Andrew bought a house in Guyton and moved in with his cats. The leak was already there. It had been there before he ever got the keys, quietly working under the floor while somebody else lived on top of it. He knew something was off. He did not know how far it had gone.
We did. About an hour after we pulled the first plank up.
You cannot see a leak like this from the top
That is the hard part about water under a floor. The finished floor looks fine. Maybe there is a soft spot. Maybe a board cups a little near a wall. Maybe there is a smell in the closet you keep telling yourself is just an old house smell.
Underneath, the water has been spreading sideways through the subfloor for months or years. Plywood soaks it up like a sponge and holds it. Once it is holding water, it does not dry out. It goes black, it goes soft, and it keeps going until somebody opens it.
The first video up top is the walk in. Bare subfloor, cords everywhere, and the old bathroom still sitting there with the original tub. That is day one. That is what we were looking at before we knew anything.
We pulled the floor and it got bigger
We started taking the flooring up in the main living area. Two guys, pry bars, stacking planks as they came out. Every few feet the story got worse. Black staining down the plywood right where it met the baseboard. That dark line in the second video is not dirt. That is water that has been living in the wood.
Then we cut into the subfloor itself and found the real answer. Not a wet patch. A run. It had traveled well past the room Andrew thought the problem was in.
Cutting the bad subfloor out, down to the joists.
This is the moment where a lot of contractors go quiet, patch what they can see, and lay new flooring over the rest. We called Andrew and told him straight. The number went up. Nobody enjoys that call. But covering it would have meant he pays for this floor twice, and the second time he pays for the joists too.
Why we never lay a new floor over bad subfloor
It will not hold. New flooring needs a flat, dry, solid base. Wet plywood keeps moving as it dries and rots, so seams open, planks cup, and the new floor fails in a season or two.
The damage keeps going. Water in the subfloor moves down into the joists next. Subfloor is a materials and labor bill. Joists are a structural bill.
You lose the evidence. Once it is covered, nobody can tell you how far it spread. We photograph and video everything we open, so the homeowner can see exactly what they paid for.
Out with the bad wood, in with the new
We cut out every sheet of compromised subfloor, right down to the joists, and checked the framing underneath. Then new subfloor went in, screwed down flat and tight, and we ran the whole surface for level before a single new plank touched it.
Then the new flooring went down across the space. Clean, flat, quiet underfoot. No soft spot. No smell.
Beige walls, dark brown trim, farm house look
With the floor solid, we moved to paint. Andrew wanted the place to feel like a farm house, warm and settled, not builder white and cold.
So we went light beige on the walls and dark brown on all the trim. That contrast is what does the work. The beige opens the rooms up and takes the glare off, and the dark trim frames every door and window and gives the whole house a line to follow. It is a simple choice that reads expensive, and it costs the same as any other two colors.
Prep is where paint like this lives or dies. Dark trim over light walls means every wobble in your cut line is visible from across the room. We caulk, we sand, we cut by hand, and we do not rush the last coat.
Then we opened up the bathroom
The bathroom was tight. Not unusable, just cramped in that way older houses get when the plan was drawn around a smaller tub and nobody has touched it since.
So we opened it. We took the walls in there back, kept the cabinets that were worth keeping, and rebuilt around the new space. New shower. New tub. New vanity. New flooring. Then paint to match the rest of the house.
Same crew, same house, one schedule. Andrew did not have to line up a floor guy, a bathroom guy, and a painter, and then referee them when the dates collided. That is most of the reason people call us for a whole project instead of one trade.
Inside the bathroom, the part nobody films
Carlos sent this one straight off the job. Large format marble look porcelain going floor to ceiling around the new tub, and one of our guys up on the ladder working the grout into every joint by hand.
Grouting the new tile surround in the Guyton bathroom.
Look at the floor in that clip and you will see the laser sitting there, still running. Big tile is unforgiving. A quarter inch of drift at the bottom row turns into a visibly crooked line by the time you reach the ceiling, and there is no fixing that later without pulling it all back off. So we set a level line and we hold it the whole way up.
The tub is wrapped and the blue tape is on before any grout comes out of the bucket. Grout haze on a new tub is the kind of thing a crew notices two days later when it has cured, and by then you are scrubbing a fixture the homeowner just paid for. Cover it first, and there is nothing to scrub.
Then it is the slow part. Work the grout in, let it set up, wipe it back, wipe it again, and keep the sponge clean so you are not just moving haze around the wall. That is the difference between tile that looks installed and tile that looks finished.
Everything finished, in one walk through
This is the last thing Carlos filmed on this job. No cuts, no staging. He just walked it.
The finished house. New flooring, beige walls, dark brown trim, new vanity, and the rebuilt tub and shower in large format marble look tile.
