.
Unknown. No way to tell.
I could see a contractor or handyman making this a Complete Remodel? ( Big Time ) Merry Christmas to you and your Family. for future repair like that you should cut back the dry wall and replace it with no rot green board. or cement board. that will eliminate future mold problems in a wet area.
Thanks, Merry Christmas to you too! You bring up a good point. I was going to use green board, (since I have some spare pieces), but that green board is only 1/2" thick. Since I had to fill in the damaged portion of the wood, I decided to use 3/4" drywall instead to make it less trouble for me having to fill and even out the wood in the back. But normally I would have used the green board.
@@ModernDIYProjects You could have used 1/4 inch fir strips to make the difference in the thickness?
@@bryansmith5980 Good idea. I'll keep that in mind for future use.
Can you show exactly what you re-sealed to stop the water damage from happening again? We have the same problem. We have newly built home and our contrator has no idea how to fix it. Please show what you re-sealed.
All I did was remove the existing caulking and refill with new water proof caulking. The previous caulking had separated allowing water to get behind it. It's not difficult, it just wasn't visible to me until I starter pushing on the caulking and could see water squeezing out. You probably have a similar situation.
Great video thank you Sir
Excellent video!
Thank you sir!
Is there any way to waterproof (or at least make more water resistant) an area of drywall near the shower? We have an area next to the shower that, due to the way our bathroom is shaped (hard to explain), it regularly gets little splashes and moisture. It not so much due to something not being sealed correctly, but more due to kids taking showers, sometimes they forget to make sure the shower curtain inner liner is all the way covering the area, kids just being kids that get water all over the place, etc. I’d have to monitor every time anyone got in the shower to keep the area totally dry.
I can patch the area and put in new drywall no prob, but I feel like I should do something more to help the drywall not get the moisture.
Any tips?
Thx
I understand what you mean. That is a difficult situation. Most water sealing materials will leave an ugly stain or discoloration so you really don't want to do that. They are not aesthetically pleasing. The only things you can do is paint the area with an oil based paint. Use exterior grade paint for best results. Water based paints are worthless against water, no matter what anyone says. Also if you are patching the drywall use the Green or Blue drywall those are made for wet areas. The only other solution is to use a clear barrier over the area with like a plastic film that can be applied to the area. Like a clear bra for a car, similar idea. So there are a few thoughts you can see which one works best for you.
industry standard is to have a waterboard (durock or such) running out (vertically) to where the tub is framed in, this will keep moisture from eating at the sheetrock. Also most peoples water issues come from older hot/cold/shower valves... if this is the case, repairing the damage is a bit pointless as it will be that way again in quick order.
You can cover your wall at least half way with tiles.
Yes you can waterproof it, you’d just have to change the material. I have 6 kids and I know exactly what you mean. Just moved into a new house and the bathroom is all messed up, so we’re replacing the flooring, tub and toilet anyways and taking this time to go ahead and waterproof the floor and walls. We did the same thing at our old house about 10 years ago
How were you able to place the cutout piece of plywood so you ended up with the same height as the rest of the floor.
A lot of careful measurement and sanding. Obviously tedious stuff that you never show on a video.
@@ModernDIYProjects How did you end up with two subfloors?
Check out other response
When water seeps from over the edge of tub over time, on the floor in from of the tub, does the water also seep under the tub? I am trying to figure this out before I bother cutting up a perfectly good shower, (shower not floor).
If there is not a proper sealer and the floor slopes toward the shower pan, then yes water will travel anywhere it can. If the floor is sloped away from the shower pan then the chances are less. If this is a single story then maybe to can go under the house to get a look under the shower for damage if you have a crawl space. If its a slab, well then maybe you can drill a small access hole under the shower pan and use an endoscopic camera to get a look under the pan to see if there is any damage. If it's a two story then you can drill a hole in the ceiling from below the shower and use an endo camera also.
what did you lay over the hole before you used the bondo?
Nothing. You apply the bondo right to the bare wood. The only thing I used was Bleach to kill any mold that was on the wood. The black stuff was an adhesive from the old floor.
@@ModernDIYProjects ok awesome thank you! I’m dealing with this same issue.
Monday October14,2024@5:13pmcst
MODERN DIY I REALLY APPRECIATE your way EXPLAINING STEP-BY-STEP instructions!👍
Showing the Products and Items NEEDED for the project👍 PROFESSIONAL, YET YOU KEPT THINGS SIMPLE, and SPEAKING IN EASY TO UNDERSTAND TERMS, EVEN
a Young person,as WELL as Senior citizen may be able to THIS DIY👍
GOD BLESS YOU AND KEEP YOU IN HIS WILL, WORD, AND DIVINE PURPOSE, IN JESUS NAME🙏❗
AMEN🙏❗
This is exactly what my shower wall looks like! However, I’m afraid it’s also all the way around on the lower part of our shower on all three walls.
Then maybe you should rip into it or it will keep getting worse. Just rip off the band aid and get er done!
This looks similar to my shower, but you didn’t show how you fixed the leak from the shower.
I suspect that the weep holes are allowing water to get behind my builder-installed tile wall.
My fiberglass shower pan has a “gutter” outside of the shower with tile above it, so I don’t see how the drywall is getting wet.
Any thoughts???
Doug
Can't comment on your situation without seeing it. For me it was faulty caulking. It separated causing a bad seal allowing water to seep in behind it. Scraped out the caulk and reapplied. Then did all the damage repair.
Can I patch up the plywood with this putty?? And then can I put the vinyl tile directly on top of the putty?
Yes, you can. This putty can be used as a finished surface. Just primer it when done to seal it up and you're done.
