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I need advice – we are re building a bathroom. We drilled holes through the a 1 1/8 plywood sub floor to put the new pipes through. The round piece drilled out from the sub floor where there was water damage fell apart into about five nicely rounded disks. Another hole drilled through the sub floor where there did not appear to be water damage did not separate into disks.
Do we have to pull out the whole sub floor and replace it? or can we put SOB or something on top of the plywood to strengthen it and stop any delamination, if that is what is happening. I am dreading taking out all the sub floor, because we just put in extra I joists to make the floor strong enough to hold a Jacuzzi, and glued the joists to the sub floor. It is going to be a major pain to get it all loose!
Thanks in advance for your help with this!
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Ann, you can normally "feel" where a plywood has delaminated. The area will feel spongy if you bounce on it with the heel of your work boots.
If only a small area is soft and is located away from the contact blocks or frame of the tub, you should be alright. If it is soft in the area of the tub, you can install another 3/4" ply directly under the tub to distribute the load to all the joists and set the tub in a grout bed.
Gabe
*Ann, If the sub floor is new, what kind of ply did you use? And what is going on it? It would seem almost impossible that you used ply not rated exterior glue. I spose that your plywood could have a bad spot and is delaminating there. If so, why not cut out, block and patch in a pc. at that location only? Once the finish is down, you'll be doubly screwed.
*Thanks!Sorry I wasn't clear - this is in a house that is about 20 years old. Everything that could be done wrong has been done, and we're trying to rectify it. The old big bathroom was split into two unusable smaller ones, and when they did the split,they didn't plumb it well. The new water pipes leaked. Oh, and where they put the toilet and the vanity?e weren't pipes joined to anything. The toilet sat a good 2 inches above the drain, and the sink just emptied water down into the basement. And have you ever seen a trombone type pipe and a spiral pipe - not because it was needed but because they overshot and didn't want to cut the pipe? (As far as I can figure out - who can really figure out insanity?) And not one damned thing in the house is grounded,and the window sills have been ice picked to the point where I think we'll have to replace them --- if my daugher, husband and I couldnt' do the work, we'd be bankrupt!Yes, we knew it was bad when we bought it, but honestly!