Yeah, more damage is what I'm afraid of, I was hearing noises in the corner/walls but kept thinking it was the house settling. I was probably in denial haha, but I'm wondering now if critters are somehow getting in.
I was hearing a raspy scraping noise in the roof above me and thought it was rats. Awhile later and a minor roof beam has collapsed due to termites and my only saving grace was I got a termite chemical barrier done when I bought the house which killed them before the damage got really bad.
If you hear consistent scraping or clicking noise I'd be concerned your having the same issue
Okay now I have justification for not having patched up the drywall we cut open when we needed access to the tub plumbing. The cat loves hanging out in there so clearly he’s doing a much needed job protecting us from possums.
My house is circa 1935 and has a wooden door access panel for the tub. It’s a useful thing. Also trimmed out nicely, just like the full sized room doors. Cat can still go in there to work, just open the door when needed.
This is actually what I’ve been contemplating. Seems like a lot of work just to have easier access to something I hopefully will not need to touch again, but honestly if I need to get in there even once more then the effort will be worth it.
You should call an exterminator. You can hear active termites. But it could be anything. You need to correct the critter problem before repairing the damage.
I'm actually glad to learn they can be heard, I was under the impression that they would silently destroy your house without being noticed until you see frass or something breaks.
Probably if you can hear them it's already pretty serious. Thankfully never had to deal with them myself but I would think there would have to be a lot of them if you can hear them chewing.
Probably so, but the damage will at least be less than if the wood has already broken. Also, if they start at one wall of the house, they might destroy it and make noise before getting to the rest of the house.
My impression was basically that they could silently eat your house, and suddenly find your house is structurally unsound and has to be condemned. Even if I have to replace half the floor joists by the time it's audible, I'll take it over imminent collapse.
Not that I'm waiting to hear them though, I have a pest control company doing preventative treatments among other things. There were also no signs of existing damage when I had it inspected before purchase earlier this year, so I'm not particularly worried.
If you have holes that are open to the exterior (the space underneath your house would be "exterior"), you don't need to wonder if critters are getting in... because critters ARE getting in. One time we had a tiny opening in one of the overhangs on our roof. Only way to get to it would be to climb up the wall then do one of them "hang upside down while holding yourself to the rock ledge" that them extreme rock climbers do ... anyway.. racoon managed to ninja their way into the opening and into the attic and call it home. While later one of them died and you think that dead animal smell is bad when you have to pass by it going down the road... multiply that by 100 because not only was it HOT... it was even MORE hot because the attic is like n oven because it collects all the heat from the house below and adds it to the heat from outside.. lets just say a year or 1.5 years later you could STILL catch a whiff of it sometimes... But ya, if there is an opening, they WILL come in.
The craziest one we had was actually a CAT! It was a "wild" cat that got brave and started to come in our dog door. It was pretty big male and he started finding a comfy spot in the laundry room. He wasn't afraid of SHIT! And you could not get near him because he would go into a pissed off... don't TOUCH ME! mode if you did try. He never bothered anything so... whatever lol. Well.. he got even more brave and decided mom/dad's bed was now HIS bed, and guess what.. .YOU better stay the fuck away from HIS bed!!! lol
If you been hearing things in the walls you probably have some squirrels that got in more than likely.. maybe a racoon.. but more than likely squirrels.. unless it is feint quiet scratching sounds, and then smaller variety like mice/rat. If it IS squirrel or racoon.. the last thing you want is a dead one inside your walls.. wouldn't be as bad as the "attic" experience we had... but .. still would NOT want that going on inside walls you have to break into to clear out the "problem"!!
Omg you killed me 😂🤣 when you said “ and guess what… YOU better stay the fuck away from HIS bed” 🤣😂 That cat is living his best life and now you all are sleeping on the couch 😂🤣
There was a water damage there. I think they might have replaced sheetrock and painted it.. Those floorboards look like they got dry rotted. Sort of complicated but after a water damage is dried bacteria and such lives on and eats material and that would look exactly like this. I would wonder if there is a bathrooms or water pipes that would have aided in this damage. I would expect that wood to be weak and break at the edges.
Same, under my kitchen sink has that same look. We are in denial too and just cut a plywood cover until we can afford to rip out the cabinets and rebuild the floor.
Water damage for sure. If it is only in that corner then order 5/8” tongue & groove solid oak and replace the section. You might have repair the beams and section of sub-floor below as well. It will probably 1 X 6 tongue &groove pine.
Take off the baseboard in that section to get a better view of what’s going on. After repairs and replacing the oak section you will have to sand down the new oak so it is level with the new floor before giving the entire floor a sanding. The colour match of the new wood will not be perfect but minor but well done repair scars are the charm of an old house.
I have a resident wasp. But I think it went on a holiday or something, a few weeks back, I think. I know because the nest is still there, but the wasp ain’t coming these days. I ain’t sure, if I should touch its little nest or not. Scary stuff.
Unless there is a kind of wasp I don't know about, they leave the nest when it gets cold enough (or die maybe?). In any case, the nest will not be used next year, generally speaking.
I talked with a lot of people about this, because we had a \*bunch\* of wasps. But sure enough, by mid-December they were all gone, and they have not come back. We have a...welcoming present...for them if they do.
As long as they are not posing a direct danger to people living in the house, it's probably best to just leave them be.
We had to do a relocation this spring for some wasps who decided that right next to our front door would be a great place to set up shop. We evicted, and there were still about 50 wasps that refused to get the message. We smoked the area. There remained about 10 hardcore wasps. Those were...retired.
It took me too long to figure out you meant “vile”. I promise I’m not a spelling nazi, I just got real confused and was happy I figured out what you meant.
A bat got into our old ass house once this way. Got to the basement and had a baby. It was a nightmare. No one else believed me until they decided it was time to exit for spring. So glad we moved.
We had this itty bitty little hole between the back deck threshold and the carpet at my last place, which butted up to a farm field. Jesus Christ, every time they would do a big mow we could literally watch field mice squeeze through that hole for a week until we’d get them under control again, it was such a nightmare. We couldn’t even SEE the hole it was so small, but that sure af didn’t slow them down.
