Repairing Rotted Joists and Subfloor - Part 4 of Remodeling My Kitchen 

Getting a fair amount of comments regarding concern about the rot "re-spreading" to the new wood. I'd like to address in a pinned comment here: First of all; Mold spreads. Fungus spreads. Dead, dried out rot in the absence of moisture, does not. Yes, I agree that if I took new wood and fastened it against wet, moldy, living rot, then I am going to have a world of issues down the line. That’s not the case here. In my situation, any living mold in the damaged areas was first completely annihilated by spraying a ridiculous amount of bleach onto the joists, sill plate, ledger board and foundation wall. I let it soak in. Then applied more. Let that soak in. Then applied more. This applying, soaking, reapplying process took place over the course of days, not minutes or hours. Nothing could survive inside the core of any remaining wood. Next I started the drying out process. I ran a dehumidifier from down below directly under damaged area. Keep in mind this was during the time that the floor was already completely opened up. This was back in January - February so not only was the dehumidifier sucking moisture from below, but from above everything was drying out with the aid of a heated, climate controlled first floor. (Ever notice how dry the air is indoors in the dead of the winter when you are running your forced air Central HVAC furnace?) After one day, everything was dry to the touch. But I left it open for 2 - 3 weeks! Dehumidifier running 24/7 and first floor thermostat maintaining my typical winter time schedule. The video may only run 15 minutes but the first minute took place about a month before the actual construction work began. There is nothing living (nor wet) left to “spread” as any darkened wood you still see in the video is no longer rot, it's just dried out discolored wood. Not to mention, to this day I still run the dehumidifier on a cycle for general basement moisture control. Even if there was ZERO structural integrity left in the old joists (which is not even close as it was holding up the house for 12 years while the leak slowly did it’s damage - not a typo - 12 YEARS), none of that old wood is required for any structural support anyway. Absolutely none of it. Not the 3 damaged joists, not the old sill plate, not the ledger board. Everything is now supported with new reinforced structure. I actually went way overkill making this stronger than the original. 1. 3/4" ply sandwiched in the Engineered TJI joists to strengthen what was damaged.

Oh my. I remember fixing my floor after my water heater went through it. Never thought I’d get it done and that was probably 12 years ago. Listened to your video because I’ve got to now fix the floor under our fridge and replace our bathtub. I truly don’t think I’ve got it in me anymore. Your awesome video made me cry with frustration. It sucks getting old. Sucks more with lupus. But I’ve at least gotten a refresher course on just how difficult it’s going to be for me. So thank you for sharing this.

Bro.. I totally feel you. I was not aware that the joists were so rotted out.. what began as a weekend project to move our toilet 6 inches away from the bathtub turned into full replacement of several joists and adding a couple of beam supports. All by myself.. 😂

He is a miracle repairer. I like that Guy. He reminds of the Guy in NYC when he was replacing a old and nasty toilet. He said," You Guys asked why I use gloves(with a sarcastic look) Lol! He is smart!

You know to be honest with you I thought you did a hell of a job with what you had. I was very impressed with your shoring up the rotted areas and I doubt anyone could have done anything better without tearing that whole wall and floor out. You should be proud of the job you did.

Those cuts for the joist fills you did were precise as hell - filled the cavity perfectly!

Exquisite orchestration. Clearly, you’re the maestro of home remodeling.

MIke: I appreciate this video very much. Most of the youtube stuff is just about replacement. In this you actually fixed something. I've had to do this many times. No instruction manual, just brain. Thanks.

Diesel Mike - thanks for taking the time to post this video and show the level of detail. I'm having the same issue in a bedroom - probably less difficult as I have no plumbing to deal with. I especially appreciate the sharing of the ideas and talking through the plumbing and electrical details. Makes a project like this far less intimidating.

I tried and tried but took me forever. Such hard work and you can't just rig it. My brother, thank goodness, knows everything.

Always nice to see a great plan executed when he pulled up that first joist to the exsisting sub floor he left. Good job.

Great job Mike, thanks for filming and explaining the process.

You are a badass. We love how you repaired this. Thank you for putting together these vlogs.

Not everyones able to straight up replace this stuff right now. Thanks for shlwing us your process for a rather sturdy repair

At first it appeared lots lots of work but you made it look so easy...I'll say very good job done here....learned thing or two...thank you for making this video..

This is gonna help with with a rotten subfloor from a leaking shower. Thanks for sharing your knowledge

I have this problem in bathroom. Toilet is sinking! Waiting on nailer, pancake compressor, etc...ready to tackle it early this coming Saturday! Nice job by the way!

Great job you found the right places to cut out the damaged wood sections!

This video is PERFECT! I have to make a similar repair and this explains it step by step so I can duplicate. Thank you so much!

Not a bad job there Mike. I haven't had to work on Floor Joist like that yet, good to know about the 3/4 plywood idea.

