Our Home Gym Floor Is Destroyed
That’s not hyperbole. Our home gym floor is destroyed. And I fear that the only fix at this point will be to tear up the whole thing, down to the floor joists, and replace the subfloor and flooring. And the frustrating thing is that I have no idea what caused it. I’m still searching for answers.
So let me back up and start from the beginning. Last summer in central Texas was brutal. We were in drought conditions. The lake where our city’s water supply comes from was dangerously low. We were on water rations. And it was an incredibly hot summer (standard for central Texas). It was easy to spy those people ignoring water rations because they had beautiful, lush, green grass. Everyone else’s was brown and burned from the sun and heat.
And that’s when I started noticing what I thought was a foundation problem in our home gym. There was a high place in the floor. Being on a pier and beam foundation, I thought that it was a pier pushing a beam and floor joist up too high. Or rather, I thought it was the heat and drought causing the perimeter of our foundation to sink, leaving the high point in the middle of the room. It got bad enough that I thought I had better start watering our foundation before it causes some serious damage.
So I bought some soaker hoses and a timer for our outdoor spigot, and set it up to turn on during the night on those specific days when the ration schedule permitted. But it didn’t get any better. I thought the only hope we had was to get some rain. If only we could get a really heavy rain for a few days, that would plump up the soil around our house and maybe bring foundation back up. But we didn’t get any relief from the drought in the summer.
We finally did get rain , and a lot of it, in October. Seemingly, in about two days, our lake went from dangerously low to gloriously full, rising 15 feet in all. The drought was over, and we could all breathe a sigh of relief. I thought for sure that the rain and swelling ground would make the floor issue go away. But it didn’t.
Fast forward to this summer, and the problem only got worse. The problem in the floor went from a bump to a hill. It got so high that I actually tripped on it last week. So I called a foundation company and scheduled an appointment. They’re supposed to be here at noon today.
But last night, I decided to take a closer look. Can you see where these carpet tiles are separating? That’s the hill in the floor that’s causing that.
If you look at the carpet tiles with the stripes going towards that middle seam, you can see how the stripes curve upward. It’s curving up on the hill.
And it goes the entire length of the room, from the master bathroom door to the front window, although it’s not so bad on the door side or the window side. It gets progressively worse as you move towards the center of the room.
This is what I tripped on last week. This isn’t a rogue carpet tile that just needs to be secured down. This is the carpet tile lying as flat as possible on a hill in our floor.
I know it’s hard to see when you’re not looking at it in person, so I got this scrap board and placed it on the hill. I mean, this is awful. This is painful to look at for me.
So last night, after taking those pictures above, I decided to take up some of the carpet tiles to see what damage this was doing to the floor. If you followed this home gym remodel, you know that I opted not to do the floors at that point. I decided to just cover them with the carpet tiles and move on. I knew that these floors would need to be replaced eventually, but what was going on right now was clearly not just affecting the floor. It was also affecting the subfloor. So I wanted to get a better look at what was going on under those carpet tiles.
I took them up, and my heart sank. There was moisture under the carpet tiles. How in the world was there moisture under the tiles? This room doesn’t have any plumbing in it! What is going on here? And just take a look at the hill.
You can see these patches of moisture, with even more moisture in the seams between some of the floor boards.
So I took up more tiles, and I found even more patches of moisture.
So this doesn’t appear to be a foundation problem at all. The pier, beam, and floor joist seem to be just fine. They’re doing exactly what they’re supposed to be doing. The problem is that moisture has caused the subfloor and flooring to basically warp around both sides of that floor joist. This isn’t the only one where this is happening, but it’s definitely the worst.
So the main issue is this area that goes right through the middle of the home gym floor…
The bathroom floor is perfectly fine. Most if the issues are in the home gym, but there is one high place (which is still a hump, and not a hill yet) in the guest bedroom.
At this point, I have no idea if I need a foundation company, a construction company, a plumber, or all three. I have no idea what’s going on, but we’re starting with the foundation guy and we’ll go from there. I really just need someone to crawl underneath the house to take a good look and tell me what’s going on under there. And that won’t be me. I’m a pretty bold DIYer, but I’ve vowed that the one thing I will never do is crawl underneath our house. So someone else is definitely going to have to figure this out for me.