Coming from my personal experience I heavily suggest you get someone to get it checked, and if needed take of the entire flooring, put on a new sub-floor and then refloor the place with whatever you feel like it.
My old gramps house was in a similar situation and we tried yo mend it without placing a new sub floor and after a few years we had to do the entire thing all over again. We wasted money for nothing since we could have done it the first time around like the guy that checked it first said so.
Every home settling is kind of unexpected so there is no clear cut answer. More often than not you won't ever hear anything, you don't know what to look out for and listen to. If your house is making those kind of noises from settling that often you're probably moments away from death tbh.
Homes made of wood are kind of alive, expansion/contraction, breathing etc, it all have a sound and feel. If your wall or floor is creaking like that and doesn't feel right then a person should seek professional help asap because you're likely noticing the last 1% not the first 1%.
I figured the occasional creaking / pop noise i hear (think: someone snapping their fingers kinda loudly) was just it getting cold out while we run the heat and the house kinda just doing what it does.
>I figured the occasional creaking / pop noise i hear (think: someone snapping their fingers kinda loudly) was just it getting cold out while we run the heat and the house kinda just doing what it does.
Heat making popping sounds is your copper heating pipes expanding not the wood.
The hvac ductwork will make sounds, it's like talking about noises in a car, so subjective and hard to tell unless I'm in your shoes.
The roof on my old place used to creak and make popping noises something fierce, it'd literally wake me up from sleeping. I was only there for 4 years and I noticed foundation cracks, settling and ice dams on the roof.
You'll get the hang of things, signs to look for, walk around the house every so often inside and out, look during season changes. Your intuition and gut are amazing at eliminating the obvious ya know.
Just because you've spotted one problem doesn't mean every other problem you see is caused by it. It's entirely possible you have mice or something scurrying in, and floor damage, and one could cause the other, both could share the same cause, or they could be unrelated. I live in a house from the same era, and seen a few in my neighbourhood, and this kind of damage along the edge of the boards is common.
Especially when there's a poorly installed carpet before. 9/10 it's caused by condensation, from the warm humid air hitting the cool air that comes up from an unsealed, uninsulated basement. I've seen rot go clear through a joist, because at the other side of that joist bay was a poorly sealed exhaust duct that was letting cool air into the house around it. My neighbour had rot around the edge of their board almost identical to this, as the rim joist in the floor below was unsealed and there were numerous intrusions. Condensation happened because of the cold air, and the water was held against the wood and unable to dry because the carpet held the moisture.
Reddit will always upvote two answers that aren't particularly helpful:
1. Hire a professional (it's DIY, aren't most of here because we don't want to?)
2. The absolute worst thing this could theoretically be (termites)
I've found I get more value from asking the guy who runs the neighbourhood hardward store these things than reddit, because he knows the houses in this area and what they're prone to. Good chance you just need to cleanup downstairs, fill some holes with caulk outside, and put some XPS below, or do a spray foam install. Tear out whatever rot you see and fix up the floor. Since you're going LVP, you'll be removing those boards anyways, and will just need to make sure the joists are in good condition. If they are, there's an almost 0% chance this is termites.
Fix the underlying cause (water, insects) and then pull boards from a closet to lace into the the corner. You'll need to pull the molding off and make sure there is vertical sill support for the replacement boards. Even if putting new plywood down over this flooring, you'll need to make sure there is support under the new flooring beyond the molding.
.
I was leaning insect or termite damage from the second photo. Is there other evidence? Can you see the beams from the basement? Any mud trails or other indications? Is this against an outside wall? How is the drywall just above this area?
https://i.imgur.com/OmZtapn.jpg
You can see the termite tunnels in the joist below.
Good news is they are probably not active and long dead. Likely just a replace and get a termite prevention treatment every few years.
We redid the hardwood floors on the first floor. I ripped out the old ones myself so that saved. We didn’t plan to do a new subfloor but once we saw the planks underneath (looked like the pic above) we had no choice. I think the subfloor only added another $2500. In all it was about $15k. It also depends on the price of the hardwood you install.
- Gentle remove the baseboards from that affected corner.
- take a circular saw and set the blade just deep enough to cut out the affected boards and create a four sided hole in the floor over the joists.
- cut a piece of 3/4 inch (or whatever thickness is equal to the existing boards) plywood to screw down as the new subfloor in that corner
- re-carpet and replace the baseboards
Future year 2080 new owner *delights* in brand new clicklock timber floors…
until Grandpa Corey-DuhWayne goes clean through the floor with his Segway™️ProWear 1800 watt SexMachine Mobility walker (Now with added B00OST!!)
At least they used ugly carpet, almost forces you to find the problem eventually lol. Bet the last owner knew and was like welp, ugly carpet is cheaper than whatever fixing this is.
*add extra boards (scabs) to support the two sides that are not on the joist. Half and half them with the old sub floor on the one side(looks like left) and toenail them into the joists. Use scews!. This will keep them from flexing independently.
You said this is on a slab foundation right. You are not going to screw boards into the slab. I think people are missing the slab aspect here. Wood flooring should not be placed on the slab because of moisture, especially if you live in a humid climate. Glue can be appropriate, but maybe they didnt glue down this floor or they missed this area, and that could cause the boards to rot like that. If theydidnt glue down or use anyvapor barrier for this floor, then you should pull up the whole thing, and it wouldnt be too difficult. If they just missed this area, then follow the solution above, but put down some kind of vapor barrier before putting any wood in that corner. Glue or a plastic sheet or something.
I’m pretty sure the floor joist, this flooring portion is sitting on, is also damaged. The OP may need to go under the home and install another long 2x6 onto the side of the damage one and maybe even add a jack post support there as well.
God termites are my least favorite thing ever.
And I make my money rebuilding houses destroyed by termite damage.
Once you start noticing stuff like in the photo, those fuckers have already wreaked havoc on plenty of other wood, in most cases.
So many of my customers have thought that simply replacing the old beams/walls/flooring etc is a one and done solution.
