wood rot under ext door threshold
Posted: Tue Mar 28, 2017 11:45 am
We moved in during a wet time.
After I had lifted the "major move" cover on the vinyl planks, I started to notice puddling by the door. At first, I thought spouse just was not knocking his boots before coming in and putting them on the mat. When the snow and rain took a few days off and still a puddle, then I thought maybe our cat was being petulant and using the spot for when she didn't want to go upstairs to the box--it smelled off, but not, well, like cat pee can smell, so I wasn't sure.
When spouse said something to me as he was leaving work this morning, she hadn't left my side since the last time I had checked for a puddle. So she was not the culprit either. I had noticed the vinyl was already starting to buckle from the puddling, which didn't make much sense since the puddles had been small and were usually found within an hour or so.
Then I realized the "puddle" was moving. You could see where, along the plank seams, it was traveling both ways. That's when I suspected capillary from the door since they hadn't even lifted the threshold to tuck the vinyl under. Instead, they had put down a 1" metal thresh directly adjacent to it.
I had already realized whomever installed the vinyl did not do a thorough job vacuuming/dusting after they cleared off what was prior, as you could feel the movement in several spots throughout the entire application--especially the hallway near the cellar door. So there was a good chance that so close to the outside door, the same would be worse.
So I lifted the metal, and sure enough...a thin sheen of water everywhere. So then came out other tools and this is what I found:
What may have made things worse was two things:
1) There was a gap roughly 1" x 1" between the wood under the threshold and the lino/wood floor/subfloor.
2) Although there was sheet lino under it, it used to be a linoleum rug with other lino pieced in, and well...you can see why some of the detail being pulled without the rest just gave the water even more space to run. The "tan" stripe between the red lino is actually the wood floor below it.
Ok, so I found the entry point (to the lower left), hit the gap as best I could with the shop vac, and found the wood under the threshold is soft or just gone in one corner.
I also haven't slept yet, and it was a bit too early in the morning to wake the neighbors trying to pry more up to see how much would need replacing.
So I took pictures, and am asking the following:
Without having the full scope known as to the wood damage, in a perfect world my plan would be:
- later remove the bottom threshold and base wood, assess if only the base is rotted or not (hopefully)
- replace whatever rotted
- fill the gap
- take the box of extra vinyl planks and fill the cut back parts for now
- replace the threshold.
BUT...
I know this could be a can of worms beyond the scope of our current budget if the wood is bad below as well. Having said that, can I try to caulk the rotted area for the short term (hopefully just a few more weeks...could be a full month) and just live with the gap for the short term? I'm really tired of not having a fridge. But if we have to spend the funds on a bigger issue, then we will.
Edit: I've been watching the cellar walls pretty religiously as the snow has melted to see how much water we might get. I have not noticed a wet spot in the area under where the door is located. There is a 2 x 4 open shelving unit nearby, so I'll try to take a look after I sleep a bit and see how much of the actual sill I can eyeball for damage. I'd think, though, given the lack of seepage on the wall, we may have caught this at a good enough time that I only have to replace the base wood alone.
Your , please.
After I had lifted the "major move" cover on the vinyl planks, I started to notice puddling by the door. At first, I thought spouse just was not knocking his boots before coming in and putting them on the mat. When the snow and rain took a few days off and still a puddle, then I thought maybe our cat was being petulant and using the spot for when she didn't want to go upstairs to the box--it smelled off, but not, well, like cat pee can smell, so I wasn't sure.
When spouse said something to me as he was leaving work this morning, she hadn't left my side since the last time I had checked for a puddle. So she was not the culprit either. I had noticed the vinyl was already starting to buckle from the puddling, which didn't make much sense since the puddles had been small and were usually found within an hour or so.
Then I realized the "puddle" was moving. You could see where, along the plank seams, it was traveling both ways. That's when I suspected capillary from the door since they hadn't even lifted the threshold to tuck the vinyl under. Instead, they had put down a 1" metal thresh directly adjacent to it.
I had already realized whomever installed the vinyl did not do a thorough job vacuuming/dusting after they cleared off what was prior, as you could feel the movement in several spots throughout the entire application--especially the hallway near the cellar door. So there was a good chance that so close to the outside door, the same would be worse.
So I lifted the metal, and sure enough...a thin sheen of water everywhere. So then came out other tools and this is what I found:
What may have made things worse was two things:
1) There was a gap roughly 1" x 1" between the wood under the threshold and the lino/wood floor/subfloor.
2) Although there was sheet lino under it, it used to be a linoleum rug with other lino pieced in, and well...you can see why some of the detail being pulled without the rest just gave the water even more space to run. The "tan" stripe between the red lino is actually the wood floor below it.
Ok, so I found the entry point (to the lower left), hit the gap as best I could with the shop vac, and found the wood under the threshold is soft or just gone in one corner.
I also haven't slept yet, and it was a bit too early in the morning to wake the neighbors trying to pry more up to see how much would need replacing.
So I took pictures, and am asking the following:
Without having the full scope known as to the wood damage, in a perfect world my plan would be:
- later remove the bottom threshold and base wood, assess if only the base is rotted or not (hopefully)
- replace whatever rotted
- fill the gap
- take the box of extra vinyl planks and fill the cut back parts for now
- replace the threshold.
BUT...
I know this could be a can of worms beyond the scope of our current budget if the wood is bad below as well. Having said that, can I try to caulk the rotted area for the short term (hopefully just a few more weeks...could be a full month) and just live with the gap for the short term? I'm really tired of not having a fridge. But if we have to spend the funds on a bigger issue, then we will.
Edit: I've been watching the cellar walls pretty religiously as the snow has melted to see how much water we might get. I have not noticed a wet spot in the area under where the door is located. There is a 2 x 4 open shelving unit nearby, so I'll try to take a look after I sleep a bit and see how much of the actual sill I can eyeball for damage. I'd think, though, given the lack of seepage on the wall, we may have caught this at a good enough time that I only have to replace the base wood alone.
Your , please.