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moldy wet sheetrock at base of bathtub

14K views 31 replies 5 participants last post by  ponch37300 
#1 · (Edited)
moldy wet sheetrock at base of bathtub (now remodel blog)

I have got one heck of a mess and very little funds....
The tub is not level. The seal is broke around the shower tub. The pipes are scabbed together incorectly. water damage on exterior wall. I have no real starting point. I have no real skills in any of the area. Any ideas would be greatly apreciated.
Also, what type of plumbing should I upgrade to? pvc? cpvc? pex?


EDIT 01/18/2009 After all the great help I got and all the advice I gathered, this has became a full on hillbilly remodel. You will see as you read through the thread that it became increasingly obvios that this was a bigger thing than I had anticipated. Thanks for all the input and keep it coming!!
 

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#2 ·
:eek:

In short, I don't have the answer you're looking for.
"Very little funds" and "I have no real skills" are not the phrases that give you any hope here.
What needs to happen is everything that is moldy, needs to be removed.
That ventilation fan is in a wet area. It needs to be on a GFI circuit...if it is even allowed to be mounted vertically in the wet location.
I can't tell but the plumbing cannot be PVC. That needs to be at least CPVC but honestly, I have never seen CPVC behind a wall. Again, I'm not sure if that's even allowed. Your local building codes will determine what type of plumbing needs to be installed.
If the tub is no longer level, that would make me concerned there's water damage to the subfloor.
You are dealing with many things that NEED a building permit to replace.
Your best bet is to get a contractor in for an estimate. That will give you a ballpark price. I have no idea how or when this occurred, but maybe check with your home owners insurance policy about the water damage.

My friend, you are in a pickle! :(
 
#3 · (Edited)
Thanks for the input. Good news (or more like a cursed blessing), I live in Alaska miles from any town with anything that would resemble building codes. I am going to remove the fan. You are the third person to point it out of all things in the pictures. The tub is unlevel because the cabin/shack was lifted and put on a foundation 3ft up and a crawl space added under the house. the cabin was 3 pieces brought in from different homesteads and put together. doors cut in where they were needed. A real mess. When they lifted it and set it down, things were never level again. A beam has since been added right down the middle of the crawl space (by me) for support, but the floor can not be leveled traditionaly because they built walls on it from floor to ceiling after the floor was unlevel. Hey its a shack, but it sits on 2 acres close to prime ALASKAN wilderness. And it came with a shed and a well and septic. Pretty much, I bought the land for what it is. As a bonus it has a DEC aproved well and septic. Its also only a year from natural gas access. Has power and phone. Phone has DSL. Its in a cellphone area. The woodstove keeps it nice and warm on those -40deg nites. Tons of aspen and birch and spruce for firewood. The shack is where We lay our head for now...I'll make it a nice little cottage and call it home for a few years than build something bigger and new when I pay down the land.

I was thinking that I will use all pex, even in the walls...any thoughts on that? I may just rip out the whole tub and the 1/2 wall between the tub and sink and start over. replace the sheetrock with green board, float the floor level, put back in the wall and tub.....I bet with advice and pictures, I could do it.
 
#4 ·
Well that's the spirit! :thumbup:

Tear out = good. There's a lot messed up. Better to start over and keep the mold out. Sounds like you can be cooped up for extended periods of time, rather it not be with mold!

If you can, get that fan outside of the tub area (> 3') and no need for GFI. Otherwise, move it to the middle of the tub-area ceiling and connect it to a GFI. Just because you don't have local building codes doesn't mean you shouldn't be safe!

Can't answer the pex question. I know it's used successfully around the country. It's not allowed in my area so I have no experience with it.

Reconsider the greenboard stuff. It's worthless. I'd rather see you use Densarmor for the bathroom. It's a paperless drywall and is a few dollars more per sheet than greenboard. Installs exactly like drywall. Anything that's in the tub surround should be a cement backer-like material. I suggest DensShield. It's like drywall but has the characteristics of cement backer board. Light and easy to install, can be used in wet locations and easily waterproofed and ready for tile!