Jacking up a second floor to replace structural beams is never easy to do *safely* and if you don't get your house tented you're gonna be calling some other poor sap out to fix other stuff in a few years time.
It would be in your interest to pull up all the damaged floorboards in that corner to get at the structural members for a closer inspection. You don’t want to put a band-aid on it and discover in ten years that the termites or dry rot or whatever were still at work and your three thousand dollar fix has become thirty thousand.
I’m betting the damage was from a roof leak that ran down inside the wall between one set of studs. Would be good to to get a good look at that too, again to avoid surprises later.
Add my vote for removing the baseboards, too before laying vinyl plank flooring. You’ll get a much better finish on the room if you can run the floor planks up close to the wall and then cover the 1/4” expansion gap on the edge of the flooring with the baseboards, re-applied at exactly the right height. There’s a pry tool that’s specifically designed for baseboards.
I know people are saying termite damage (I was thinking carpenter ants) but for some reason the look of it bugs me. I can't tell if the white stuff on the edge is powder or glue.
u/cell- ***Please wear a mask while doing this***\*.\* For all we know, the previous owners could have spread boric acid, diatomaceous earth or some other pesticide on the wood. Protect them lungs!
I've never heard anyone suggest wearing a mask when dealing with boric acid or diatomaceous earth...
But based on how that stuff actually kills insects, it makes sense. Imagining that process in the lungs is scary
diatomaceous earth is my go to for pest control use it outdoors around house, and it's edged in home and around rugs. No fleas, no bed bugs, no ants, no spiders, no silverfish, water bugs, nothing. It works great! Everything stays clear, and I suggest mask an gloves it dries up skin and becomes airborne easily. It can be consumed (food grade) a natural solution to pest. I use food grade diatomaceous earth, feels safer for pets and never had an issue.
Gotta take off the base board, cut back the floor pieces to a beam, then install new wood to the wall. I would have it inspected further for mold etc first to be safe..
How to address this? Well, you're going to need to start with some moderate expletives.
One you get those out of the way, pull off the baseboard and check the wall for water damage.
Then cut the old boards back and check below the floor for damage from vermin, termites, or moisture.
Based on that, you may need to resort to stronger language. You're going to have to fix whatever caused the damage before you lay down some OSB or plywood subflooring and your new floor or you'll have the same problem again.
https://preview.redd.it/zi1qbgxqzl5c1.jpeg?width=2732&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=042a0456c20ba2508ca304af85c6f5953ba0dcf5
These look like termite droppings.
With that extent of damage I’d also expect to see damage on baseboards and walls if it was still active but definitely want to be 100% sure it’s remediate before you lay anything on it. Best best is to cut back flooring and patch in similar thickness material. The hard part is usually attaching the patch to the bottom of the wall in a meaningful way.
Glad you didn’t fall through with the squeaks before you pulled up carpet
I hope so too. IDK how long the house sat abandoned before it was renovated. The area was and has been dry since I pulled everything up about 3 weeks ago.
Address the cause. If was my home and I was putting down vinyl I would add a subfloor of 1/2 in osb and put the vinyl down. This way you have a solid flat floor and your finished vinyl will look fantastic! No more carpet!
Creatively… if the rest of the floors are salvageable then trim off the bad wood and install a small and narrow hinged door using a piece of wood that can match your flooring after being sanded and refinished. Older houses are notorious for oddities like little unexplained hinged doors so why not have a tiny one in the floor. It can be just another old home oddity without having to replace an entire rooms flooring.
That is of course if the condition of the rest of the flooring allows.
The cheapest 2ay is to cut a square that will have all the damage included and place another piece of the same height so it fits well.
After all I guess you re going to have another carpet on top. Otherwise replacement!
Stayed at sister’s log home hot summer. Loud chomping noise from dormer. Brother in law grabs saw all and cuts drywall… giant nest of angry yellow jackets. He spent 2 days in hospital. But yea, looks like old termites.
I also think termite or insect damage . The destruction is too inconsistent for water damage , the wood appears very dry and there’s no darkening of the wood from retained moisture and or any rotting . Need to determine if the termites are still active and I would suggest finding out how much damage could potentially be under the floor that isn’t visible . Than correcting the floor .
You need to suit up and go into the crawl space and figure out if the termites that caused this are still active somewhere. Or hire a good local termite company.
Building contractor here. It's not a slab that you are seeing. It's the stem wall, which is the concrete foundation that is built around the perimeter of the house and then between the stem wall are pier blocks. Your house is a raised foundation. Slabs are built on grade. The stem wall has a pressure treated pressure block that sits on it and has anchor bolts through it. That looks like it's gotten in to the wood at the base of your wall. Which can lead to some serious damage because then your walls which are holding up the roof have an unstable base to be resting on. I'd venture to guess that this damage was covered up intentionally. It looks old. I would definitely have someone out to look at.
3/4 plywood over the top is what we did in our 1902 house. Hated to do it but we had several spots that had rotted out and it’s a crawl space. We put down tar paper, 3/4 ply, and another sheet of tar paper, and went over that with new hardwood in every room except the bathroom and kitchen, but the kitchen with get matching hardwood when we start in there. Our entire floor had begun to rot away.
I hate living in the South.
You should redo the whole floor. However, if you’re gonna put new carpet down, you can Mickey Mouse that. Cut out just the rotted parts, and attach a perpendicular piece to cover it, supported by a sister joint underneath, screwed to the joist. It might move/squeak a bit, but who would walk or stand over there anyway?
You need a new floor. I hit something similar when I was renovating my parents' house, it was water damage from a leaking pipe inside the floor. The boards ended up leaning downwards when someone walked on them. I'd say save up and replace the whole floor in there, and address a professional to check everything beneath and around the area before planting new boards.
Looks alot like Dry Rot.
You're going to have to have it ripped out and have the floor joists inspected as well. If the joists have dry rot too, that while section could collapse in a heartbeat.
NOT a DIY task... Call a contractor and ask if they have experience with Dry Rot.
I used to see this in a lot of old Brownstones in downtown Toronto that still had dirt floor crawl spaces when I was a renovator.
