Houselopnik: How was your weekend?

"Pixel" (Improbcat) 10/17/2016 at 08:51 • Filed to: None

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I found a small puddle of water on my bathroom floor where there shouldn’t have been any. Chasing the moisture turned into this.

The tub faucet has apparently been leaking, dripping past a terrible past tile installation(plywood instead of backerboard with no sealant at the edge), and running down into the wall.

That horizontal there is a sill beam. I won’t even know how bad it is until I get the tub out, which involves ripping out part of two other walls to free it.

SURPRISE! Major bathroom renovation with structural repairs. Oh, you were already renovating another room, and replacing badly rotted windows before the winter? Tough luck!

Jarrett - [BRZ Boi] > Pixel 10/17/2016 at 08:56

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This is why I refuse to open any walls in my 75 year old home.

Ignorance is bliss!

OPPOsaurus WRX > Pixel 10/17/2016 at 09:00

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that is top level suck. if you have any clue what your doing, its not as bad as it sounds.

I dunno if you know what your doing or not but step one would be stuffing a 2x4 in there to support the unsupported area. you should be able to cut 3' or so of the sill out without having anything collapse. Be aware of whats above you, if there is a beam or post in the wall above thats bearing bath goes thru that area, probably unlikely. I’d probably only cut the rotted wood off at the bottom and sister the new studs to them so that the nails holding the sheathing on can still be attached to something.

also haha horse hair sux, how do I know?

S65 > OPPOsaurus WRX 10/17/2016 at 09:10

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Horse hair?

Nibby > Pixel 10/17/2016 at 09:14

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This is unfortunate. Sorry man.

KatzManDu > Pixel 10/17/2016 at 09:14

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Oh, that sucks, and I’ve been there. I need to dig out photos but you have all my sympathy.

Beware of mold. Anything that is black or brown, cut it out while you can. All that rot needs to be cut out, too.

With the area that is gone you can at least get some treated green backerboard to go in to replace it. You may want to look at gutting any piping, too. Although you look good with the copper. I had cast-iron drain pipes that rusted shut.

TheRealBicycleBuck > Pixel 10/17/2016 at 09:14

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Bummer. Since the flood, we have seen a lot of these “discoveries” as the wall coverings are ripped off. The up side has been a lot of “opportunities” to reroute plumbing, reconfigure walls, and upgrade fixtures, wall coverings, cabinets/etc.

Pixel > OPPOsaurus WRX 10/17/2016 at 09:16

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Fortunately the back half of the studs are still there and resting on the back half of the beam. Not sure how much structure is there, but it looks supported enough for me to pretend. As soon as I move the tub & rip out the floor I’m going to got down to the floor of the crawl space and support it from there.

The sill beam is at least a true 4x6, possible 4x10 (1895 house), so what I’m hoping is that I can only carve out the damaged section and leave some of the original sill there intact, then sister to it with pressure-treated and build back up from there. I’m sistering studs instead of replacement whenever possible, as ripping modern “2x6" studs to a true 4" to match the existing stud width sucks.

I’m also putting in a modern shower unit and getting rid of the tile in the shower.

OPPOsaurus WRX > S65 10/17/2016 at 09:16

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Yep, they used to mix horse hair into plaster for additional strength. think of it like rebar in concrete. The horse hair is gross but the real issue is that type of plaster turns to a superfine dust and goes everywhere. EVERYWHERE. E V E R Y W H E R E ! ! !

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > S65 10/17/2016 at 09:17

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Horse hair used to be used as an additive for some plasters, but also for insulation. From his pic (a pile of broken lath from lath and plaster), I’d assume the former. The plaster itself in that case is lime-based, so is really pasty, nasty, crumbly stuff.

OPPOsaurus WRX > Pixel 10/17/2016 at 09:18

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sounds like you know what your doing. My house was also not made of modern “2x4's” insanely annoying

Pixel > S65 10/17/2016 at 09:20

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In old houses they would finish the walls by nailing narrow “furring strips” to the wall with gaps in between. Then they would mix plaster with actual horse hair to give it extra strength, and spread that on the furring strips. This is known as “Horse hair plaster” or just “Horse hair” to those who have had to deal with it.

