FreedomLover wrote on Jul 4^th, 2008 at 3:47pm:


Very slim, to none. For what its worth, asbestos in only a hazard when bone dry and powdery. I live in what is know as a Greenstone area, serpentine, to be more accurate, it is where asbestos is found. I have the stuff in all our roads and breath it on a regular basis. No cases of asbestosis have ever been found in my area.
Feel safe to just rip out the paper and toss it in the trash.
However it sounds like you may have a dry rot issue, which iI consider a bigger problem than asbestos.
If you need info on dry rot, let me know, I've dealt with it on several occasions,.

FreedomLover wrote on Jul 5^th, 2008 at 1:22am:


When you say sub floor, are you talking about a piece of plywood that you can see?
Because there is most likely 2X6 T&G (tongue and groove) under that. This is the floor that is most important.
Assuming the plywood is 1/2" or better in thickness, set your blade depth accordingly and cut out the the bad spot, go at least twice the size of the rot.
Now look at the flooring underneath, if you see any damage, this definitely needs removed. If it is only a half dollar sized spot, then it probably penetrated the entire board, cut out a piece about 6" long and replace it with regular 2X6 don't worry about T&G.
If there is more damage, then you need to remove the damage all the way back to good wood, and treat with  Copper Naphthenate, Home depot has it in quart sized containers.
Dry rot fungus is a nasty little critter, it doesn't require much humidity to spread once it gets a grip, that's why you need to be aggressive when dealing with it.
Hope I made sense, if not just ask.
Now I can have my morning coffee.

Edit: had coffee
As to the seam, again, I would use copper napth. just to be safe, it will smell like an old canvas Army tent for awhile.
You shouldn't have to be concerned about the seam as long as you have some sort of water barrier protecting it, which is what they had laid down, but sealing it is probably a good idea anyway. The black paper sounds like it was probably heavy roofing felt, made of paper fiberglass and tar, you can tell by the gray lettering or a red or blue line running through it.
This is just a guess, because it is a trick a lot of guys take as a shortcut, I know, I have many times.
I prefer to literally paint the floor with a sealant of some kind prior to laying the paper, it's just an added precaution.

Quote:


For the last week we've had a guy redoing the whole bathroom.... when he tore up the shower tile floor we found out the floor joists had rotted away.... there was NO support when we were in the shower. 

But it'll turn out good in the end.... we're having the bathroom redone in a 1920's style with subway tile walls and hexagnol floor with a pedestal sink.

FreedomLover wrote on Sep 10^th, 2008 at 10:14pm:



KOOL!   thats the way to go .............tan four.....

FreedomLover wrote on Sep 12^th, 2008 at 1:18am:

My brother transfers them to his email, then sends them back to himself, and opens them in his laptop.
Don't know if that'll help, but congrats on finally getting the bathroom done done.