Good luck with your piece of the (real) wildnerness!
 
#5 ·
From your last post it sounds like there are some founds available for this. I like pex, the crimp tool is a little expensive but pex is user friendly and from what i have read about it can take some expansion if your pipes happen to freeze. And it's cheaper than copper.

Like mentioned above you really need to rip everytthing out that was damaged and start over, don't cover up any rotten or moldy wood/drywall. Once everything is ripped out and you get a better look at what your dealing with you can access the damage and start replaceing all the rotten/moldy wood and level things out. Then set the tub and do the plumbing. Then drywall the bathroom, and green board isn't recomended in the shower area. Then you will have a nice new bathroom. Also like mentioned move that fan to the ceiling.

This forum is filled with great people that have been in the same situation as you and are willing to help. Good luck
 
#6 · (Edited)
OK, this is a temporary home located in paradise, nothing in it is level and you understandably don't want to put a lot of money in it. I suggest you do one of two things:

1. Sell it to me

or

2. Replace the shower door with a good shower curtain . Remove the old caulk. Clean up the wall. Patch that little area of water damaged drywall where the tub meets the wall. Patch the holes by the showerhead. Repaint. Recaulk. Leave the fan alone if it discharges outside -it's perfectly safe and you need it to prevent mold (if it doesn't disharge outside make it do so). If those pics are the worst of it I see no big mold problems. Don't worry about the unlevel tub - you will never get it level on that floor. Stick a piece of vinyl base molding across the bottom of the tub to hide the gap.

If you really want a level tub you need to decide if you want to go through the trouble of leveling the bathroom floor which is a really big job and might give you quite an elevation change at the door or do you just want a level tub on an unlevel foor. If you just want a level tub on an unlevel floor then pull it out and reinstall it level on a bed of mortar. You'll still need molding to hide the gap.

What you have is a rustic alaskan cabin. You could spend a fortune fixing it and it would still be cobbled together. Or you could make it liveable while you save your $ for a new modern cabin. I'd do the latter.
 
#8 ·
Leave the fan alone if it discharges outside -it's perfectly safe and you need it to prevent mold (if it doesn't disharge outside make it do so).
You don't know that it's connected to a GFI circuit so how can you say it's "perfectly safe"? It's not supposed to be mounted vertically either.

If those pics are the worst of it I see no big mold problems.
Exactly! Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it isn't there.

I understand about the existing condition of the house and unnecessarily spending money on it. However, making it SAFE for occupancy isn't silly advice at all. :no:
 
#7 ·
If you are going to repipe the entire cabin, PEX would probably be easier and faster. You may want to see if you can rent the crimping tool cheaper than buying it. I am in Arkansas and my area, code wise, seems the same as yours, non-existant. My house was built by a Brick Layer who was really good at brick work. Problem was, he thought he was a Plumber and Electrician. In 4 years I have replaced almost all of the plumbing and had an electricial check out all the wiring. Luckily, I am a plumber so parts were my only cost. Tear-out is the way to go. You can build level framework for the tub to sit on. I used the Densarmor in wet areas for walls. As stated, lots of helpful people here and being able to post pics will get you faster answers, should you run into problems. Good luck.
 
#9 ·
If you start a repair on the drywall, you will most likely find more damage that is not now able to be seen. Covering up mold with a repair is unsafe, and will need to be done again later (after your illness). The fan is just plain wrong. Your place sounds like it could be a really nice retreat so take your time and do the repairs right the first time, even if you need to wait until more money is available.
 
