Bathroom sub-floor....to ripout or not??

[Popeye]

Short and sweat. I had a leak in one of my bathrooms. Decided to rip out the whole thing and start from scratch.
Took up the vinyl tile and 3/4" particleboard sub-floor. Underneath is.... 3/4" oak strip flooring nailed directly to the floor joists.
Put a de-humidifier in the room. The floor looks and feels dry now after two days and the de-humidifier. But... where the top layer had been watersoaked the hardwood has swollen into slight ridges and two have buckled (probably can get them flat with stainless screws) a good bit bigger.
Options??? Sand the ridges to flatten the floor before I put down 1/4" Hardibacker and ceramic tile?
Rip the hardwood out and put down 3/4" plywood subfloor first??
House is on a crawlspace BTW.
Opinions??? I don't want to do this bathroom again. Thanks Pat

[Roger109]

If you are sure the floor is dry all the way through,I would flaten the floor and sand.I do this alot,but floor must be truly dry to prevent later problems.

[silverfox]

Yeah...the floor has to be TRULY DRY all the way through. Like....leave it exposed for a couple of weeks. Your dehumidifier may have only dried the top 1/8 to 1/4 inch or so. IF the floor is truly dry you can sand it down and go from there. If it was me....and I was not going to USE the wood floor...ie: cover it with vinyl or tile...I would rip it out and put down the 3/4" ply sub floor.
Mike

[crokett]

I'd rip it out too, if only so I didn't ever have to worry that I would wish I had. Peace of mind is a wonderful thing. If you are careful, you can always use the wood in some projec later on.

[Hellrazor]

I'm with crokett, do it 120% right the first time. Depending on size of the area i would put down 23/32 T&G sheathing. T&G is the best choice since you want to put ceramic tiles down.

[Esteban]

Is kind of a small area. You might probably be better to replace the floor with a product similar to the one on the link. Works like plywood but is water proof. http://www.architecturalproducts.com/versaroc.htm

[Esteban]

Correct the versaroc to be moisture proof

[wilwho]

permenant solution? Armroc-Panel

Correct the versaroc to be moisture proof

3/4" x 4'x8' Armoroc-Panel with sealer shall resolve the issue forever.

www.cbpb.org

[JR]

You gotta rip it up. The extra cost of new subfooring is miniscule comapred to doing the whole project again. I mean just think about the LOYL points you'd burn at that point.

JR

[cgallery]

If the bottom plate of your stud walls is sitting on top of those floor boards, I'd leave them in place.

Adding additional fans (in addition to the one in the dehumidifer), aimed at the floor, will speed drying.

BTW, you'll need a 3/4" plywood layer between the floor boards and the Hardi to support a tile floor.

[Popeye]

Ahhhhh, all good information folks and I do appreciate it but... I posted this two years ago. bathroom has been done since September of 05. But again, thanks. P.S. I replaced the subfloor. Pat

[JR]

Oh, too funny!

[KenBurris]

Shucks !

I thought Mike (Silverfox) had re-surfaced !