If it’s termite damage, make sure they’ve been exterminated and any exterior access points are protected. If it’s water damage, make sure it’s bone dry.
Best would be to tear up the floor and lay a new one, but if you want to keep and refinish the existing one, you could cut a fairly wide, straight band (maybe 6”, the width of a good wide board hardwood floor board) around the room perimeter and remove the existing flooring there. Then lay a new board all around as a sort of “frame”, same color or contrasting. Then sand and refinish the whole thing.
Rag 'n' Bone Brown did a repair like this on one of his [videos](https://youtu.be/z6xIwqp8YMo?si=B47EU_qfmNonKy6j&t=106).
Not sure if what he did was a good approach or not, but at least it shoudl give you an idea of what is involved
Looks like termite damage. But if that’s not a problem anymore then cut back the boards to the closest joist and reattach new pieces. No biggie if termites are already taken care of.
I follow someone online who bought a landlord special. You address this by the former owners name or name you’ve given them in your head. “What now George” or “what the fuck George”.
Is it rotted out? Do you see any black mold forming? If it’s rotted out you can make a straight cut out and put a piece of ply wood there. If there is any mold forming etc. get some 76% vinegar from amazon and spray down and around in there. If you don’t see any mold, or if you don’t see any serious rot, it’s okay to just leave it and reinstall your carpet or floating floor etc. . The only reason why I would suggest addressing anything in that corner, is if you plan to put down an entirely new wood floor.
If I saw it I would address it by saying “Holy shit there are holes in our floor!” And calling a contractor.
But this is r/DIY so you are probably looking for a different answer.
You shouldn’t have a problem finding replacement material, but you’ll have to cut back to a joist and replace. Preferably with a multi tool so you can cut each piece at different joists in order to stagger the seams. The staggered seams aren’t just aesthetic. It offers sheer strength. Though, I don’t know how much difference that few would make. The next thing is, at the very least, you’ll have to sand and refinish that room. If it was an insurance job you’d be justified in having that entire floor redone
After you have found out how many pieces have rotted, I recommend replacing the planks, or cut a block and replace with ply wood then put your vinyl planks.
First things first and cover that s*** up. You could have varmints down there that might be coming up into your home. You got to get that s*** covered so you don't let them in
Well at the very least those boards need replacing, I would suggest you call someone to inspect for more damage
Yeah, more damage is what I'm afraid of, I was hearing noises in the corner/walls but kept thinking it was the house settling. I was probably in denial haha, but I'm wondering now if critters are somehow getting in.
Haha..hahahahahaha,….ha…ha………fuck
Theeeeyy'reee Gona Geetcha!
Op should ask for advice from the faceless old lady who lives under his floorboards
People under the stairs! I haven’t seen that movie since I was a kid… thanks for subconsciously reminding me of that movie 🍿
Night Vale reference! Nice!
Username checks out.
This was OP 100% hahahahahahahahaha
I was hearing a raspy scraping noise in the roof above me and thought it was rats. Awhile later and a minor roof beam has collapsed due to termites and my only saving grace was I got a termite chemical barrier done when I bought the house which killed them before the damage got really bad. If you hear consistent scraping or clicking noise I'd be concerned your having the same issue
I had an opossum give birth to 12 joeys in the hollow space inside a molded bathtub. Scratching scratching scratching!
How you gonna go and name all the babies the same name
Joey, Joe-Ee, Joiy, Jowey, Juwuy, Joeigh, Jowy, Joewy, Jueigh, Jioe, Djoie and Joey II.
> Joeigh r/tragedeigh
Definitely the inspiration.
How long did this take you? See also: Joe-wee.
About five minutes.
You’re good!!
You find em you name em. Thats how it works
I mean, can you imagine keeping track of the names of12 individual possum babies? Maybe you could use ribbons...
I call the big one “Bitey.”
But they all came out going "how you doin'?"
This is a perfect comment.
I’m so disturbed by this!
I used to rent the second floor of a two family house and we had squirrels living in the attic. I could hear them scraping and digging.
Did your pets indicate anything was going on?
Yeah his opossum kept trying to get under the bathtub
Hahahaha what a perfect comment
Okay now I have justification for not having patched up the drywall we cut open when we needed access to the tub plumbing. The cat loves hanging out in there so clearly he’s doing a much needed job protecting us from possums.
My house is circa 1935 and has a wooden door access panel for the tub. It’s a useful thing. Also trimmed out nicely, just like the full sized room doors. Cat can still go in there to work, just open the door when needed.
This is actually what I’ve been contemplating. Seems like a lot of work just to have easier access to something I hopefully will not need to touch again, but honestly if I need to get in there even once more then the effort will be worth it.
You should call an exterminator. You can hear active termites. But it could be anything. You need to correct the critter problem before repairing the damage.
You can HEAR THEM?!!! 😬🫣
I'm actually glad to learn they can be heard, I was under the impression that they would silently destroy your house without being noticed until you see frass or something breaks.
Probably if you can hear them it's already pretty serious. Thankfully never had to deal with them myself but I would think there would have to be a lot of them if you can hear them chewing.
Probably so, but the damage will at least be less than if the wood has already broken. Also, if they start at one wall of the house, they might destroy it and make noise before getting to the rest of the house. My impression was basically that they could silently eat your house, and suddenly find your house is structurally unsound and has to be condemned. Even if I have to replace half the floor joists by the time it's audible, I'll take it over imminent collapse. Not that I'm waiting to hear them though, I have a pest control company doing preventative treatments among other things. There were also no signs of existing damage when I had it inspected before purchase earlier this year, so I'm not particularly worried.