@@ModernDIYProjects This video is so helpful. Could you please confirm what type of primer?
How long wait time for putty to dry up ? Thank you
@@nicoleb2669 If it's the 2 part putty (grey putty + a tube of hardener) it cures in ~20 min.
**keep in mind there are a variety of factors that can directly affect plasticity time. Ambient temperature or thickness of application for example, even something as simple as being a bit too generous with the hardener can affect the time to cure more or less cutting it in half, which has an obnoxious way that always ends in a hard blob stuck to your mixing tray with a whole sword in the stone/putty knife situation to figure out.
@@CraigP-z4t thank you for your reply
I was told by contractor that my small tiny bathroom (water under / leaked by broken washer ) that he will need a 4-6 hours to dry floor after he removes toilet and old floorings
How do you test for asbestos when trying to find a leak in the home, asbestos can show up anywhere?
There are many asbestos testing devices on the market buy they are not cheap. Most people if they cannot afford a testing device are very careful if they believe that they have asbestos. Wear masks and wet down the area that you are working on so that the particles cannot become air born. Remember, asbestos is not some demonic beast that will invade your body. It is only dangerous if inhales in large quantities. So one or two asbestos particles will 99% change not hurt you.
Working on mine right now, mold under tiles ripped half out and it got worst, having a bio testing done at $600, plus $4,500 for treatment by water damage contractor and hope the cost won't get to high, they did tell me that if they have to remove tub and tiles it would be about $20k to redo entire bathroom remodel.
I feel your pain. That is why I learned to do stuff myself because the so called "Professionals" charge an arm & a leg and sometimes a kidney. Hope it doesn't go south on ya.
@@ModernDIYProjects I am a do it yourselfer but this was much more than I could do myself, so much mold on about half my floor. Thanks for sharing your video every little tip for the DIY helps.
@@rickg882 How much water damage? A flood or water seeping from edge of tub? (if you have a tub) Is it just the one bath? Asking because this seems excessively costly, I had a 75 sqaure foot closet I had remodeled into a bathroom and it costed 31k. No plumbing or anything was in it. Just a empty closet in the main area.
@@eastcoast2025 I did have a bit of mold, ripped out tub, walls, flooring and replaced everything and I did almost 50% of the work myself, paid about $10k - $12k, it is all done now. Contractors are crooks!
How long would it take to replace the floor under the the front 1/2 of the toilet, if it has broken through both both layers of wood? Sheet of linoleum covers floor.
First you need to find out what the problem was that caused this and correct that. Once the correction is made, removing the bad floor back to good strong wood, and adding any bracing if needed. Possibly two weeks going methodically. If you rush through it, you could do it in 1 week. If you hire a contractor, it could take a month.
@@ModernDIYProjects When you say removing the floor up to the good portion, do you mean cutting out the subfloor? I don't have two layers, I have one board of subflooring. I don't know if it has integrity or not. I don't know how to tell those things
Check out my other response
Thanks for sharing
What my 🚿🛁 bathroom is looking like with children always leaving the curtain wrong when they shower it's time to fix kitchen and bathroom and idk where to even start wonder if it will just be cheaper to get a person
Depends on your skill level and how busy you are. It will be easier to hire someone but I can guarantee it will NOT be cheaper.
Same issue here in kids upper bath. I won't hire anyone, I have multiple baths and will figure it out no matter how long it takes. I don't trust contractors, they messed up most of the things they have touched in my home. I had an out of twon contractor create an entire bathroom out of a closet and did amazing and it's the only bath not having problems 4 years later. He is no longer close enough to have do anything in my home. I have called people out regarding this and multiple other thins the builder did short cuts on, and they were...I'll be blunt morons. So instead of wasting money on getting dumb advice, I will spend it on actual materials I need.
Ty so so much
What was the problem though ? Why was it leaking behind the wall
The caulking had separated from the tile and allowed the water to seep in behind it. Removing the old caulk and recaulking fixed that.
@@ModernDIYProjects thank you I think I’m having the same problem
great job...are you for hire? Travel long distance for any job? 😬
Thank you!..... That is one of the reasons I created my channel was to help folks far and wide do stuff the easy way. So many other channels like to over complicate simple projects. I try to find the cheap, easy, yet effective way to do things.
What type of tiles ?
Well what the heck did you put over the hole on the floor? You skipped a whole step.
You didnot show how water get behind the wall. I recently see a case of water damage on the subfloor. It turns out that water traveled from shower enclosure to the tub edge. The tub lip is about 1 inch behind the tile. Therefore, water goes behind the wall and dripped sideways to the subfloor.
A temporary fix is to add sealant between the tile and the tub. I feel there is a fundamental flaw in design of the tub lip
I didn't show it but I did explain what happened. It was traveling along the the floor pan lip, under the tile and coming out at the end causing the damage. I cleared out all the caulking and resealed it.
@@luyabell76 No, this is the opposite wall to where the faucet is. The water was getting in behind the caulking on the wall and working it's way out to where the plaster was. The sealer stopped sealing but I couldn't see it until I started squeezing it and saw the water coming out. Water always finds a place to hide and cause damage.
In my opinion it was better to change the roten wood to make looks better
What if the floor is tiles?
Then you have a bigger problem because you have to chisel those puppies out and replace them. You wont know if you have a rotted substrate under the tiles unless they feel spongy or you break them out.
What putty product did you use?
Nevermind, I see it now! Thanks for video, going to try!
Your so awesome I wish you can just walk in and do this to a picky owner 😂
OK. That is not a repair. Good work. Thank you. Where we go - that is called a patch. Stay safe.