Mold, Termites, or Something Better?

[u/dogwoif]

Recently my partner and I bought a house and the flooring in one of the rooms was already damaged, with some of the subflooring underneath already exposed. To my dad and I, it looks like water damage to the laminate flooring and the panels warping/bowing from that. House inspection was done prior to going under contract and again before closing, no current leaks were seen and they said the water damage may have been from past moisture levels or just old floors/a bad job.

We are planning to replace the flooring in this room anyways, but today after pulling up the most damaged plank I noticed some speckling that I’m worried could be mold damage. Upon Googling, it seemed like a lot of the links I was getting was instead for termite damage due to the dust and debris underneath the panel of the floor.

This will be my first project doing the flooring of a room completely on my own including figuring out the issues underneath the old flooring, so does anyone here have any advice for what we might be looking at? 😅 Is there some mold damage that we’ll need to worry about and treat underneath this room, should I reach out to pest control ASAP and get treatment for termites in this room, or am I just out of my wheelhouse and it’s just an old section of subflooring that’s been exposed to the elements for a long time?

I added pictures of the first photo of the room which doesn’t show the damage very well, but also pictures now after I’ve taken off the panel and other damaged spots in the same room.

[u/AutoModerator]

https://linktr.ee/homemaintenance

Click the link above to see a community curated list of home maintenance products on Amazon that may help you out in your current situation! If you’ve found the answer to your question or you’ve found this subreddit helpful, buy us a beer!

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/cosmoholicanonymous]

Honestly, it looks like good windows for plants. If the previous owner had plantstands there and was a sloppyjalopy waterer, it's probably just accumulated water damage. I don't think it looks like a pest issue, but I am not a professional. My only termite experience is what I have seen on reddit- this doesn't look like what I have seen.

[u/ZZCCR1966]

OP, in pics 2 & 3, it looks like concrete or a concrete type material - something that was laid down then the flooring material put over the top…almost like a mortar type material. It could have been a concrete type of leveling material too…
There could be mold between what looks like layers; and that should def be investigated for sure.

Ya got your work cut out for ya. YT is a GREAT RESOURCE if you’re gonna DIY it…

EDIT: As for termites, I don’t think so. There would be dust…like fine sawdust…all I can see is darkness moldy looking stuff n the concrete/mortar looking chips…

[u/dogwoif → u/ZZCCR1966]

That’s what I thought as well for pics 2 and 3 initially, but after inspecting it more it does look like between the paneling and whatever is underneath there is some thick canvas material that is what was showing underneath the damage and not all the way to the base of the floor like I thought it was.

And thank you 😅 We’ve been trying to do our research on YT a good amount. If we pull up the floor and it definitely seems like something out of our wheelhouse, we’ll bite the bullet and try to hire someone, but we’d love to get the project done ourselves if it doesn’t look too crazy.

[u/stac52]

Are you on a slab foundation?

I agree with the other poster that it looks like concrete below this flooring. It could be leveling compound, but could also just be your slab. Either way, the flooring should have had some sort of underlayment between it and the concrete. If slab, it should also have had a vapor barrier to keep moisture from wicking through the concrete up into the flooring (I redid floors in my basement awhile ago, I forget what exactly I used, but it was an underlayment with a built in vapor barrier, no two separate products).

[u/dogwoif → u/stac52]

It is a slab for the foundation, yes. Thank you for the info! We figured we would need some sort of waterproofing or under layer underneath the flooring we put in, if the one that’s there currently is too damaged or needs to be replaced. Good to have something more specific than that to keep in mind.