In better news, I have resolved my deadbolt issue that I shared in this post. I decided to just switch out all of our deadbolts. I’m sure many of you will be happy and relieved to know that we no longer have double cylinder deadbolts. I now have this sleek square Kwikset deadbolt in matte black. And I bought enough for our other doors, also. (This door obviously needs a new coat of paint, and that sad handle needs the paint cleaned off of it, so pay no attention to those things right now. 😀 )
I know this is stupid and I shouldn’t have done this, but after writing my post about my Schlage deadbolt issues, I kind of put it out of my mind. I still couldn’t get the door open, and I knew I needed to get it fixed, but I just got used to going in and out of the back studio door.
And then when I was at lunch with my mom on Wednesday, I remembered that I still couldn’t get the front door open, and I had my church group coming over that evening at 5:30! So when I got home at 4:30, the first thing I did was grab a screwdriver to remove the deadbolt. I figured I would just take it off completely and then put it back on. With the other two, that always seemed to fix them, at least temporarily. Uninstall, reinstall, and it would work for a few more months.
So I removed the front and back pieces of this one, with only the bolt and its housing remaining. But I couldn’t get it out. No matter what I did to jiggle, turn, or twist that thing, the bolt remained extended and locked into place. It wouldn’t budge.
I sent a group text to my group telling them that I couldn’t get the front door open and they’d have to come in through the back door, and immediately, my friend Julie texted back and said, “Is it the deadbolt again? Steve [her husband] is on the way over.” I don’t know what I’d do without this group of amazing and faithful friends. They have helped me with so many things, and one of them is always ready to come help at the drop of a hat.
So Steve came over, and he evidently had more experience with this type of thing, because after trying to get it out all of the ways I had tried, he finally felt on top of the bolt housing (on the part that’s inside the bored out hole in the door) and felt for some kind of switch or something like that. After moving a little plastic piece aside, he was finally able to get the bolt to retract, and we could finally open the door.
After everyone left that evening, I thought about putting the deadbolt back on for the night and dealing with it the next day, but when I picked it up, metal pieces started falling off of it.
This is very similar to what happened with the first one, except that it was different parts. On the first one, tiny little metal pieces (not shavings, but actual parts of the deadbolt) tumbled out into my had. And this time, these two metal pieces came off, and I had no idea how to put this back together, or if it could even be put back together and function properly.
So I think I’m just done with Schlage. Having three deadbolts all fail in the same way doesn’t make me feel confident in using them. Hopefully I’ll have much better success with Kwikset. Plus, I love the square shape of the new ones. Y’all know how much I love squares and rectangles! Squares and rectangles beat circles and ovals any day of the week in my book! 😀
Addicted 2 Decorating is where I share my DIY and decorating journey as I remodel and decorate the 1948 fixer upper that my husband, Matt, and I bought in 2013. Matt has M.S. and is unable to do physical work, so I do the majority of the work on the house by myself. You can learn more about me here.
Your floor is an absolute mystery. I’ll be very interested to hear what is discovered.
FYI – We have Kwikset handles and deadbolts and have been happy with them. I hope you are also.
Oh Kristi, I am so sorry! Something similar just happened to my daughter. She has a laundry room off the kitchen, with a door going into the garage. She started noticing the floor was buckling in the middle of the door going out to the garage. The door is between the washing machine and air handler. Floor under washing machine was dry, floor under the air handler was dry! Where was the water coming from. Come the find out, she has a washout sink in the garage and the pipe in the wall was leaking ever so slightly and running under the flooring into her laundry room! They fixed the leak in the wall, took up the buckled flooring and let the concrete dry well and thankfully, she had some extra flooring.
Oh my goodness!!! I’m guessing there must be a plumbing leak somewhere. I hope you find out the root of the problem and it can be fixed soon. Hopefully it’s only the wood gym floor that you were planning on replacing in the future that is damaged and not your beautiful primary bathroom floor. I’m glad you found a replacement for your deadbolt locks that you like so much.
Kristi
So sorry for whst you are going through with the floor issue. Hopefully it can be resolved easily. At least the kwikset lock fixed the problem. Have a great weekend
Kristi, gosh I’m so sorry about your beautiful gym floor. It does look like a hill going right down through the floor of your gym. I’m puzzled as to where that moisture is coming from because here in north Texas it is dry. We have large cracks in our yard and I water regularly. Our yard is dry and I would think your yard is dry too. I hope you find out what is the cause and how it needs to be fixed. This really looks like a heart breaker. And I hope you can find the best people you need to get this fixed.