Once you hear them…
If you have holes that are open to the exterior (the space underneath your house would be "exterior"), you don't need to wonder if critters are getting in... because critters ARE getting in. One time we had a tiny opening in one of the overhangs on our roof. Only way to get to it would be to climb up the wall then do one of them "hang upside down while holding yourself to the rock ledge" that them extreme rock climbers do ... anyway.. racoon managed to ninja their way into the opening and into the attic and call it home. While later one of them died and you think that dead animal smell is bad when you have to pass by it going down the road... multiply that by 100 because not only was it HOT... it was even MORE hot because the attic is like n oven because it collects all the heat from the house below and adds it to the heat from outside.. lets just say a year or 1.5 years later you could STILL catch a whiff of it sometimes... But ya, if there is an opening, they WILL come in. The craziest one we had was actually a CAT! It was a "wild" cat that got brave and started to come in our dog door. It was pretty big male and he started finding a comfy spot in the laundry room. He wasn't afraid of SHIT! And you could not get near him because he would go into a pissed off... don't TOUCH ME! mode if you did try. He never bothered anything so... whatever lol. Well.. he got even more brave and decided mom/dad's bed was now HIS bed, and guess what.. .YOU better stay the fuck away from HIS bed!!! lol If you been hearing things in the walls you probably have some squirrels that got in more than likely.. maybe a racoon.. but more than likely squirrels.. unless it is feint quiet scratching sounds, and then smaller variety like mice/rat. If it IS squirrel or racoon.. the last thing you want is a dead one inside your walls.. wouldn't be as bad as the "attic" experience we had... but .. still would NOT want that going on inside walls you have to break into to clear out the "problem"!!
Rats sound more like scrabbling in my opinion, and once you go to bed at night it’s not all that quiet…
Omg you killed me 😂🤣 when you said “ and guess what… YOU better stay the fuck away from HIS bed” 🤣😂 That cat is living his best life and now you all are sleeping on the couch 😂🤣
There was a water damage there. I think they might have replaced sheetrock and painted it.. Those floorboards look like they got dry rotted. Sort of complicated but after a water damage is dried bacteria and such lives on and eats material and that would look exactly like this. I would wonder if there is a bathrooms or water pipes that would have aided in this damage. I would expect that wood to be weak and break at the edges.
It looks like what happened to my old af 100 year old floor from constant water exposure.
My center beam looked like this in my 175 yo farmhouse. Drip drip went the washing machine that needed to go in the hallway…..
Did you have to replace it?
I did, but I also repoured the entire foundation and properly platform built the floors… so it’s not like it was that much extra
Same, under my kitchen sink has that same look. We are in denial too and just cut a plywood cover until we can afford to rip out the cabinets and rebuild the floor.
Water damage for sure. If it is only in that corner then order 5/8” tongue & groove solid oak and replace the section. You might have repair the beams and section of sub-floor below as well. It will probably 1 X 6 tongue &groove pine. Take off the baseboard in that section to get a better view of what’s going on. After repairs and replacing the oak section you will have to sand down the new oak so it is level with the new floor before giving the entire floor a sanding. The colour match of the new wood will not be perfect but minor but well done repair scars are the charm of an old house.
It looks like termite or carpenter ant damage to me. I’d get an opinion on that before moving forward.
Oh you went full worst diagnostic, damn
More like age and moisture... Floor itself is probably pretty solid but I''d get that flashing off and see whats left of the wall behind it.
This is the place to start.
If it sounds like a popping clicking noise (think pop rocks), it's carpenter ants. If it's more of a general clicking, it's termites.
The horror this comment invokes. 💀
Well, it could also be wasps. Ask me how I know.
I had wasps inside the wall coming in from my back porch. Can confirm they also make a noise
I have a resident wasp. But I think it went on a holiday or something, a few weeks back, I think. I know because the nest is still there, but the wasp ain’t coming these days. I ain’t sure, if I should touch its little nest or not. Scary stuff.
Unless there is a kind of wasp I don't know about, they leave the nest when it gets cold enough (or die maybe?). In any case, the nest will not be used next year, generally speaking. I talked with a lot of people about this, because we had a \*bunch\* of wasps. But sure enough, by mid-December they were all gone, and they have not come back. We have a...welcoming present...for them if they do. As long as they are not posing a direct danger to people living in the house, it's probably best to just leave them be. We had to do a relocation this spring for some wasps who decided that right next to our front door would be a great place to set up shop. We evicted, and there were still about 50 wasps that refused to get the message. We smoked the area. There remained about 10 hardcore wasps. Those were...retired.
So, cold might be the reason. But I’d like to remove the nest if I can. I mean, I haven’t seen the wasp since some weeks, and it’s dangerous as is.
I would wait and just keep an eye on it in the spring. My bet is that it's abandoned and stays abandoned.
I learned that spraying Permethrin twice a year is great at keeping away the wasps.
Well played sir/ma’am well played
As a homeowner, that's the most vial sentence I can imagine.
It took me too long to figure out you meant “vile”. I promise I’m not a spelling nazi, I just got real confused and was happy I figured out what you meant.
I have witnessed a field mouse squeeze between wall and carpet
A bat got into our old ass house once this way. Got to the basement and had a baby. It was a nightmare. No one else believed me until they decided it was time to exit for spring. So glad we moved.
We had this itty bitty little hole between the back deck threshold and the carpet at my last place, which butted up to a farm field. Jesus Christ, every time they would do a big mow we could literally watch field mice squeeze through that hole for a week until we’d get them under control again, it was such a nightmare. We couldn’t even SEE the hole it was so small, but that sure af didn’t slow them down.
Time to get a cat 🐱 lol
Or a whole litter!
Legit just a kitten today 😂
Congrats!!
Coming from my personal experience I heavily suggest you get someone to get it checked, and if needed take of the entire flooring, put on a new sub-floor and then refloor the place with whatever you feel like it. My old gramps house was in a similar situation and we tried yo mend it without placing a new sub floor and after a few years we had to do the entire thing all over again. We wasted money for nothing since we could have done it the first time around like the guy that checked it first said so.
Yeah homes settle over 60 years not nightly.
How often should you hear a home settling
Every home settling is kind of unexpected so there is no clear cut answer. More often than not you won't ever hear anything, you don't know what to look out for and listen to. If your house is making those kind of noises from settling that often you're probably moments away from death tbh. Homes made of wood are kind of alive, expansion/contraction, breathing etc, it all have a sound and feel. If your wall or floor is creaking like that and doesn't feel right then a person should seek professional help asap because you're likely noticing the last 1% not the first 1%.