#10 ·
This really isn't going to cost you a fortune to do it right. I agree with the others that the right way to do this would be replace anything rotten/moldy. A couple of sheets of drywall/dens armor and some lumber doesn't cost that much and will get rid of mold problems in the future. instead of covering them up. The fan is wrong, I believe it says right in the fan housing "ceiling mount only", they make special wall mount fans and this does not look like one. You should be able to reuse it in the ceiling if it is working fine. If this was me and the floor isn't that out of level i would just level the bathtub, you want the tub level so it drains right. As for the pex, i would just buy the crimper. It is around 100 bucks and then you have it to make repairs and for your new cabin and you don't have to worry about rushing to finish so you can return the rental.
 
#11 · (Edited)
I did it.

Well I got bawlzy and said what the heck..its only a shower. I'm not gonna get beat down by a shower. I found a hammer and prybar, backed the truck up to the door and started swing'n to some skynard. Get er done!! The mold was nowhere near as bad as it looked to be. Heres some pictures. I sprayed the mold areas with some bleach water and it turned the mold from black to brown. I capped off the water and drain pipes in the crawlspace and took out all the debris as I demo'd it. All went remarkebly smooth. Ya know, that was a realy good energy releaser and pretty damn fun as well!
 

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#14 ·
Looks like a one piece. I don't think you'll be able to get it in the room.


So, as expected, the only mold was a little behind that rotten piece of drywall. Could have just replaced that, cleaned up, painted, recaulked for less than $40. Thought you didn't want to spend a lot on this? Looks like you have to now. LOL
 
#16 · (Edited)
You did the right thing by ripping everything out and fixing the root of the problem and making sure you are getting rid of all the mold. You should be able to come in around your budget.

I would start by replacing the rotten floor so you have a fresh solid surface to work from. Then i would look into replacing the insulation that has mold on it, it won't cost much and then you won't have to worry about the mold ever growing again. Is there any other framing that is rotten/moldy? If so i would try to replace that and re frame your wall you ripped out. Then you can set your tub, you will have to use shims(plastic ones that can't rot) and probably a bed of mortar underneath the tub to support it. Then do your plumbing, drain and supply for the tub. The drain should be fairly easy since it was already there. The supply lines are pretty simple if you are using pex, the only problem is if you don't have the crimper and it's not in your budget. You probably could rent one but that means you are under pressure to return it, do you know anyone you could borrow one from? You will just need to run pex to your diverter. They have a go/no go plate for pex, costs about 5 bucks and it will tell you if your crimp is good or not, rather than find out the hard way. Then you should be able to drywall, i would use dens armor so you don't have any more problems with mold. A little more expensive per sheet but for a project like this you are probably talking about 30-40 bucks difference which is well worth it knowing you won't have anymore mold. Don't forget to wire/install your vent fan in the ceiling and if it's in the shower it will need a gfci protection. Once the drywall is finished you can install your surround and paint and finish your plumbing. I might have forgot a couple of steps but this is a good overview. If you can rip that out in a day you should be able to do this no problem with the help from the guys on here.

As for your budget-You should be able to find a cheap tub/surround combo from Lowe's for around 300-350, diverter for around 100, framing/drywall for around 150, which leaves 200 for plumbing and misc. So you should be right around your budget. good luck

p.s.- another good source for information is youtube, whenever i try something new i will search on there for videos of what i am about to do. Some videos aren't that informative but others will give you an idea of what your about to do.
 
#17 ·
Thanks for the information Ponch! I have good friend who is significantly older than me and has been installing flooring and carpet for a long time. He came over and cut out all the bad spots in the floor and put in a piece of 3/4 inch cdx. I noticed he cut way back to the next floor joist and put the new board 1/2 way over the joist and almost butted it up to the old board that was good. He said this is for three reasons. 1, get rid of ALL mold spores not seen. 2, structural strength 3, he left a small gap between the old and new so they wont rub and squeek. Sounds great to me. He said the floor is almost level and small enough that he suggested I put in the wall and tub, get that all done and than he will come back and remove the toylet and put down a subfloor and put back the toylet than put in a piece of vynal. I will put some pictures of the new underlayment patch later today.

