How To Stop Water From Bathroom Damaging Living Room Floor?

[aussiebebe]

Hi everyone,

I'm not exactly a DIY-er, but I've got a problem where the water from the bathroom in the condo damages the cheap laminated flooring, could anyone suggest a solution, please?

The first picture shows the water damage and the bar of wood is completely black and rotten so I removed it. The flooring is also black. Obviously I need to buy a new door, plastic I guess. You can't see from the photo but walls to either side are also water damaged and the skirting boards are falling off!

The second picture was taken after I removed the rotten wood, you can see the white tiling is only a few inches high and I wanted to know how to create a barrier to stop water? Could anyone give tips or suggest things I could do, because I've got no idea; it's Thailand, the bathroom floor is almost always wet.

Could I remove the small tiles and put taller ones in, or would water still seep around the edges? As a stopgap measure I've just pumped silicone sealant where the wooden bar used to be, but of course this doesn't adhere to the tiles or concrete (whatever it is) underneath.

Thanks for reading and all comments/suggestions.

Best regards

[MJo]

Looks like the floor slopes towards the door, should other way around.

First i'd minimize the water on the floor. Shower curtains will work magic or sower cubicles even better. Bathroom floor mat in front of the door etc. Not sure what you have at the moment.

But the main issue is the wrongly done doorway, the levels are not thought of at all in design. In real world the bathroom floor is always few cm or say 2" lower than the room just to prevent this happening.

To fix this you could replace the rotten wood you already took out with something waterproof, maybe try to cast i.e. 2" x 2" or even smaller "beam" with concrete etc. Then waterproof it from bathroom side and paint to match the floor. You might find some "concrete" in a bag from home pro etc that you just add water and mix it. Waterproofing membrane is sold in "paint" cans and you just apply with paint brush.

Then the door needs attention, it is very important that there is 5 - 10mm gap between this new "beam" and the door as well as between the floor and door. This will ensure air circulation under the door (from living room to the bathroom) and helps to keep the door dry. At the moment the door is too close to the floor and sucks water like sponge. Also the door frame, if wood, should not sit in the water on the floor. You could get it cut so that there is 20mm or so gap to the floor.

Also to be noted that there should be the same 5 - 10mm gap between the laminated floor boards and the "beam" or walls to allow the floor to expand a bit as it does in some level always.

To do this DIY takes bit planning and finding materials first but you could also talk to the building management first to see if they can help or can get someone to do above for you.

In any case something needs to be done now or you end up replacing the living room floor not to mention developing issues with mold etc if left for long period.

[Artisi]

Even if the bathroom floor has the right slope - away from the door and is lower than the outside floor, there is still the potential of water finding its way to the outside of the bathroom (in all directions) by capilary action.

To ensure that this doesn't happen the bathroom floors as well as up the walls of the shower area should be water-proofed prior to tiling - of course this doesn't happen in Thai building just like "S or P bends aren't fitted to the waste water pipes" saves a few Baht which can be spent on things of FACE-VALUE like fancy front doors or gold plated taps.

However, there are products on the market that can be applied of the tiled surface / grout lines to exclude the water from gaining access to below the tiles - I have never used them so can't vouch for their effectiveness - look thru some of the Thai building magazines and you will see it advertised.

[trogers]

Long term solution is to hack and remove all the floor tiles and one course of wall tiles (next to the floor) inside the bathroom. Hack off an inch of the old floor screed as well.

Then, place in new floor screed to slope from door towards the floor drain inside the bathroom. Apply a layer of cement base waterproof on the screed and up the wall where the course of wall tiles have been removed. Place in new tiles.

If there is no drop in floor level between the bathroom and the outside floor, build up a 2-inch high threshold at the doorway with bricks and cement/sand and waterproof the inside prior to tiling.

[Kwasaki]

You need a splash door step :-

bath door.bmp

Edited December 12, 2011 by Kwasaki

[aussiebebe]

Thank you all for your considered replies; the condo management sent someone up to take a look today, he said almost all the residents had replaced the wooden doors (it's a low-end condo). I'm glad I posted my questions on this forum as his only suggestion was to replace the wooden bar, which doesn't exactly solve the problem. Thanks Kwasaki, Mjo and Trogers for the idea of the splash door step, building up a concrete ledge and using the waterproofing membrane; I'd never heard of this before and now I look I can see you are right, Artisi, the condo is cheaply built and the concrete was never waterproofed in the first place. This explains the way the water was affecting the wall and skirting board outside as shown in this picture.

I hadn't considered that concrete should be sealed to make it nonporus, thanks for the tip, I can buy this product myself.

Inside the bathroom, the shower is separate with a tiled step and door, but the floor doesn't drain the water when wet, so it's a consequence of poor design. I tried to photograph this to show there's not much of a slope, if any

Thanks Artisi for the suggestion of the tile sealant, I can look for that. Overall I've got a much clearer idea of how to tackle this project, thanks again everyone.

[MJo]

That last picture with the level clearly show that indeed the bathroom floor is around 2" lower than the room.

So should be enough and looks like the issue is with waterproofing. Looks like the "spash step" is made of some mortar like material acting like a sponge ?

trogers might be closest, take out the tiles, waterproof proper and redo tiles.

[Kwasaki]

The Condo management sent someone up to take a look today, he said almost all the residents had replaced the wooden doors.

The Condo management probably the worst place to go unless you own it ?? Wooden doors can be treated as well, it depends on what level of aesthetics you wish to achieve.

From the new photos it's clearer, your door needs cutting in height to 10mm above the level of where your new concrete step will be or tiles whatever finish you chose.

Then in addition a matching piece of treated wood place next to your floor for a good looking finish.

The idea of the splash door step, building up a concrete ledge and using the waterproofing membrane; I'd never heard of this before and now I look I can see you are right, Artisi, the condo is cheaply built and the concrete was never waterproofed in the first place. This explains the way the water was affecting the wall and skirting board outside as shown in this picture.

Waterproofing products are available and coming back to whether or not you own the Condo, waterproof sealing of concrete and walls will do the trick.

Good quality hydraulic cements are available in Thailand.

so it's a consequence of poor design. I tried to photograph this to show there's not much of a slope, if any

Thanks Artisi for the suggestion of the tile sealant, I can look for that. Overall I've got a much clearer idea of how to tackle this project, thanks again everyone.

You will be able to get over this problem and yes !! Poor design and poor use of correct waterproof additives in construction but not surprising eh ??

It's the leaks from above that would concern me within a Condo and the occupiers not giving a dam about the residents below.

Edited December 13, 2011 by Kwasaki

[bankruatsteve]

Viewing the photos, if the problem is from water coming up over the door sill, you have a major drain problem. Could be the problem is from above. Like water leak down the door frame from the apt above you maybe?

[rgs2001uk]

Viewing the photos, if the problem is from water coming up over the door sill, you have a major drain problem. Could be the problem is from above. Like water leak down the door frame from the apt above you maybe?

After viewing the photos and taking into account, the crap design and products used, I am inclined to agree with this, would love to know the circumfrence of the drain pipe.

[Kwasaki]

Viewing the photos, if the problem is from water coming up over the door sill, you have a major drain problem. Could be the problem is from above. Like water leak down the door frame from the apt above you maybe?

After viewing the photos and taking into account, the crap design and products used, I am inclined to agree with this, would love to know the circumfrence of the drain pipe.

Yeah !!! The fall matters and nail on the head change all my shower floor drainage outlet to 150mm square into 75mm min.