I finally finished a tile job that should have taken a day but ate my whole weekend

It was a simple 12x12 porcelain tile install in a Phoenix bathroom. The subfloor looked fine, but I found a huge, soft spot right in the middle after pulling the old vinyl. It was a rotten patch of plywood about 3 feet wide from an old leak. Had to cut it out, sister in new joists, and put down two layers of new underlayment. The repair alone took 8 hours. Has anyone else been blindsided by hidden rot under an otherwise solid floor?

2 comments

2 Comments

ericb668d agoMost Upvoted

Phoenix bathrooms are brutal for that. The subfloor can seem fine until you peel back the vinyl and find a dust pile. Was the rotten plywood near the toilet or shower?

val_fox8d ago

Dust pile sounds dramatic, but sometimes it's just old adhesive and crumbly backing. Could be fine once you sweep it out.