I’m glad you have switched from double key dead bolts to an inside switch without a key. I think you will be more safe.
My guess is that it is condensation. You said you keep your house very cold, so the hot air beneath meets that cold air, creating condensation. The rubber tiles probably keeps that condensation from evaporating, so it sits there and does its damage.
Maybe the solution is just a different flooring.
Carol, I second you. It may explain why the moisture is in isolated patches instead of in a trail leading back to a source. In any event, water always wins!
Totally agree, get some dehumidifiers for the crawl space- that is how we take care of the situation.
That makes perfect sense. I hope it’s that simple for their sakes.
Is your air-conditioning condensation line leaking and does it go outside? I’m recalling that you have a split system and part of it is inside.
It definitely sounds like you did the best thing by replacing the deadbolts and I love the square plates also! I thought I was the only person who prefers squares and rectangles to circles and ovals! It is so good to know I am in good company. I will always choose clean straight lines in everything from clothing to home decor. I hope the floors are an easy fix and you can move on to something more creative!
Water leaks are the worst! I’ve dealt with so many in my home just the mention of a leak stresses me out. I would look closely at the gym room window. There could be a leak around the window and the water runs down inside the wall, then the length of the flooring boards. We have had 2 water leaks where water was under the flooring and it looks just like the damage you have. I’m hoping for a simple fix!🤞Sorry you are having to deal with this!
Soooooo glad you fixed the door lock issue!
My first thought about your floors is to take up the floor carpet tiles ( are they rubber backed?) and then get your dehumidifier in that room.
We had something similar happen at our house. We had to replace all of the subflooring in the entire house and reinforce some joists. For us, it was due to having no moisture barrier covering the ground under the house. It was truly a nightmare and I’m sorry this is happening! We had plastic put down under the entire foundation of the house and no problems since then.
The moisture is from changing how well the home is sealed and breathes… The cold house temp carpet tiles have a vapor barrier backing. That turns into a surface where water vapor in the outside air trying to to condense like sweat on a glass. So getting someone familiar with venting needs for a while home -relayed to modern home construction and rennos would be best to ask.
I really can be wrong, but it’s partially a combo of humidity of TX and sealing up the home better over time. It focuses the air that is leaking in to be from below. The temp difference where the air is coming in against a vapor barrier is a cause. Maybe planning to place a thin Styrofoam sheet below could possibly create a thermal break after fixing the subfloor, but I’m really not sure. But air would still come in that humid and condense at funky places. Another idea is Having the home’s HVAC create positive pressure could help. So the home pushes cold air out (positive pressure) vs pulling warm air in(negative). The roof vents got sealed, and a many of the exterior walls are sealed. So all the air the home is pulling in is coming in from below. Maybe an energy audit can have a sideways benefit. It identifies how the home as whole breathes with how it’s built.
And it’s pulling air in because there’s systems that vent out for a variety of reasons. Like bath fans, stove fans and more. HVAC systems sometimes get a special vent once the home is sealed up a certain amount so all the air the home pulls in goes directly there and conditioned. So it’s not getting pulled/pushed in at funny places.
Kristi,
Your floor problem looks similar to one we had in our house in Cape Cod. Wood floors that wood swell into small hills. We had someone go into the crawl space to investigate. Turns out the dirt underneath was very close to the subfloor. The contractor dug out a huge amount of fill under the house and then laid down a vapor barrier. Solved the problem. I hope your problem is easily resolved!
It’s disappointing to know that all of the big box stores are able to specify to the manufacturer the type and quality of parts to use so that they can sell items cheaper with the same look as their more expensive line of goods. Schlage will sell a deadbolt set with alloy parts to HD and Lowe’s and higher quality (real brass) to a wholesale dealer . The cost is always higher. But the quality is better. They do it routinely with lighting too, specifying a lighter gauge wire, or different material with the same look than one found in the wholesale showrooms. Obviously the big box stores sell it cheaper and the consumer thinks they are getting a great deal. It doesn’t matter on some things , but on others it does. They do it with tools as well. It’s ok as long as you know you’re getting what you pay for and that it may not last as long.
