Basement Bathrooms, pest problems
When we recovered half of our basement from rental use, we were immediately thrilled to go from 1 to 3 bathrooms. For some reason, two bathrooms, both small, had been put into the basement right next to eachother. One was toilet, tub and sink, the other was toilet, shower, and sink. The flooring was gross, the paint was the same, and there wasn't much to recommend them, but they pulled two growing girls out of Mom and Dad's bathroom.
It has now been long enough that I can't even remember why I dug into that wall, but I did. And as soon as I did I thought of the movie line---"Houston, we have a problem." The problem was that every one of the studs in the walls down there were consumed by rot and insect damage from the concrete floor up about 18 inches, minimum. I thought it was termites, but I was wrong. It was carpenter ants. Just as hungry, easier to solve.
The gutting began. All the from about 4 feet high and below came off those studs. The old vinyl flooring was taken off. The toilets and sinks were removed. Fortunately, none of these walls were load bearing, so I started cutting off the rotten portions of each stud. I also had to pull out the board that ran underneath all of them. That was like pulling out mush. Bathrooms in basements make great habitat for carpenter ants. I discovered lots of reasons why. First of all, these "bottom boards" were half buried in concrete. Underneath them I found several holes in the concrete floor leading down into dirt. Perfect pathways for entry and exit of the bugs.
So, after demolition, I filled the holes with concrete, then had to put new wood in, sistering new studs onto the good portion of the old, which was still holding up the top half of the plaster walls. Then I used some nice plywood, followed by MDF beadboard wainscoting to cover the bottom half of the walls. Of course, new vinyl flooring and paint, as well as vanity/sinks followed.
A long project, but magnificent results for two teenage daughters. A plumber had to do some of the reinstallation for me because of pipe problems, but most of it I was able to handle on my own.
Beware of holes and cracks in your foundations in moist areas. They can lead to trouble with bugs.
It has now been long enough that I can't even remember why I dug into that wall, but I did. And as soon as I did I thought of the movie line---"Houston, we have a problem." The problem was that every one of the studs in the walls down there were consumed by rot and insect damage from the concrete floor up about 18 inches, minimum. I thought it was termites, but I was wrong. It was carpenter ants. Just as hungry, easier to solve.
The gutting began. All the from about 4 feet high and below came off those studs. The old vinyl flooring was taken off. The toilets and sinks were removed. Fortunately, none of these walls were load bearing, so I started cutting off the rotten portions of each stud. I also had to pull out the board that ran underneath all of them. That was like pulling out mush. Bathrooms in basements make great habitat for carpenter ants. I discovered lots of reasons why. First of all, these "bottom boards" were half buried in concrete. Underneath them I found several holes in the concrete floor leading down into dirt. Perfect pathways for entry and exit of the bugs.
So, after demolition, I filled the holes with concrete, then had to put new wood in, sistering new studs onto the good portion of the old, which was still holding up the top half of the plaster walls. Then I used some nice plywood, followed by MDF beadboard wainscoting to cover the bottom half of the walls. Of course, new vinyl flooring and paint, as well as vanity/sinks followed.
A long project, but magnificent results for two teenage daughters. A plumber had to do some of the reinstallation for me because of pipe problems, but most of it I was able to handle on my own.
Beware of holes and cracks in your foundations in moist areas. They can lead to trouble with bugs.
posted by Kurt at 12:48 PM
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