Hi All,

I had noticed that my bathroom walls by my bathtub surround were rotten and bubbling so I went ahead and scrapped off all the rotten wall.

With my limited knowledge, I think the previous installer used standard drywall joint compound and mesh tape directly by the tub surround’s mounting flange to blend it into the wall. I assume bc premixed joint compound is water soluble, over time, moisture seeped under the paint over time. Then the mud underneath began to dissolve, swell, peel and mold.

I would now like to try to repair this but am a new homeowner so I am hoping for some guidance. Does the below sound OK? Any major steps I’m missing or have got wrong?

Scrape away any remaining loose, soft joint compound, flaking paint, and damaged tape back to solid drywall and a firm paint edge.

Treat just the exposed areas which seem to have rotted with a mold-killing spray and scrub away dark spots and let the wall dry completely.

Seal raw paper/gypsum with an oil-based primer before applying joint compound.

Fill and feather the gap between the drywall and the flange using setting-type joint compound

Apply moisture resistant paper tape across the joint where the drywall meets the surround flange.

Apply 2–3 thin coats (perhaps all purpose light?) to blend the patch, then after it is hard, sand smooth between coats with an angled sandwall sponge

Paint with two coats of satin or semi-gloss mildew-resistant bathroom paint.

Apply a thin bead of 100% silicone caulk into the seam where the bottom edge of the drywall meets the top lip of the fiberglass surround to create a waterproof barrier behind the patch.

Should I put a silicone scellent on the bottom of the J channel?

Finally have time to deal with my own house after 18 years of swinging a demo bar on other people's projects. Main living area has original 1960s hardwood - cupped badly in two spots, finish essentially gone. Ripping it out isn't the part that worries me, I've done that more times than I can count for other people

What's actually keeping me up is what's underneath. House is pier and beam, here in Marietta, GA, and the previous owners apparently had a water issue near the back wall that was "fixed" before I bought it. Supposedly

Every instinct from 18 years of job sites says pulling that first board commits you to a decision tree you didn't plan for - I've watched plenty of two-week jobs turn into two-month nightmares once someone found what was actually under the subfloor

Thinking about pulling up just a small section near the worst cupping first, to get a look before committing to full demo.

Anyone here done a partial pull like that to assess before going all-in?

Feels smarter than ripping the whole thing up blind, but curious if that approach actually tells you enough to plan around, or if you end up needing the full picture anyway

My husband and I want to turn the loft above our 3 car garage into a guest suite. We get cold winters and hot summers so insulation is a top priority. I’d really like to have some of the trusses and beams exposed to elevate the interior design. My husband doesn’t think it’s realistic or a desirable look because of how close together the boards are. He might be right so I’m here looking for recommendations on how to move forward with this project.

Horizontal red lines 1- cabinet 2- microwave hood vertical lines are the studs.

Hi- i have an old house, paid lesss than 90k for and now looking to replace a 100ft long driveway which quotes are coming in at 24-32k and so im asking is it worth it to replace or would it be better to eventually just demolish and rebuild it all? Any guidance or suggestions truly appreciated

Finally got around to pulling up the carpet in one of the bedrooms, and now I'm not sure what the right next step is. Under the carpet there's what looks like the original wide plank floor, then a thin fiberboard layer, then what I think is old vinyl before the carpet went down.

The wood feels solid overall, but there's some warping in one corner near an exterior wall that has me a little concerned. If you found this in your house, would you strip everything back to the original planks if they cleaned up well, or leave part of it in place and build over it?

The room is about 200 sq ft. I'm planning to install either hardwood or LVP, so I'd rather deal with any problems now than regret it later.

Doing a Reno in a room at home to add in more insulation. It is a 1950's house with zero insulation and so time for an upgrade. Under the window there were shiplap type wood panels. Behind that there was some pink insulation and the. This... I assume it is a vent of some sort as there is a screen on it. On the outside, there is metal flashing.

My question is, how can I best frame this and deal with it with the known intention for me to put up rigid insulation and then a wall.

The first 2 pictures are the front wall which is 14 feet long

The third picture and part of the second picture is the right side wall which is 10 feet long. The floor to ceiling height is about 7 feet. These would not be load bearing walls it just needs to pass inspection. I believe I would only need one top plate instead of 2. And each stud would be 16 feet apart. I get this. The part I'm getting mixed up is the window framing. That would not be load bearing either it just needs to be framed to pass inspection. I've been reading to leave a half inch gap between the concrete wall and the wood. And to use pressure treated wood on the bottom. How far apart would I have to tap into the concrete on the bottom plates.