Bro, I love your demeanor. I was cracking up along the way watching. I have a similar situation going on in a few rental units in the bathrooms. The old hot/cold shower valves have failed. I had just recently fell into these units out of misfortune which sounds odd but it is what it is. Now, I've gotta make these puppies fly. So I've had a little learning to do in that regard as the water has rolled behind the water backing board and has done some rot there. This gave me a few good ideas for remedy. Thanks.

Great work sir. This is not fun stuff to deal with but you certainly made the best of it.

Did it work? Yes! Was it ideal? No. Will it last a long time? Probably so. Good Job.

Awesome job.

Thank you for your video at 57 I brought my first home it was a rental the owner lived in Florida and he owns 17 house's here (Illinois) he was spent no money on them I had the house inspection by a rookie he did not earn his money .just wanted to thank you for showing me that's its not All bad things can be resurrected.and you kept your cool through the whole process even through a lot of work videoing running for me materials camera angles just to share thank you for blessing me .I needed that after being up since 2:30 a: m wondering how could a owner sell something like my house without conscience.thank you.

Great job and explination. You are truly acraftsman and I hope to do as good a job fixing my own similar situation.

Great work!!

Thank you for your information.

Great video. Wish I'd watched it before I did my repairs. The sistering of the ply to strengthen the joists was a great idea.

Great job!.., well explained in full details.

man knows what he's doing 😁 thank you !

Great resource - thank you for sharing !!

I like you, keep it simple and informative. Greetings from Norway Koos

Good looking replacement

ah man I'm doing this now, and ugh, I don't know what I'm doing though. Nice video to help out!

Good job 👍

Wow, incredible skill here and you really know what you're doing....videos like this are great because they show that even when the problem looks hopeless it can be redone with someone who has the knowledge, skill and experience...Thank you for showing how...Awesome job!

some solid work sistering those joists!

Excellent. I've had similar situation. People leave plumbing leaking away for years. Scary!!! I cut out rotted timber and then treated the junction with good wood with a hardener which was surprisingly good

Great video my man

This is the route I was thinking of going. Sister in joists given they are same size as exsisting and smash in a 2x4.

Gave me good insight. Thanks!

well done you did a fine job

Outstanding

Good work sir!

Mike, we all do things differently. I think this fix could take a direct hit and survive. Get that nasty plywood out and it will be fine. You done good.

Technic and finished work looks very good. I was concerned about the damaged/rotted wood as well. But Im not educated enough to comment on that. Nice job, bro...

Thanks good job!

Quality work.

Big job for a single man!

Great video

This video is strangely very satisfying to watch... ASMR at its best

wow, nice fix

Nice fix.

Good video I will soon be getting to do that at my house.

It would have been a good idea to allow all of that area to dry out, then apply KIJZ a shelak based sealer to contain the mold and remove all of the rotted wood and rebuild the I joists then add the reinforcing to the I joists, sill plate, and rotted wall studs. Then the exterior sheathing.

I am always amazed seeing the electric installations , don't understand so close to the water lines

3:17 when the guy living under your house comes out and sees how you fixed the subfloor

I can see how you’ve gone about it, but I might have done it a bit differently. I would have made the ply reinforcement at least as long as the timber you used to sister them with. I also would have glued and screwed them, the strength of the connection is multiple times as secure. Otherwise, a job well done. A hell of a lot of damage to find though. I’ve had a similar experience recently.

Doing the same thing right now to my cabin. Plus leveling the whole floor across the back half , by myself which is ok but slower.

Thanks man

I heard you perfect thank you 👏👏👌

Well Done

Madd skills!

I'm in the process of repairing a similar rot problem in my outside deck where pressure-treated joists have begun to rot. Some of them are just impossible to remove as numerous joists are coupled to them. I've dug out much of the old rot and coated the remainder with creosote before and after reinforcing with new wood and replacing decking. But now, that's Florida which is often another word for mildew........................

In that drain pipe T connector is used and i think (i might be wrong) it is not up to the code because T forms a sharp 90 degree which is prone to clogging . What you need there is Y connector (or what ever it is called) so 90 degree turn will not be that sharp.

In order for you to properly reinforce and sister an existing support or wood member all damage (including rot) needs to be removed entirely. Attaching more wood to existing rot damage is never a good idea because fungus decay will begin to rot the adjacent wood members. As soon as a moisture source feeds the fungus again, air ventilation problem, plumbing leak, siding leak or etc etc....that rot WILL come back with a vengeance. Glad its your home your working on.

I find it funny when people claim Manufactured/Mobile homes are build so badly.... but yet they live in houses with OSB Floor Joist's. I'd never live in one of those garbage sub division homes not trying to sound like an a$$ in anyway it's just these newer houses are built so fast and so cheap not to mention they're 10ft apart and cost a ridiculous amount. I'll take a good built Clayton or a Palm Harbor Double Wide or Triple Wide any day over these "Houses" Easier to work on and better built in my opinion they have real 10x2 Floor Jost's 2x6 Walls, Steel Strapping from the floor frame to the walls and then 2x6 and 2x4 Ceiling joist's which are all tied together with steel strapping you also have a steel frame under neither will never crack etc. 150,000 For that and 50 to 100 Grand for an acre or 2. I'll take that vs a house that will crumble in the first 10 years of it's life on a concrete foundation. Manufactured homes are not like the old fashion "Trailers" like everyone thinks they're actually better then 90% Site built Brick Garbage 70's/80's homes and modern subdivision homes.

