Subject: Possibly rotten floorboards
Date: Thu, 26 Feb 1998

Maetta wrote:

OOH, I'm so glad that there is a specialist out there like yourself. I shall have to check out your web site!!
You wrote "What evidence does the handyman have that there is 'fine rot' in the floorboards?" He tried to screw the boards down in the hope that they were simply not tight. No effect after 20 screws were placed in a small area. He took another look at the visible underside and saw lots of tiny fine lines which he pointed out to me. I had done the pick test. Except for a charred section, they were not soft and flaking.

Hmmm.... Well, assuming that the handyman was trying to fasten the boards into the joists underneath and he couldn't get any to grab, it means that your joists are deteriorated. Not a happy thought. What you're going to have to do -- or have done -- is have a section of boards pulled up and the joists examined. You're just going to have to keep going as long as you find bad wood.

The question is, how did the joists rot? How old is the house? Is there a basement, or just a crawl space? Is there ventilation? Is there moisture? Where are you in the US?

Anyway, with rotten joists you can saturate them with a penetrating epoxy, such as our CPES, sister the joists with some new wood also soaked with the CPES, and then put the boards back down, after having applied the CPES to the undersides. The CPES penetrates the wood deeply and significantly restricts the ability of any of the rot fungi to reproduce. Sounds simple, but a fair amount of work for someone, and some expense involved.

Get back to me if you need more info or have further questions.

Doc