Start at the floor, because that is where this whole job started. That plank is running across the exact area we cut down to the joists. You cannot tell anymore, and that is the point. A floor repair that still reads as a repair a year later was not finished, it was covered.
The walls are the light beige Andrew picked and the trim and doors are the dark brown. That combination is doing more work than people give it credit for. Beige alone goes flat and reads like a rental. The dark trim gives every doorway and baseboard a hard edge, so the rooms actually have a shape to them. That is the farm house feel he was after, and it came from two colors, not from buying anything.
Then the bathroom, which used to be the tightest room in the house. We took the walls out to open it up, kept the cabinets, and put in a new tub, new shower, and new vanity. The tile is large format marble look porcelain running up the tub wall and through the shower, with a glass panel instead of a curtain so the room does not get chopped in half visually. Small bathrooms feel bigger when you can see through to the back wall.
Look at the vanity top, the mirror, and the light bar over it. Nothing about that corner is expensive. It is level, it is centered, and the caulk lines are clean. That is what makes a bathroom look finished, and it is also the first thing that gets rushed when a crew is trying to get out of a house.
Every room in that clip is a room we opened up. Flooring, subfloor, walls, and a full bathroom remodel, in Guyton and across Effingham County and the Savannah area.
He is comfortable in his own house now
That is the part Carlos keeps talking about. Andrew had just bought the place and he was not comfortable in it. Him and his cats were living on top of a problem somebody else left behind.
Now the floor is solid, the walls are warm, the bathroom has room to move, and there is nothing spreading underneath any of it. He was really happy at the walkthrough. That is the whole job.
The best part of that job walked in on four legs
Carlos sent this one over with no explanation. He did not need to.
The same room we took down to bare plywood, finished. New floor, beige walls, dark brown trim, and the resident inspector.
That is the same room we tore down to the joists. Black staining, cut out subfloor, framing showing. Now it is plank running wall to wall, warm beige on the walls, dark brown trim, and Andrew’s cat out in the middle of it like she owns the place. She walked right over to Carlos while he was filming.
People think a floor is a look. It is not. It is the one surface everybody in the house is actually on all day, and the ones on it the most are the ones who cannot tell you something is wrong. A cat spends her whole life at floor level. She sleeps on it. She breathes six inches off it. Whatever is living under that plywood, she is closer to it than anybody in the family.
When we opened this floor there was water damage that had been spreading since before Andrew ever got the keys. Standing up, you could not smell it. Down where she lives, it was right there.
So when she came out and crossed the new floor without hesitating, that was the real walkthrough. Animals do not do polite. They stay out of a room that feels wrong and they settle into one that does not. She settled.
That is the part we are actually in business for. Not planks. A house where everybody in it, including the small ones, can put their feet down anywhere.
If you think you have water under your floor
Three things worth checking before it becomes a subfloor bill. Walk the house barefoot and feel for anything soft or springy. Look at the baseboards in the room nearest any plumbing for staining or swelling at the bottom edge. And trust your nose in closets and corners, because musty is not a smell old houses have to have.
If any of that sounds like your house, get somebody to open a small area and look. A two foot inspection cut costs almost nothing. Finding out two years late costs a floor and a set of joists.
We work all over Effingham County and the Savannah area, including Guyton, Springfield, Rincon, Pooler, and Richmond Hill. Water damage, subfloor, flooring, bathroom remodeling, and interior painting with one crew and one schedule.
Common questions
How do I know if the water damage is in my subfloor and not just the floor?
Soft or springy spots when you walk barefoot, planks that cup or lift near a wall, staining or swelling at the bottom of the baseboard, and a musty smell that will not go away. Any one of those means somebody should open a small area and look. A small inspection cut is cheap. Waiting is not.
Can you just put new flooring over a damaged subfloor?
You can, and it fails. New flooring needs a dry, flat, solid base. Damaged plywood keeps moving as it rots, so seams open and planks cup within a season or two, and the water keeps moving down into the joists. We cut the bad subfloor out every time.
How long does subfloor replacement and new flooring take?
For a typical room or two it is usually a few days for demo and new subfloor, then flooring on top of that. The honest answer is that we do not know the full scope until we open it. We tell you the moment we do, before we go further, so the number never changes on you at the end.
Do you do the flooring, the bathroom, and the painting, or do I need three contractors?
One crew, one schedule. On this Guyton project we did the subfloor, the flooring, the interior painting, and the full bathroom remodel. You are not coordinating three trades or refereeing their calendars.
Do you work in Guyton and the rest of Effingham County?
Yes. Guyton, Springfield, Rincon, and Effingham County, plus Savannah, Pooler, Richmond Hill, and the Lowcountry. Call (912) 777-2650 for a free in person walkthrough.