Water Damaged, Smelly Wood= HELP!

Water Damaged, Smelly Wood= HELP!

Daniel PorterPro Member
Rental Property Investor · Dallas, TX · Member since 2015 · 94 posts · 20 votes

Hello from Dallas, TX yall! 

i just closed my first deal (house hack) and i'm currently putting a little sweat equity into this 1970s house. I've been learning a ton so far, and i'm loving it! So, Started tearing up the pretty nasty carpets, and found some pretty water damaged wood underneath, as well as some pieces that had dry rot (or termintes?!), and some of them that had been poorly replaced and covered up with the carpet. 

I've uploaded some pictures below. be sure to click on them to see the full size. 

my question is this. i'd rather not salvage the wood, and just put laminate over the top of it. so my concern is mostly getting all the bumps out (filling with wood putty and sanding) and getting rid of the smell. The pieces of the subfloor ive seen look fine. 

so will filling the gaps of those new pieces with wood putty be okay? and will sanding and repainting/refinishing the room be enough to eliminate the smell? i'd hate to have it all back together and still have the odor there because i didn't go deep enough into removing it. Looking at painting with nilium or killz, and potentially bleaching the floors. is that even okay?? i've seen some articles saying to test a little area of the floor, and if theres no damage, then go ahead. this would be pre-sanding. 




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Eastern Mass & Central Maine · Member since 2009 · 252 posts · 135 votes
6y

You might want to start by locating the root cause of water damage.

Does the subfloor need to be replaced?  What about the joists underneath?

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  • Daniel PorterPro Member
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Dallas, TX · Member since 2015 · 94 posts · 20 votes
    6y
  • Eastern Mass & Central Maine · Member since 2009 · 252 posts · 135 votes
    6y

    You might want to start by locating the root cause of water damage.

    Does the subfloor need to be replaced?  What about the joists underneath?

  • Real Estate Investor · Des Moines, IA · Member since 2016 · 922 posts · 533 votes
    6y

    @Alex G.

    Agree with Alex.  Figure out where the water is coming from!

    @Daniel Porter

    Replacing sub floor may be more of a project than you're prepared/bargaining for but in my opinion you do want to address the cause of the issue, wherever that takes you - as it sounds like you'll be owning the asset for a while and if it were mine, I'd feel much better about that asset being soild/holding its value.

  • Flipper/Rehabber · Montgomery, NY · Member since 2016 · 2k+ posts · 1k+ votes
    6y

    If you are going over with some other flooring this isn’t difficult. Once you know what’s causing the water damage and fix it (I’ve had many houses where the issue was a previous pet, or old roof leak) removing and replacing wood is simple. If you aren’t toothing in and refinishing, just cut out past the damage, find a same thickness material (plywood), replace and add new flooring. Flooring, and even subfloor with what your dealing with isn’t that big of an issue.

  • Contractor · Seattle, WA · Member since 2019 · 339 posts · 325 votes
    6y

    @Daniel Porter I agree with others that figuring out what caused the rot and taking care of that is important, as well as replacing any wood that is extremely damaged.

    You may want to look at using a product like Ardex self leveler to patch the floors instead of wood putty, as it will be easier to install and is a stronger product

    As for the smell, you are probably smelling rotten wood which will need to be removed. Of rotten wood is kept, it will be a great food source for termites, which you don’t want obviously

  • Will BarnardPro Member
    Moderator
    Developer · Santa Clarita, CA · Member since 2008 · 15k+ posts · 10k+ votes
    6y

    Termites is a potential issue and you need a pest control service out there to assess. Any dry wrought or active termite infestation needs to be addressed right away. From the photos, it looks like some areas have significant damage to the sub floor which should not be patched but cut out, removed, and replaced. Replacing sections of sub floor is not difficult, not expensive and doing so will ensure you don't have future problems (as long as you have addressed the root cause of the water damage in the first place as others mentioned). Wood filler in these areas is likely not going to cut it and is a lipstick fix to a problem that could come back and bit you, fix it now while it is all open and before you have put done finish products like flooring.

  • Daniel PorterPro Member
    OP
    Rental Property Investor · Dallas, TX · Member since 2015 · 94 posts · 20 votes
    6y

    @Alex G. @Jim Goebel @Brian Pulaski @Parker Eberhard @Will Barnard first off, thank you for all the replies!!! secondly, in terms of finding the source of the leaks, for the first room (pics with the two holes cut out of the wall), the leak was in the sink plumbing that has been replaced, so that is good. in the other room, i don't know what it is for sure. theres no signs of a leak from the roof, and theres nothing running under the floor. my guess is that there were just years and years of spills, or pets, in that room (a 1970s house) and it was never handled properly. 

    in terms of subfloor damage, there is definitely damage in the bathroom beneath the tub, which will be replaced. i've never done it before, and i'm a bit intimidated by the task, but i think it is something i can handle, after watching others do it. just so were all on the same page, these pictures are just of the wood floors, and not of the subfloors. so theres no way you can see the subfloors from these pictures. there may be potential for wood root on the gray pieces, but the wood isnt soft, and it doesn't sound/feel hollow. 

    The one picture of the rotted wood will be replaced for sure. 

    I agree that its a lot better to get this done right while i have it open, instead of deferring it and having it bite me later on. 

    any tips on doing stuff like this, or resources, etc, would be much appreciated! 

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