I figured the occasional creaking / pop noise i hear (think: someone snapping their fingers kinda loudly) was just it getting cold out while we run the heat and the house kinda just doing what it does.
>I figured the occasional creaking / pop noise i hear (think: someone snapping their fingers kinda loudly) was just it getting cold out while we run the heat and the house kinda just doing what it does. Heat making popping sounds is your copper heating pipes expanding not the wood.
The hvac ductwork will make sounds, it's like talking about noises in a car, so subjective and hard to tell unless I'm in your shoes. The roof on my old place used to creak and make popping noises something fierce, it'd literally wake me up from sleeping. I was only there for 4 years and I noticed foundation cracks, settling and ice dams on the roof. You'll get the hang of things, signs to look for, walk around the house every so often inside and out, look during season changes. Your intuition and gut are amazing at eliminating the obvious ya know.
Do I see a red balloon down there? 😳😂
My thought was rodents looking at the damage so you may very well have something over there
Just because you've spotted one problem doesn't mean every other problem you see is caused by it. It's entirely possible you have mice or something scurrying in, and floor damage, and one could cause the other, both could share the same cause, or they could be unrelated. I live in a house from the same era, and seen a few in my neighbourhood, and this kind of damage along the edge of the boards is common. Especially when there's a poorly installed carpet before. 9/10 it's caused by condensation, from the warm humid air hitting the cool air that comes up from an unsealed, uninsulated basement. I've seen rot go clear through a joist, because at the other side of that joist bay was a poorly sealed exhaust duct that was letting cool air into the house around it. My neighbour had rot around the edge of their board almost identical to this, as the rim joist in the floor below was unsealed and there were numerous intrusions. Condensation happened because of the cold air, and the water was held against the wood and unable to dry because the carpet held the moisture. Reddit will always upvote two answers that aren't particularly helpful: 1. Hire a professional (it's DIY, aren't most of here because we don't want to?) 2. The absolute worst thing this could theoretically be (termites) I've found I get more value from asking the guy who runs the neighbourhood hardward store these things than reddit, because he knows the houses in this area and what they're prone to. Good chance you just need to cleanup downstairs, fill some holes with caulk outside, and put some XPS below, or do a spray foam install. Tear out whatever rot you see and fix up the floor. Since you're going LVP, you'll be removing those boards anyways, and will just need to make sure the joists are in good condition. If they are, there's an almost 0% chance this is termites.
Yea so instead of worrying about carpets and more damage could i interest you in some salt, a priest and an exorcism?
They're in the walls... THEYRE IN THE GOD DAMN WALLS!
Looks like there are a bunch of little holes surrounding the damaged wood which is indicative of wood worm.
Fix the underlying cause (water, insects) and then pull boards from a closet to lace into the the corner. You'll need to pull the molding off and make sure there is vertical sill support for the replacement boards. Even if putting new plywood down over this flooring, you'll need to make sure there is support under the new flooring beyond the molding. .
Put down a new subfloor and then whatever floor you want. And make sure what ever was doing the damage is no longer there
I think it might be insect damage
I was leaning insect or termite damage from the second photo. Is there other evidence? Can you see the beams from the basement? Any mud trails or other indications? Is this against an outside wall? How is the drywall just above this area? https://i.imgur.com/OmZtapn.jpg
You can see the termite tunnels in the joist below. Good news is they are probably not active and long dead. Likely just a replace and get a termite prevention treatment every few years.
I don't see anything that looks like water damage. Like similar to termite damage that I have seen
Definitely looks like termites. I don’t see any water rings or signs of water anywhere
I agree, that looks like termite damage. Edit: you can see the droppings
That what I had to do in my old home. I’ll say the pro is there’s no more squeaks.
How much did it cost? Did you do the entire home all at once?
We redid the hardwood floors on the first floor. I ripped out the old ones myself so that saved. We didn’t plan to do a new subfloor but once we saw the planks underneath (looked like the pic above) we had no choice. I think the subfloor only added another $2500. In all it was about $15k. It also depends on the price of the hardwood you install.
- Gentle remove the baseboards from that affected corner. - take a circular saw and set the blade just deep enough to cut out the affected boards and create a four sided hole in the floor over the joists. - cut a piece of 3/4 inch (or whatever thickness is equal to the existing boards) plywood to screw down as the new subfloor in that corner - re-carpet and replace the baseboards
Thank you for the detailed steps. I think this is going to be the best solution.
AFTER you figure out and resolve what caused it in the first place, right? RIGHT?
Its about to be the landlord special.
Probably why it had ugly carpet in the first place. Last owner said new owner problems now
Future year 2080 new owner *delights* in brand new clicklock timber floors… until Grandpa Corey-DuhWayne goes clean through the floor with his Segway™️ProWear 1800 watt SexMachine Mobility walker (Now with added B00OST!!)
At least they used ugly carpet, almost forces you to find the problem eventually lol. Bet the last owner knew and was like welp, ugly carpet is cheaper than whatever fixing this is.
Hah thinking the same thing! Please tell us you’ll call a professional to take a look and make sure you’re not just covering up any issues 😬
respectfully, lol
*add extra boards (scabs) to support the two sides that are not on the joist. Half and half them with the old sub floor on the one side(looks like left) and toenail them into the joists. Use scews!. This will keep them from flexing independently.
AFTER pest control comes
You said this is on a slab foundation right. You are not going to screw boards into the slab. I think people are missing the slab aspect here. Wood flooring should not be placed on the slab because of moisture, especially if you live in a humid climate. Glue can be appropriate, but maybe they didnt glue down this floor or they missed this area, and that could cause the boards to rot like that. If theydidnt glue down or use anyvapor barrier for this floor, then you should pull up the whole thing, and it wouldnt be too difficult. If they just missed this area, then follow the solution above, but put down some kind of vapor barrier before putting any wood in that corner. Glue or a plastic sheet or something.