I dont understand why everyone goes nuts on videos like these raising the floors and none of them are retrofittting them. This seems like the way to go.

wow more damage than i originally thought it would be based on your last video

Hey Diesel Mike. Nice work, but I'm concerned about code and environmental issues here in Canada. I'm pretty sure Pressure Treated wood isn't allowed for interior framing as well as if plywood sistering of the the TJI would satisfy the inspector. Appreciate the Vid, effort and commitment to quality work. Love from Kingston, Ontario

He should of i immediately treated the floor joist plywood in any wood that he didn't remove that had mold damage. It very important to treat for mold damage. Other than that he did do a pretty good job.

Did they put like fir strips on top of the beams back in the old days? Ive seen that a lot before on

I have a subfloor in what looks like oak or pine, it's hard stuff but looks like oak in color. Should I rip that off and lay the 3/4 floor panels or, add it to it. I've already ripped off three layers above this.

Question i have the same issue in my house, being that this is a load bearing wall would i have to not only support the joists but also the roof with an additional wall built on the subfloor? I see you got away with not supporting the roof(as far as i can see) would you say i could get away with that too as long as it’s a small section like yours?

I’m curious about the wall you built underneath. Is your crawlspace floor level with a dirt floor? Thanks for video

My sink area exactly.

Thanks so much ! This looks almost exactly like my issue. Except my house has no slab and the water damage extends an additional 4 ft to the right where the washing machine drain pipe is.

I have a trailer with a bend in the floor , 79 trailer trying level it just put in the subfloor but didn't tie down the uneven side

What size plywood you use to sister in the new joists?

Good stuff. (what the hell did we do before the oscillating Saw) your comment about rot not spreading in dry wood. true, but with the caveat that the wood does not have to be wet to have rot spread slowly. I generally spray this stuff down with a borate type wood treatment. It does not take a lot of time and does not cost a lot. I would be concerned about the engineered joists. A few of them the top cord was completely gone, and there is only a couple 3 feet of new stuff on it. This is a high stress part of the joist. I would have thought about putting in 8' 2x10's down below.

classic, punching the drywall out lol

So how do you connect the plywood to the new studs without removing the siding

Im remodeling my kitchen. So far I have my subfloor and cement board laid. As I walk over some areas sink is that normal ? Or will the cement layer thinking and stiff the floor for when I lay tile ?

Not bad but I would have replaced those rotten joists. I would glued and screwed everything including the pressure treated supports you hammered in. You have to be very careful about breathing in all that mold and copious amounts of purple PVC glue you applied. Best to wear a ventillator, eye protection, etc. I would have replaced those copper pipes while I was in there as well. When gluing the PVC, mark the pipe so you know when it is fully seated and evenly seated. Also, drains need to be gently sloped ~1.5% or a little over 1/8" drop per foot. No more- no less. The idea is to have the water swirl upon exiting the pipe which cleans it better. If it is too steep it only runs our the center of the pipe, leaving the sides unlcean. They have tools you can use to precisely measure the drop.

I might be wrong but after I rough fitted all of that I would have lifted it up and crop dusted that area with boric acid. Looks like a little water damage left behind.

I wish Mike would come to my house and do mine. This has happened to the kitchen.

Great job I have to do work in attic Thanks

First and formost....you made a crappy hidious task look easy and doable for someone with mediocre carpentry skills. Second....F the haters and the keyboard warriors Third, thanks for sharing your experience

Does code allow to drill 1-1/2” holes through a king stud?

I've done carpenter work for years and I've never seen that like that.

Should have wire brushed all the rot out use some wood petrifier and fill it in with PC woody. Leavint that rot in there and it will just spread.

That floor joist repair is original but it probably won't pass any real inspection. I have yet to find a good video on how to replace a floor joist in an existing house.

What screws are you using? Code doesn’t have an issue with not using 3-1/2” nails? I know it’s different code everywhere and I’m just curious

My 8 x 8 sills are rotted like that on a 1880 built house balloon construction. I was devastated when I saw it.

Mike, you did an awesome job on that rotted studs and joists. That would have saved you couple thousand dollars easily. Q: in my kitchen and adjoining family room, I feel the vibration in the floor when we walk over it. We had structural engineer come over and he said the joists underneath only has one line of cross braces that joins joists. He told me to put another line 2-3 feet’s apart and that will solve the issues. What do you think about it?

PA glue and epoxy paint. I don't do wet stuff without epoxy paint anymore.

How long are each of the joists that you sistered in? I have the same problem that was "fixed" by the previous owners. How long are they supposed to be? 50% of the length of the regular?

Did you do anything to treat that mold? Won’t it just continue to grow if you don’t handle it or cut it out?

Can't find the wall, rim joist, bottom plate repair video.