In a dour moment when we built our house a few years back, I made the decision to extend the hardwood (oak) flooring into the powder room. Using further poor judgement, I went with a deco-design, traditional 2-piece toilet & sink by a French company called Porcher (that had actually just been sold to American Standard) in the powder room rather than the more common--and practical--Kohler one-piece toilets in our other bathrooms.
You can see where this is going.
Over the past year or so we have noticed a slight buckling of the floorboards behind the aforementioned powder room toilet--I believe the industry term is "cupping." Just this weekend I walked into my daughter's bedroom that backs onto the powder room, and I noticed the wood floors were suddenly cupping like the deck of an old ship. I went into the powder room and discovered one of the two bolts securing the toilet tank to the base of the toilet had somehow loosened to the point of being barely hand-tight, and was leaking at a rate of one drop every 2 or 3 seconds. Uh oh. The rubber grommet inside the tank looked ok and I tightened it with a screwdriver; no more leaks.
Two questions. Will the wood floors return to flat form over time? We did have a little bit of water overflow in another bathroom a few years ago (stone floor in that one) that did cause cupping on the wood floors of an adjoining bedroom, but those reverted back after @4-6 months or so. Can I expect the same in this situation, which might be a little bit more severe?
Second question: Should I have a plumber look at this toilet? I'm not sure what would have caused one of the two bolts to come loose like that, and naturally I don't want it to happen again. Along those lines...should I do now what I should have done in the first place and install a 1-piece toilet in there?
Down the road we may have to consider pulling the wood floor out of the powder room...
Thanks for any/all advice.
My german shepherd is a sloppy water drinker and still all has been good
easy to clean too
Now that you have the problem identified, you should tear out the wood and replace with tile/vinyl. You should be able to handle the job yourself over 2 weekends (1 tear out/1 install). Replace the toilet if you want. But if you don't, take the time to replace the wax ring and ensure the toilet is properly sealed.
Lou, the woodworker
Two piece toilet properly installed will last forever. Run a box fan or a portable fan to move some air over it for a couple of days. That's the best way to dry it out.
I would tile it.
This exact thing happened - and we have hardwood floors for the downstairs bathroom. Had to put a new ring on and replace the wood around the toilet. I was pretty sure I'd be able to do the toilet, but the floors were going to be more difficult. Ended up getting a quote for $450 to do both. Looks like brand new - but we will have to be wary of the ring over time.
The buckling may lesson somewhat, but you're basically f**ked.
Sorry.