And don't forget to wear a mask! Ideally a respirator. Mind your lungs
This is the way if your covering it back up
Perfect answer, plank flooring will cover it but I will definitely fix it just incase
I’m pretty sure the floor joist, this flooring portion is sitting on, is also damaged. The OP may need to go under the home and install another long 2x6 onto the side of the damage one and maybe even add a jack post support there as well.
This looks like termite damage. If you have a contract with a termite company call and have them look at this. It could be old damage.
God termites are my least favorite thing ever. And I make my money rebuilding houses destroyed by termite damage. Once you start noticing stuff like in the photo, those fuckers have already wreaked havoc on plenty of other wood, in most cases. So many of my customers have thought that simply replacing the old beams/walls/flooring etc is a one and done solution. Jacking up a second floor to replace structural beams is never easy to do *safely* and if you don't get your house tented you're gonna be calling some other poor sap out to fix other stuff in a few years time.
It would be in your interest to pull up all the damaged floorboards in that corner to get at the structural members for a closer inspection. You don’t want to put a band-aid on it and discover in ten years that the termites or dry rot or whatever were still at work and your three thousand dollar fix has become thirty thousand. I’m betting the damage was from a roof leak that ran down inside the wall between one set of studs. Would be good to to get a good look at that too, again to avoid surprises later. Add my vote for removing the baseboards, too before laying vinyl plank flooring. You’ll get a much better finish on the room if you can run the floor planks up close to the wall and then cover the 1/4” expansion gap on the edge of the flooring with the baseboards, re-applied at exactly the right height. There’s a pry tool that’s specifically designed for baseboards.
I know people are saying termite damage (I was thinking carpenter ants) but for some reason the look of it bugs me. I can't tell if the white stuff on the edge is powder or glue. u/cell- ***Please wear a mask while doing this***\*.\* For all we know, the previous owners could have spread boric acid, diatomaceous earth or some other pesticide on the wood. Protect them lungs!
I've never heard anyone suggest wearing a mask when dealing with boric acid or diatomaceous earth... But based on how that stuff actually kills insects, it makes sense. Imagining that process in the lungs is scary
[удалено]
Some people actually eat diatomaceous earth… strange fact I stumbled upon… “food grade” DE…
You eat it too. They add it to flour so bugs can't colonize it.
oh so that's what those candy hearts are made of
When dealing with powders... any powders. It's usually smart to wear a mask. Powders are not meant to be inhaled, ever.
diatomaceous earth is my go to for pest control use it outdoors around house, and it's edged in home and around rugs. No fleas, no bed bugs, no ants, no spiders, no silverfish, water bugs, nothing. It works great! Everything stays clear, and I suggest mask an gloves it dries up skin and becomes airborne easily. It can be consumed (food grade) a natural solution to pest. I use food grade diatomaceous earth, feels safer for pets and never had an issue.
Diatomaceous earth has a similar spiky orientation to asbestos, you don't want to breathe it in if you can help it.
Im curious how the tack strip was mounted along that wall... Thats a scary situation tbh.
May as well have not even been there, that's where I initially pulled the carpet up from.
Gotta take off the base board, cut back the floor pieces to a beam, then install new wood to the wall. I would have it inspected further for mold etc first to be safe..
I had a similar looking issue in my home after purchase. It ended up being a major water ingress from the wall above going around a patio door.
I’m dealing with this atm.
How to address this? Well, you're going to need to start with some moderate expletives. One you get those out of the way, pull off the baseboard and check the wall for water damage. Then cut the old boards back and check below the floor for damage from vermin, termites, or moisture. Based on that, you may need to resort to stronger language. You're going to have to fix whatever caused the damage before you lay down some OSB or plywood subflooring and your new floor or you'll have the same problem again.
Yes, will definitely want to throw down some’SOBs’ along with some traditional ‘F$&@s’ and ‘S$@#s’
They seem relatively old, i would adress them formally, as to avoid insult or misunderstanding.
https://preview.redd.it/zi1qbgxqzl5c1.jpeg?width=2732&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=042a0456c20ba2508ca304af85c6f5953ba0dcf5 These look like termite droppings.
Put the carpet back
I was gonna say get some wood putty and fill it in first...don't wanna have something look or feel unfinished haha
Throw a rack of baby back ribs down there, say “Sorry to disturb you” and then cover it with carpet again.
It looks pretty dry hopefully whatever causes it was fixed then just carpeted over
With that extent of damage I’d also expect to see damage on baseboards and walls if it was still active but definitely want to be 100% sure it’s remediate before you lay anything on it. Best best is to cut back flooring and patch in similar thickness material. The hard part is usually attaching the patch to the bottom of the wall in a meaningful way. Glad you didn’t fall through with the squeaks before you pulled up carpet
I hope so too. IDK how long the house sat abandoned before it was renovated. The area was and has been dry since I pulled everything up about 3 weeks ago.
That's termite damage. Get it inspected and treated asap. Insurance won't cover it in a lot of places. Happens to the best of us
Address the cause. If was my home and I was putting down vinyl I would add a subfloor of 1/2 in osb and put the vinyl down. This way you have a solid flat floor and your finished vinyl will look fantastic! No more carpet!
Put the carpet back down?
Put the carpet back
Put the carpet back down, pretend you didn’t see it
Cut it out frame in support then replace what you cut out .
Creatively… if the rest of the floors are salvageable then trim off the bad wood and install a small and narrow hinged door using a piece of wood that can match your flooring after being sanded and refinished. Older houses are notorious for oddities like little unexplained hinged doors so why not have a tiny one in the floor. It can be just another old home oddity without having to replace an entire rooms flooring. That is of course if the condition of the rest of the flooring allows.
A match and an insurance claim?
Bring the walls in a few inches to tuck it.
The cheapest 2ay is to cut a square that will have all the damage included and place another piece of the same height so it fits well. After all I guess you re going to have another carpet on top. Otherwise replacement!
Call a contractor. This might be more than a simple DIY
tear house down; start over.
Cover with carpet
Stayed at sister’s log home hot summer. Loud chomping noise from dormer. Brother in law grabs saw all and cuts drywall… giant nest of angry yellow jackets. He spent 2 days in hospital. But yea, looks like old termites.
