"Mike Hollmmes" wrote

| So my question is: how do I bridge the gap where the new wall thickness
of the shower does not meet up consistently with the thickness of the walls
that meet it? drywall compound and a lot of feather and sanding to try to
build up the low parts of the wall to meet up with the shower? Help!
|
| Would you want to buy a house that had a bathroom remodel hack like that?
|

I'm guessing you live on the West Coast.
Where I am in Boston, most houses are 80+
years old. The house I live in was built in 1835.
Unless the building is gutted down to framing,
various "hacks" are done over the years to deal
with aging plaster and partial remodelling, to
fix cracks in old horsehair plaster, affix loose
plaster, and blend in new drywall with existing
walls.

There's nothing hack about leveling walls.
The wall described is made of drywall. Soft gypsum
composite wrapped in paper. That in itself is
arguably a hack. A layer of setting-type compound
over that makes it stronger, not weaker.

Without seeing the actual job and knowing
the budget you really have no basis for a
judgement.

It's an interesting issue. Much of what goes on
in construction these days could be called hack.
Vinyl disposable windows. Hollow doors made of
masonite. Crap flooring made of plywood with a
thin wood veneer. Veneer "bricks" for exterior. Walls
made of gypsum composite and paper. Cabinets
made of particle board. Sheathing made of flakeboard
that has no structural strength and may disintegrate
in a few years if the glue breaks down. (And if it does
we'll all say, "Who could have seen that coming?".
Everyone should see that coming. It's idiotic. No
one saw it coming that sprayfoam insulation would
offgas formaldehyde and eventually turn to useless
powder. Why not? And now we have new, improved
sprayfoam insulation. They use it on This Old House.
This time it's really good.... I bet.)

I'm looking at a job now where floor tiling was done
over the new-ish plastic waffle sheeting. The tilers
didn't fully fill in the waffle holes with thinset and
now the grout is coming out, after less than one year.
The idea of ceramic tile over a plastic sheet is about
as hack as one can get, yet it's now considered to
be cutting edge technology. In a world where construction
is meant to be disposable, and the next homeowner will
be ripping the whole thing out, anyway, I guess maybe it
is cutting edge.

I once lived in Tucson for a time, where cold
weather and dampness are not a problem. Their idea
of siding on new construction was to attach wire
mesh to plywood sheathing and put veneer stucco
over that. Instant regional/ethnic atmosphere. Then
the stucco cracks later. But at least they had real
sheathing. Maybe they can come up with a better
covering, like sandstone-themed contact paper.

All of the things I've listed are widely considered
to be adequate building practices. They're all hacks.
Leveling plaster is not a hack.