The linoleum is still in the room in that picture, but the rot is already evident. The tears. You can't see my face because I'm hiding the tears.
Time for some repair. Another opportunity to use my sweet new circular saw. Wood runs in fear. So do the dogs.
Up first; cut a huge hole in the floor into the basement. When you cut a whole into your house that opens up one floor to another, it’s a bit… disconcerting. There is suppose to be a floor there. Not a hole. It really messes with your perception of how a house works.
Now that I have the floor open, I need to put in a new sister joist against that back wall so that I have something solid to anchor the new subfloor to.
I picked up a 2x6 and some 3/4” plywood from Home Depot and cut them to fit.
Lets.. umm.. let's not talk about those random screws, there. Look, the angles of approach were pretty limited and the smell isn't pleasant. Moving on.
With the new sister joist in place, I ripped the plywood that I had cut to size in half, and then used my dremel tool to cut a half-circle in each one of the halves. After that, I simply put the halves in place and screwed them home.
There are some things I didn’t do correctly, here. It would have been smarter to raise the toilet flange at this point. However, that sucker is solid and it isn’t budging. I would’ve had to replace the whole drain line to do it correctly, and I didn’t have the time, patience, or desire to do so. Instead, I’ll use a spacer when I go to install the toilet.
But I’m happy with the end result, and now I can carry on to the next step… hardwood installation!
