Looking for a quick'n'dirty solution here-

Situation- 1960 cookie cutter, typical 5x9 bath. Sitting on the throne
yesterday, look down and notice a vertical crack in the wall facing me,
very close to the outside corner where it abuts the mud-bed tile job
around the tub, down at the bottom near the floor. Start poking around
with a fingernail, and determine that the lower edge and corner there
has gotten wet and soft under the paint, either wicking up from floor,
or from overspray soaking through defects in the grout and edge caulking.

I can switch to the other bathroom for a week while this drys out. And
yes, I know the proper repair is to remove all the mushy stuff and build
back with new. However, the entire bathroom really needs fresh drywall
due to 'redecorating' done by previous owner, which consisted of
mechanically scraping off wallpaper and painting over. (Sort of looks
like knock-down textured plaster.) And if I'm dong that, may as well
replace fixtures and vanity, etc. In short, it needs a gut job, which
simply ain't in the budget this year (money or ambition wise). Maybe
next year. (I'll probably hire it out, other than maybe doing the demo
myself- my drywall skills are sub-par, I've never done tile, and I don't
have the tools for plumbing.)

So, I really don't want to open this wall any more than I have to, right
now. What is the best material for a spot repair, after raking out the
loose particles from the crack with an awl? Vinyl spackling compound?
And what is the best thing to coat the grout lines in the area with, to
keep water from seeping through? A thin layer of tub caulk is all that
came to mind for that one. Don't care if it looks perfect, just so it
doesn't look hideous, as long as it will limit further damage until I
can afford to have the whole room redone.

--
aem sends....

On Jun 28, 9:42*am, aemeijers wrote:
Looking for a quick'n'dirty solution here-

Situation- 1960 cookie cutter, typical 5x9 bath. Sitting on the throne
yesterday, look down and notice a vertical crack in the wall facing me,
very close to the outside corner where it abuts the mud-bed tile job
around the tub, down at the bottom near the floor. Start poking around
with a fingernail, and determine that *the lower edge and corner there
has gotten wet and soft under the paint, either wicking up from floor,
or from overspray soaking through defects in the grout and edge caulking.

I can switch to the other bathroom for a week while this drys out. And
yes, I know the proper repair is to remove all the mushy stuff and build
back with new. However, the entire bathroom really needs fresh drywall
due to 'redecorating' done by previous owner, which consisted of
mechanically scraping off wallpaper and painting over. (Sort of looks
like knock-down textured plaster.) And if I'm dong that, may as well
replace fixtures and vanity, etc. In short, it needs a gut job, which
simply ain't in the budget this year (money or ambition wise). Maybe
next year. (I'll probably hire it out, other than maybe doing the demo
myself- my drywall skills are sub-par, I've never done tile, and I don't
have the tools for plumbing.)

So, I really don't want to open this wall any more than I have to, right
now. What is the best material for a spot repair, after raking out the
loose particles from the crack with an awl? Vinyl spackling compound?

I'd let it dry out, then use that or regular drywall mud.


And what is the best thing to coat the grout lines in the area with, to
keep water from seeping through?

Unless it looks bad for some other reason, I'd just figure out where
the water is coming from that caused the problem and eliminate it.
Make sure no new water gets to it. pools there, etc and you should be
OK till rebuild in another year or so without screwing around with the
grout.




A thin layer of tub caulk is all that
came to mind for that one. Don't care if it looks perfect, just so it
doesn't look hideous, as long as it will limit further damage until I
can afford to have the whole room redone.

--
aem sends....

aemeijers wrote:

Looking for a quick'n'dirty solution here-

Situation- 1960 cookie cutter, typical 5x9 bath. Sitting on the throne
yesterday, look down and notice a vertical crack in the wall facing me,
very close to the outside corner where it abuts the mud-bed tile job
around the tub, down at the bottom near the floor. Start poking around
with a fingernail, and determine that the lower edge and corner there
has gotten wet and soft under the paint, either wicking up from floor,
or from overspray soaking through defects in the grout and edge caulking.

I can switch to the other bathroom for a week while this drys out. And
yes, I know the proper repair is to remove all the mushy stuff and build
back with new. However, the entire bathroom really needs fresh drywall
due to 'redecorating' done by previous owner, which consisted of
mechanically scraping off wallpaper and painting over. (Sort of looks
like knock-down textured plaster.) And if I'm dong that, may as well
replace fixtures and vanity, etc. In short, it needs a gut job, which
simply ain't in the budget this year (money or ambition wise). Maybe
next year. (I'll probably hire it out, other than maybe doing the demo
myself- my drywall skills are sub-par, I've never done tile, and I don't
have the tools for plumbing.)

So, I really don't want to open this wall any more than I have to, right
now. What is the best material for a spot repair, after raking out the
loose particles from the crack with an awl?

I see this a lot. Since you just want a temporary cosmetic fix, use
wallboard compound. Get "hot mud" that cures in 20 minutes. Scrape out the
damage, fill it in with mud, sand it, paint it. If you have to, cut out a
section and patch in new wallboard.

