Damp underneath bathroom floor

[funkdoc]

Dear all,

This is my first post and I would really appreciate all the help I can get.

I just bought a house and unfortunately already have a problem:

The downstairs bathroom (which has a shower tray) has serious damp.

I pulled back the lino, and the chipboard underneath was black, very damp and just crumbled as I was removing it. Underneath the chipboard was damp-proof liner, then polystyrene foam and then I'm not sure whats underneath that as I don't want to start ripping up the floor.

It seems to have leaked from the sides of the shower tray, underneath the lino.

I have removed most of the chipboard but there is still some underneath the shower tray (which I cant get to) and the toilet (which I don't know if I should take it out)

My questions therefore are:

1) Should I removed the board from underneath the shower tray? Or can I just dry it out and leave it?

2) What should I do with the chipboard under the toilet?

3) I was thinking of putting lino down again once it's sorted, shall I just put chipboard down? is there anything better?

Cheers

 

[big-all]

heeelllooo and welcome funkdoc

once chipboard gets wet it looses all it strength you need to strip out everything thats on [or part on ]the blown flooring

you need to go around 4 inches beyond the dammaged flooring to the next joist or introduce a supporting timber

plywood would be a better replacement but get it from a timber yard for nearer thickness match

 

[Urbanfox2]

Chipboard in bathrooms is nothing short of bl@~*y criminal. Why are builders allowed to do it? Anyway, If I where you and intend staying there, id rip the lot out and floor it with T & G, at least if you have another leak you won't need to rip the floor up again. If you intend to repair, you will need to go back to good sound board as it's deceiving just how much of the area is affected by swelling due to damp / water ingress, this stuff is like a sponge. A new piece of board along side of the original will show if it's swollen or not once you have cut away the obvious bits.
A bit of time spent now will probably save you more time in the future. Hope that helps.

 

[funkdoc]

Cheers guys,

I'm thinking I'll replace it with plywood, ontop of that foam and ontop of that a waterproof liner - just to make sure it wont happen again!

Let me know if you think that sounds OK...

Again thanks,

FD