When it crumbles, or when you have to remove it you have tones of plaster with hairs in it and is a big nasty mess.

shop-teacher > Pixel 10/17/2016 at 09:22

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From what I can see in the pictures, your plan should work fine. I’d used pressure treated for everything in there, better safe than sorry.

RamblinRover Luxury-Yacht > Pixel 10/17/2016 at 09:22

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I did do a house repairy thing over the weekend, but that was just replacing a kitchen sink drain cross-pipe. Deeper sink than originally intended, drain in wall too high for big enough drops to hook up a dishwasher drain, and previous “clever” solution had started leaking. Made a better one, installed.

shop-teacher > Pixel 10/17/2016 at 09:22

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UGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

The joys of home ownership.

Pixel > OPPOsaurus WRX 10/17/2016 at 09:22

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My late father did home remodeling for a while, and once I was old enough I was his assistant for every job around the house as well as for building our weekend cottage.

So I’ve learned enough to think I know what I’m doing. Which gives me the confidence to go and figure out the stuff I’m not sure on.

Pixel > KatzManDu 10/17/2016 at 09:25

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Yeah, there will be a lot of ripping out and a lot of bleach spraying in here. Mold is no joke.

Since I have to go down to the floor joists in this area, I’m putting in a whole modern shower unit, so at that point I’m going to sledge out all the iron drain pipe to run PVC, and will have to re-do some/all of the copper.

rockingthe2 > Pixel 10/17/2016 at 09:26

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Kinda like figuring out why you have a rotten joist in the crawlspace. House wasn’t built with pressure treated faceboard, deck was, no moisture barrier between the two. Termites didn’t help.

Pixel > rockingthe2 10/17/2016 at 09:28

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Ugh. That looks like no fun at all.

rockingthe2 > Pixel 10/17/2016 at 09:34

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I would be having so much fun if:

This wasn’t my house

I was getting paid

I wasn’t spending hundreds of dollars fixing it

Other than that I’m using hammers and power tools to tear things apart. Doesn’t get a whole lot better. The suck comes when I jack the house up 1/8th inch and start replacing boards. All structural too. Not that these were doing any good.

Chris Clarke > Pixel 10/17/2016 at 09:38

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I kinda have some idea how that feels.

KatzManDu > Pixel 10/17/2016 at 09:46

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A sawzall with a metal blade will be your friend for chopping the iron drain pipe into chunks that are easy to carry (especially if you wind up having to get rid of the pipe from the bottom of the toilet.) It’s like a hot knife through butter.

Pixel > Chris Clarke 10/17/2016 at 09:58

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Daammmmmnnnnnnn.....

That is next-level suck right there.

Tapas > Chris Clarke 10/17/2016 at 11:24

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Fuck me. This is the human equivalent of your situation....

Tripper > Pixel 10/17/2016 at 11:39

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Dayum. I also did some plumbing this weekend (installed a garbage disposal). I learned that plumbing is not even close to an exact science. I also diagnosed and fixed the doorbell which was more difficult than the garbage disposal believe it or not. Cut the grass, blew off the leaves, washed the car...Homeowners Unite!!

arl > Pixel 10/17/2016 at 11:51

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Yea, I have a bathroom to remodel (in my spare time lol,) and I’ve avoided it so far. It’s both a blessing and a curse when you can do your own construction work.

Good luck on the remodel - hopefully you won’t find anything else hiding in the walls.

rockingthe2 > Pixel 10/18/2016 at 08:42

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Dude, as a person who has “been there, done that” screw PVC and copper piping. Use PEX tubing. You can scrap the copper piping for the cost of the PEX basically. It’s cheaper, easier, less chance of leaks etc... It’s awesome for basic plumbing.

Pixel > rockingthe2 10/18/2016 at 08:51

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I just re-did my basement this spring in copper. New cost & scrap value of copper has dropped enough the “scrap it for the cost of pex” is not longer the case, especially once the manifold cost is factored in.