Does any one know if the wall between the bath and sink should be 2x4 or 2x6? It has all the shower plumbing in it but I will not be putting the fan back in.

Again, thanks for all help!
 
#20 ·
Nice! I noticed two layers of sheetrock between the old wall and tub when I took it out. I wonder how you measure for the new wall. The sheetrock is still on the exteror walls and I am still unclear if it needs removed. Its in good shape, greenboard, and has little to no mold. But I havent figured out how the tub goes in....over the sheetrock? under it? I assume the 2 existing walls, the new wall, the old rock and new rock all need to be perfectl or the tub eithor wont fit or will be too small!?!?!
 
#24 · (Edited)
before you do that i would pick out which tub/surround you are going to get and read the manufacturer directions to be sure. I have seen ones that install on top of drywall and ones that screw right to the studs and then the drywall buts up to the surround. It would be best for you to pick your surround out and then read the directions.
 
#25 ·
So I took some very big leaps today. I seem to like this remodeling stuff. I found a nice vanity but wrong color on Craigslist. http://anchorage.craigslist.org/hsh/988921514.html We bought it for $50 and than went to the hardware store and purchased some sanding stuff and paint. Were going to attempt to sand it and paint it perl white. I am also going to put up a mirrored medicine cabinet if I can find a good used one. I put myself on a budget of $250 for puting in a cabinet and vanity. Were only in about $125 and now we own an electric sander when its done.
 

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#26 · (Edited)
A few more pictures... I also went to home depot and found the bath and surround. Its $550 here in Alaska. $389 everywhere else. Note to self, small print reads online prices "SLIGHTLY" higher in Alaska. Seems as if the tub does not come with any plumbing hardware, so that will be another $150 for the drain kit and the hot/cold water lines and connections...Faucets are a wholenother story!!!!!:eek: The cheap ones are $200!!! Sounds like an Ebay find to me.. I am going to rip out a wall between the laundry room and bathroom as well and later I will frame in a door and laundry area adding space to the laundry room and eliminating a corner and adding a real door instead of a sliding sheat of wood. This is fun. Theres a ton of cool stuff I can do all winter inside in the warmth. Anyway, It will be better than when I started.

EDIT 01/18/2009 You can see the size difference between the new vanity and the old one in the first pic.
 

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#27 · (Edited)
Glad your having fun. And in your first post you said "not a lot of skills", looks like you found all sorts of hidden skills. Sounds like you really pay to live in Alaska, hopefully you can find some stuff on ebay so you don't blow your budget to bad.

I just noticed something in your pics. It looks like there is an outlet or junction box behind where your tub goes? If that is a junction box it would be considered in accessible once the tub goes in. I know you said that there is no inspector but if something would ever go bad with the connections in that box you would have to rip your whole tub out to get to it. I would try to find out where those wires come from and re route them so that box is accessible or eliminate that box all together.
 
#28 · (Edited)
So alot has happened in tha e last few days. We sanded, primed and painted the cabinet and splash boards. I knocked out the wall that were roughed in origionaly between the laundry and bath. It will be much bigger now and more usable space. Got down the rest of the sheetrock as well. Lookn great so far.

I came across some real shoty framing in the wall and I see that there was some major piecing together in the original construction. I have some challenges ahead of me in seaming together the two rooms as one.
 

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#31 ·
I've tinkered around in the bathroom the last few days. Nothing realy done though becouse of our weekday schedule. The 4 days off we bolth had got us a good start though and this weekend will be full on work in the bathroom again. Next step is to get out the old sink and vanity. rip out all the rock behind it and start fresh. The new vanity was sanded, primed, painted and seal coated. Its ready to go and I think I found a medicine cabinet at a local junk store that can be restored. I think since I want to wire in a wall light and recepticle that I should do all that and resheetrock the wall first instead of cutting holes and running wires. Theres damage at the bottom the sheetrock anyway and it is on the same wall as the tub.
 
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