Hi, I would get another dehumidifier in there as soon as possible.have bamboo flooring in a building on our property. It’s on a poured cement foundation but every summer when it’s humid, a few of the click and lock bamboo planks start to lift, only in 1 spot. I think an underground spring drains under the building at that point. Anyway, dehumidifier does the trick. Your situation looks a bit worse, obviously, but moisture is the problem.
We had something similar to your “hill” and it was due to an unnoticed small leak in a newly installed toilet one step up from this room. Water ran under the slate flooring in the bathroom (which never had damage) down to the next sub floor covered with hardwood flooring like yours where it followed the joint lines and raised all the wood strips in an area about a foot wide by 8 feet long. Everybody said we would have to refinish the floor, but we, procrastinators that we are, didn’t do anything and now six months later, everything has dried out and settled back down. One would never know there was a leak. So there’s some hope for you! Good luck!
When i started reading about floor hump I immediately thought that the rubber backing on the carpet square was holding moisture and not letting wood floor move. Remove and dry out floor and use as is. With your extreme environment wood floors need to be gently used.
Not sure what to do about the floor. I’m not crawling under it either! But the deadbolts are great. After the deadbolt post, I realized why my late hubs used the double key. My doors all have a large pane of glass in them because they are patio style doors. A turn knob on one side would make them worthless since they can break the glass and unlock the deadbolt. Now that I think about it, they can just knock the glass out and walk through. BUT . . . they can’t haul anything out the closed door unless the remove the deadbolt. I think his feeling was that he would hear them by then and he could get Mr. Smith & Mr. Wesson to handle it.
It is just one of those days or weeks. Maybe the land your house is built on is the grave of some witch doctor? This is crazy stuff! Burn some Sage in that room?
Glad you and Matt will be safe.
Kristi, If you don’t have a leak from the bathroom, then look at your air conditioner condensation, it may be because you have to have the air so cold for Matt the condensation gets caught on the rubber backing of the tiles. Do you have a moisture barrier on the ground under your house? If not have one installed and get a dehumidifier under it as well. I am so sorry you must go through this, but I love the new locks!
Will mold be a potential issue? I hope not! 🙀
Oh, gosh! I hope not! That would be a nightmare.
You are amazing friend. Praying you will find the answers to your floor issue.
Kristi, I enjoy reading your posts and seeing your inspiring ideas. Keep up the good work! About your floor, I suspect that it is not a foundation or a plumbing problem. I have an idea about what may be the culprit: condensation. The temperature differentials between the outside and inside environments has created a dew point on the inside (air) conditioned space. The impermeable backing on the carpet tiles is acting to prevent the floor to “breath,” especially in the center of the room. Basically, the floor covering is a watertight plastic seal. I would not be surprised to find mold on the exterior facing of the floor sheathing (i.e., the side facing beneath the house). Eventually the floor sheathing will begin to delaminate if that hasn’t already happened. Wood is anisotropic: in response to moisture, it will expand differently along different dimensions. Not knowing the exact details of the floor assembly, it is difficult to fully assess the problem. However, as a preventative strategy I’d suggest focusing on increasing the floor insulation AND having a low permeance wrap (e.g. Tyvek, taped XPS foamboard) installed to the bottom of the floor joists. Allow the floor to breathe into the interior, even temporarily, by removing the carpet tiles; then monitor the situation to see if the floor resumes its previous state. If it doesn’t then likely permanent damage is done. Condensation is a common problem where warm air with high relative humidity contacts cool surfaces like basement walls, floor assemblies over crawl spaces, and poorly ventilated attics.
My HVAC hubby says that water runs downhill. The fact that this is directly under / from a window is suspect. Also, water is sneaky. It may not show up in the wall itself, but it is coming from something to do with or about the window. Just a thought.
I’m thinking condensation with Matt’s temperature requirements.
When I lived north of you in Temple, it would “rain” behind our curtains inside the windows. That was a slab foundation, and we had new neighbors wondering what happened, as well. Leaving an air path in the curtains into the room helped solve it.
I also think suggestions for a vapor barrier between the underfloor and the ground is wise.
It is worth your money to eliminate the added possibility of a leak/traveling water.
You both need the peace of mind of answers and prevention.
I’m so sorry you are having to deal with this. It is always something with homeownership. Anxious to hear what actually caused the wetness. Glad you got the locks replaced because that was a big dangerous issue.
Have a good week.