Vinyl spackling compound?
And what is the best thing to coat the grout lines in the area with, to
keep water from seeping through? A thin layer of tub caulk is all that
came to mind for that one. Don't care if it looks perfect, just so it
doesn't look hideous, as long as it will limit further damage until I
can afford to have the whole room redone.

It's probably leaking at the bottom caulk joint, especially if it's grout
instead of caulk. Use a utility knife and a putty knife to remove the
existing caulk/grout. Clean with bleach, then water, then denatured
alcohol. Put in a new bead of caulk.

You may have splashing around the curtain. A buddy had me in to look at
his tub that leaked through the downstairs ceiling. A plumber found no
problems. I recaulked, but the problem persisted. We finally determined
that it would be better to use the caulk gun to smack the son upside the
head to get him to stop splashing water outside the tub. "What am I gonna
do--he's a teenager?", my buddy said. Gee, where do I start?

There are plenty of grout sealers made for the job if you determine that
that's the problem.

--
Steve Bell
New Life Home Improvement
Arlington, TX

"SteveB" wrote in
:

aemeijers wrote:

Looking for a quick'n'dirty solution here-

Situation- 1960 cookie cutter, typical 5x9 bath. Sitting on the
throne yesterday, look down and notice a vertical crack in the wall
facing me, very close to the outside corner where it abuts the
mud-bed tile job around the tub, down at the bottom near the floor.
Start poking around with a fingernail, and determine that the lower
edge and corner there has gotten wet and soft under the paint, either
wicking up from floor, or from overspray soaking through defects in
the grout and edge caulking.

I can switch to the other bathroom for a week while this drys out.
And yes, I know the proper repair is to remove all the mushy stuff
and build back with new. However, the entire bathroom really needs
fresh drywall due to 'redecorating' done by previous owner, which
consisted of mechanically scraping off wallpaper and painting over.
(Sort of looks like knock-down textured plaster.) And if I'm dong
that, may as well replace fixtures and vanity, etc. In short, it
needs a gut job, which simply ain't in the budget this year (money or
ambition wise). Maybe next year. (I'll probably hire it out, other
than maybe doing the demo myself- my drywall skills are sub-par, I've
never done tile, and I don't have the tools for plumbing.)

So, I really don't want to open this wall any more than I have to,
right now. What is the best material for a spot repair, after raking
out the loose particles from the crack with an awl?

I see this a lot. Since you just want a temporary cosmetic fix, use
wallboard compound. Get "hot mud" that cures in 20 minutes. Scrape out
the damage, fill it in with mud, sand it, paint it. If you have to,
cut out a section and patch in new wallboard.

Vinyl spackling compound?
And what is the best thing to coat the grout lines in the area with,
to keep water from seeping through? A thin layer of tub caulk is all
that came to mind for that one. Don't care if it looks perfect, just
so it doesn't look hideous, as long as it will limit further damage
until I can afford to have the whole room redone.

It's probably leaking at the bottom caulk joint, especially if it's
grout instead of caulk. Use a utility knife and a putty knife to
remove the existing caulk/grout. Clean with bleach, then water, then
denatured alcohol. Put in a new bead of caulk.

You may have splashing around the curtain. A buddy had me in to look
at his tub that leaked through the downstairs ceiling. A plumber found
no problems. I recaulked, but the problem persisted. We finally
determined that it would be better to use the caulk gun to smack the
son upside the head to get him to stop splashing water outside the
tub. "What am I gonna do--he's a teenager?", my buddy said. Gee, where
do I start?

There are plenty of grout sealers made for the job if you determine
that that's the problem.



Get "hot mud" that cures in 20 minutes. Scrape out
the damage, fill it in with mud, sand it,

I think you should mention that "hot mud" as you call it does not sand
well like regular mud. It's hard as a rock the stuff I've seen anyway.


http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/i...lcompound.html

"Quick set (Hot Mud): This comes in bags. It's powder that you mix
with water. Ranges in drying time from 5 minutes to 210 minutes. Be
careful, once it starts setting up, there's no stopping it, and it is
very hard to sand."

Red Green wrote:

Get "hot mud" that cures in 20 minutes. Scrape out
the damage, fill it in with mud, sand it,

I think you should mention that "hot mud" as you call it does not sand
well like regular mud. It's hard as a rock the stuff I've seen anyway.


http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/i...lcompound.html

"Quick set (Hot Mud): This comes in bags. It's powder that you mix
with water. Ranges in drying time from 5 minutes to 210 minutes. Be
careful, once it starts setting up, there's no stopping it, and it is
very hard to sand."

I guess different brands have different characteristics. I've been using
"Sheetrock" brand, and it sands just fine. Of course, I'm a handyman, so I
only use it for small repairs, then use an electric sander.

--
Steve Bell
New Life Home Improvement
Arlington, TX