# How to approach a wood rotted sub floor and frame under a sliding glass door



## nmadigan (Aug 22, 2012)

**OOPS, the title should read, "water" rotted**

(Raised ranch home built in 1972)

The previous owners rigged a portable dishwasher to the water supply line and sink drain. Recently, the waterline into the dishwasher leaked all over the floor (slow drip). Needless to say, that was the catalyst for deciding to replace the floors and get a REAL dishwasher. 

Well after removing the peel and stick floors and the 5/8 in plywood over the subfloor, we could see rotted subfloor and frame where the door meets the wall (where the dishwasher stood).Obviously this had happened before, because all that rot just couldn't have happened from one leak. The vertical frame is rotted maybe 2 inches up and the bottom frame is rotted half the length of the door and just a few inches into the wall. The unfinished utility room is directly below the kitchen so we are able to see that the joists look good and surprisingly, the sub-floor and frame from underneath isn't visibly terrible. SO most of the rot is on the surface. Still, we are replacing the subfloor and framing. 

Hopefully you can get an idea of the set up from the picture. This is the only picture available to me at the moment.

So the issue is now, how do we replace the rotted frame? 

I can see two options: 
1.chip away at the rot and replace it without removing the door, 
OR 
2.remove the door, replace the rot, and re-install the door. 

Obviously the first option sounds ideal, but I'm not sure if that would be structurally safe.

Any advice would be much appreciated!


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## Duckweather (Mar 26, 2012)

By frame are you talking about door frame, (threshold), or framing? If you can see the underside of the subfloor is OK then the framing might be. The first thing would be to soak it with bleach to kill as much mold, fungus, etc. that may be still active.


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## nmadigan (Aug 22, 2012)

By door frame I mean the 2x4 the door rests on.


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## kwikfishron (Mar 11, 2010)

Post some pictures of the actual damage if you want useful responses.

Welcome to the forum btw.


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## nmadigan (Aug 22, 2012)

Okay, taking a second look, the door is sitting on about 2-3 layers of plywood, NOT 2x4's

If anything isn't clear, just ask.

Thanks again!


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## kwikfishron (Mar 11, 2010)

You may get away with not pulling the door. You need to open things up more and look at the joist, especially the rim. Have you been under the house yet?

You chase and replace ALL rot. If the door is in the way of doing that then you pull it. 

What type of siding do you have?


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## chrisBC (Dec 28, 2010)

I would pull that door, fix the rot entirely, replace door. It is much easier to see the extent of the damage once the door is out, not to mention much easier to fix the rot. Hopefully the siding is not stucco with a nailing flange for the door.


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## Bugman1400 (Mar 11, 2011)

I think once you pull the subfloor, you will have top view access to the band which is under the door.


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## hand drive (Apr 21, 2012)

on either side of the seam in the plywood that is rotted there is the floor joists 16" away. cut your plywood back to center of the joist on each side of the seam and pull up the plywood. You will have to cut the plywood flush against the exterior wall bottom plate... If the joists are ok put back new plywood, done.

its not good but you might have to take out the door to complete the repair..


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## chrisBC (Dec 28, 2010)

taking a look at that pic, looks like the bottom plate under the door is toast, and i'd bet that the subfloor underneath the plate is gone as well. I'd take some pokes at it with a nail bar to see how soft it is.


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## nmadigan (Aug 22, 2012)

chrisBC, you are absolutely right, the plate is mush. It's going to be replaced
hand drive, that is exactly our plan
kwickfishron, I hope we can get away with out pulling the door. we have vinyl siding. read below for more details.


Okay guys, so my husband and I tackled this project a bit this weekend and we have good news and bad news. After taking a 4x4 section of the subfloor up , the good news is that the joist directly inter the rot is in pretty decent shape. There's a tiny soft spot on the top of the joist but other than that, it's solid. Also the 2x8 it's attached to is in great shape; no rot! The rot seems to be only on the 2x4 and the plywood underneath the door. So our plan is to reinforce the joist by sandwiching it with 2ft long sections of pressure treated 2x8's, replace the rotted 2x4 and and 4x8 section of subfloor. 

The bad news actually came as a blessing in disguise. As we were working (floor ripped up and everything exposed) it started to rain HARD. I mean sideways rain! Rain was hitting the sliding door for a good 5-10 minutes. During the storm we noticed dripping water directly under the door track!!!! Further investigation told us that it WAS NOT leaking from the exterior wall(THANK GOD) but from the freaking door track!! Take a look at the picture...does anything look off? The track is shorter than the frame and water collects underneath and drips through into the floor. So in addition the the leak caused by the dishwasher, we now have a leak from the door! As bad as this situation is, I'm glad it happened BEFORE we installed the laminate. It would have destroyed the floors! YIKES!! 

I know it would be way better to replace the whole door, but $500-$1000 to replace it is just not feasible at the moment. Can the leak in the door be corrected in anyway with silicone or any other kind of waterproofing?? Or should we just use a board of some sort to deflect the rain when it comes in hard like that?


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

Your wasting your time trying to work around the door and not just removing it to make the needed repairs.
It needs at a minimum to be flashed, and a far better way is to add a sill pan. that with it's going to be 100% water tight.
http://www.jamsill.com/
It's about an hour job to remove the whole door or less.
It would also let you have a look at the sheathing on the wall that by now most likly will be molded up and rotted.
I also would get rid of that plywood under the door and replace it with vinyl lumber set in a bed of silicone.
Replace the sub flooring with Advantec not plywood, it's far more water resistant.
Before the sill pan goes in remove some of the deck boards and lay a layer of wide window tape over the threshold, down the wall and over the ledger board as flashing.


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## nmadigan (Aug 22, 2012)

Joecaption, 

I think you're right and we are going to have to bite the bullet and get a door. Maybe we can scrape together the cash to get a new door. I really don't want to worry about this in the future or deal with water damage after installing new floors. DAMN this sucks!!!


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## chrisBC (Dec 28, 2010)

You probably dont need to replace the door, however to do the repair properly it should be pulled and reinstalled. As joe mentions this would be a good time to flash the opening properly.


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## joecaption (Nov 30, 2011)

I'm with Chris. It's the fact the deck is to high and the door was installed wrong. It's not the door that's the problum.


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## scottktmrider (Jul 1, 2012)

chrisBC said:


> taking a look at that pic, looks like the bottom plate under the door is toast, and i'd bet that the subfloor underneath the plate is gone as well. I'd take some pokes at it with a nail bar to see how soft it is.


There should not be a bottom plate under the door.If there was the door would sit 1-1/2" off the floor.


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## kwikfishron (Mar 11, 2010)

nmadigan said:


> I think you're right and we are going to have to bite the bullet and get a door.


Hold on.....Have you checked the weep holes to see if their draining properly?

How about a picture from the outside showing the bottom of the door frame, showing the first foot or so from the corner.


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