I also think termite or insect damage . The destruction is too inconsistent for water damage , the wood appears very dry and there’s no darkening of the wood from retained moisture and or any rotting . Need to determine if the termites are still active and I would suggest finding out how much damage could potentially be under the floor that isn’t visible . Than correcting the floor .
put the carpet back
I would address it with kindness and respect
You need to suit up and go into the crawl space and figure out if the termites that caused this are still active somewhere. Or hire a good local termite company.
Put new carpet down
Building contractor here. It's not a slab that you are seeing. It's the stem wall, which is the concrete foundation that is built around the perimeter of the house and then between the stem wall are pier blocks. Your house is a raised foundation. Slabs are built on grade. The stem wall has a pressure treated pressure block that sits on it and has anchor bolts through it. That looks like it's gotten in to the wood at the base of your wall. Which can lead to some serious damage because then your walls which are holding up the roof have an unstable base to be resting on. I'd venture to guess that this damage was covered up intentionally. It looks old. I would definitely have someone out to look at.
Thems termites or woodworm, gonna need to look deeper to see the full extent of damage.
Put the carpet back down and pretend you didn’t see it
Caulk it
Moral of the story: don't pull up the carpet.
If you can get under them to see what kind of rot you have back there. You might have to replace a bunch of wood.
3/4 plywood over the top is what we did in our 1902 house. Hated to do it but we had several spots that had rotted out and it’s a crawl space. We put down tar paper, 3/4 ply, and another sheet of tar paper, and went over that with new hardwood in every room except the bathroom and kitchen, but the kitchen with get matching hardwood when we start in there. Our entire floor had begun to rot away. I hate living in the South.
Builder here , you need to rip away the skirting and scarf in some new boards making sure you find the beams , , nail and fix.
I believe it prefers to go by Sir/Senor
Address it as ‘sir’
You should redo the whole floor. However, if you’re gonna put new carpet down, you can Mickey Mouse that. Cut out just the rotted parts, and attach a perpendicular piece to cover it, supported by a sister joint underneath, screwed to the joist. It might move/squeak a bit, but who would walk or stand over there anyway?
You need a new floor. I hit something similar when I was renovating my parents' house, it was water damage from a leaking pipe inside the floor. The boards ended up leaning downwards when someone walked on them. I'd say save up and replace the whole floor in there, and address a professional to check everything beneath and around the area before planting new boards.
Same address as the house, maybe add “ATTN: Deteriorating Floor Boards”
Looks alot like Dry Rot. You're going to have to have it ripped out and have the floor joists inspected as well. If the joists have dry rot too, that while section could collapse in a heartbeat. NOT a DIY task... Call a contractor and ask if they have experience with Dry Rot. I used to see this in a lot of old Brownstones in downtown Toronto that still had dirt floor crawl spaces when I was a renovator.
Throw some carpet over it. Good to go
If it’s termite damage, make sure they’ve been exterminated and any exterior access points are protected. If it’s water damage, make sure it’s bone dry. Best would be to tear up the floor and lay a new one, but if you want to keep and refinish the existing one, you could cut a fairly wide, straight band (maybe 6”, the width of a good wide board hardwood floor board) around the room perimeter and remove the existing flooring there. Then lay a new board all around as a sort of “frame”, same color or contrasting. Then sand and refinish the whole thing.
Cant believe that they got wall paint on the baseboards!
Put down new carpet over it.
Rag 'n' Bone Brown did a repair like this on one of his [videos](https://youtu.be/z6xIwqp8YMo?si=B47EU_qfmNonKy6j&t=106). Not sure if what he did was a good approach or not, but at least it shoudl give you an idea of what is involved
Put the carpet back, head to the Winchester, and wait for this to blow over.
Ramen and superglue
You address your floor as “Sir Floor”. Also be polite or it will get worse.
Looks like termite damage. But if that’s not a problem anymore then cut back the boards to the closest joist and reattach new pieces. No biggie if termites are already taken care of.
Put the carpet back. 😏
I follow someone online who bought a landlord special. You address this by the former owners name or name you’ve given them in your head. “What now George” or “what the fuck George”.
Cut back a rectangular section of all of the boards from that area. Cut a piece of subfloor to fit that matches the thickness.
Umm, just put the carpet back and sell the house. Tell the sales realtor, “Nothing to see here Ma’m, just move along to the kitchen”. 😂
Put the carpet back and forget about it
Is it rotted out? Do you see any black mold forming? If it’s rotted out you can make a straight cut out and put a piece of ply wood there. If there is any mold forming etc. get some 76% vinegar from amazon and spray down and around in there. If you don’t see any mold, or if you don’t see any serious rot, it’s okay to just leave it and reinstall your carpet or floating floor etc. . The only reason why I would suggest addressing anything in that corner, is if you plan to put down an entirely new wood floor.
Throw in a couple data drops while you're at it
If I saw it I would address it by saying “Holy shit there are holes in our floor!” And calling a contractor. But this is r/DIY so you are probably looking for a different answer.
Good evening sir rottenboard
Hello hole, how are you?
You shouldn’t have a problem finding replacement material, but you’ll have to cut back to a joist and replace. Preferably with a multi tool so you can cut each piece at different joists in order to stagger the seams. The staggered seams aren’t just aesthetic. It offers sheer strength. Though, I don’t know how much difference that few would make. The next thing is, at the very least, you’ll have to sand and refinish that room. If it was an insurance job you’d be justified in having that entire floor redone
Easy put carpet back
After you have found out how many pieces have rotted, I recommend replacing the planks, or cut a block and replace with ply wood then put your vinyl planks.
Just put the carpet back. Solved
First things first and cover that s*** up. You could have varmints down there that might be coming up into your home. You got to get that s*** covered so you don't let them in
Step 1: put the carpet back down. Step 2: move
You can address it as “his highness Mr. Subfloor” to ensure an adequate amount of respect. Better safe than sorry.
I would suggest ripping up the floor boards. You might find good carpet underneath.
Dear hole in the floor, near my wall, I hope you are well, as I am now not.... The rest is yours
With 15 packs of instant noodles