Hello everyone, I am new to the forums and am jumping right in with a problem I discovered in the house I recently bought. I had the main water like break and leak some water into the wall, and it mostly went into this room and under the wood floor. I was able to get everything dry as far as I can tell with a combination of fans, a dehumidifier and towels. I decided to tear up some of the wet floor and the baseboards to look for damage. what I discovered is that there was some wood glued down in the gap between the drywall and the subfloor that was drying. As I went around to the area under the window, I found that the wood was extremely rotted, so much so that I could tear it out with my hands. Basically what I am looking for is guidance, as I am learning how to do all this by necessity. I figure I should tear out all this rotted wood, but should I tear the wall up too? I was unable to replicate the possiblity of water coming in under the window, so im unsure how that spot could have gotten so wet.

 

Leak may have been there a long time before you found it. Might be the low spot that water ended up at and just sat there, Are the wall studs rotted or just wet?

 

As far as I could tell the studs just got a little wet and are now dry. The only part that was rotted like that was under the window, where this wood was used to close the gap between the drywall and the floor. I was under the impression that the gap between the drywall and the floor was supposed to be empty?

 

There should be a 1/2 inch gap between drywall and floor.. Have no idea why somebody would fill this gap. The gap would be covered by trim. If only that wood bad I would just strip it out.

 

Should I take out just the bad wood, or all of it?

 

All the bad wood should be replaced, the rest depends on what works best. Sometimes it's easier to remove more than you have to so you can more easily put it back together.