If your toilet has been leaking there is a danger the wooden subfloor will be damaged as a result.
How to fix a rotted floor around the toilet.
Draw a square around the rotted area using the midline of the nearest adjacent floor joists as a guide.
It sounds like that s a pretty common wear and tear pattern that you re experiencing there jeff around the toilet and if you don t fix it it s going to get worse a lot quicker.
Because of leaky toilet seals pest inspectors often find dry rot in the subflooring beneath the toilet area.
If only the area directly below the flange is rotted you can install a two piece steel closet flange support.
To fix the floor you must remove the toilet and cut out the rotted subfloor.
The process to repair the subfloor is not easy but it needs to be handled promptly to avoid further damage to the wooden floor below which could eventually result in the toilet falling through.
But if your floor is severely rotted say more than an inch beyond the flange you re stuck replacing the flooring around the toilet.
It goes under the flange and transfers the load of the flange and toilet and you out onto more solid surrounding wood.
You re going to have to repair the floor put the tile back replace the wax seal and set it back in place.
First remove the toilet.
How to fix a rotten floor around the toilet.
In this case the damage was limited to.
Peel back the flooring around the fixture and you will.
To do that shut off the water at the valve underneath the left hand side of the toilet as you stand facing it.
Empty the toilet bowl using a sponge a rag or a shop vacuum with the paper filter removed my favorite.
A spongy floor around the toilet is a strong indication that the subfloor has absorbed water.