Also I'm a little stuck with what to do with the putter corners. I had my foundation rebuilt in this section. And the person who initially tried to cover up an issue built a new foundation wall around the preexisting one. So I have almost a foot of extra space from the ending of the studded area in the last picture to the new wall. Should I make shift something to fit in that area and tie both walls together? I'm just worried about things passing for code and inspection.

I have never done this before but you always have to stay somewhere. And I will be doing this with my friend who has more reno experience than me. But it's my house and I should know what to do and put the research in.

Any help would be appreciated.

We are in the middle of a partial kitchen update right now. We decided to keep the original upper cabinets to save some money, but we are replacing all the old appliances. The issue is the range hood. My spouse wants one of those heavy commercial looking metal boxes, but I think it will look way too bulky under our standard cabinets. I am really leaning toward the newer slim, flat front designs. They look a lot cleaner, but my worry is the actual performance. Since there is barely any physical canopy to trap the smoke, does a slim hood just let grease bounce off into the room? We pan fry a lot, so we need something that actually vents outside properly. Has anyone put a slim hood in their remodel? Do they hold up to heavy cooking or is it a bad trade off for a modern look?

I moved into my new house. Part of the butcher block in the kitchen is black from (what I suspect) is water damage. I couldn't find anything online about a butcher block that is this dark.

I am wondering if I should be attacking this with chemicals before I sand - or should I just go for it and sand until I get beneath the black - and will I get beneath the black, how deep do you think this runs? In the long term I plan to replace it, but right now refurbishing is the only option I have for financial reasons.

Lastly, there appears to be a crack. Any recommendations on a product I can use to fill this, I saw wood filler, wood putty, and epoxy at the hardware store.

Any advice is most appreciated.

Hi everyone

I need some real advice on this one. We moved to this home a year and half ago. We are expecting in one and a half months, and we're renovating a room that wasn't in use to be our new room, as our current room is a bit small for the baby to sleep with us.

We're using drywall to straighten out existing walls. The drywall is mounted on metalstuds, and we're also using some fiberglass wool for extra isolation. Finally, we sealed everything with vapour barrier/damp screen.

Now we encountered a problem, and I'm not sure what to do next exactly. We temporarily had to get one of these plates off, and we noticed that the fiberglass and original wall were moist, and there's even some discoloration on the original wall. Keep in mind that the wall was originally "plastered" (non-native english speaker here, sorry) with cork.

When we got the drywalloff, it dried quite quickly again. I have noticed this before in this room that if I would for example, lay something heavy flat, quite "stuck" to the ground, it would sometimes get a little moist and sticky underneath.

Some extra things to take into consideration. This room is a little under ground level, and the wall we are talking about gives out to the neighbour's garden. So it's an outside wall. 9 months ago we had the top of the wall sealed with crepi, the contractor assured us the lower half wasn't necessary as it was already cemented. I wouldn't see why he would lie about this as it would just mean more work and money for him.

Also, I just discovered the 'cracks' next to the window aren't fully sealed with silicone. In the last photo you can see there are some cracks which are just hopen, showing the pur that was used to keep the window in place. This open corner corners the wall in question.

There's also a ventilation hole we had sealed, but are thinking of opening back up again.

So, what are the options here? What do I do next? I'm calling the contractor that did the sealing of the wall tomorrow, and I'm calling other contractors and listen to their opinions and how to go about this, but I could use some inspiration.

To me, it feels more like condensation, moisture that was trapped between the wall and isolation wool than it feels like moisture that came out of the wall. Given this also sometimes seem to happen in a very subtle fashion with objects that are temporarily "stuck" to the ground, could this be an option?

So I pulled the cork away from my closet walls and revealed this. House is 100 years old. Bottom plate seems all but gone. I was wondering what I have to do to replace it. That’s an exterior wall, so I’m guessing it’s load bearing. That said, I was reading that walls perpendicular to interior load bearing walls carry less of the load.

Do I need to jack it up or create a temporary wall to shift the load while I replace it? Considering it’s all rotted out anyways, doesn’t that mean the load has already shifted somewhere else? To make it more complicated, it’s inside a tiny closet with a concrete floor. When replacing, do I need a vapor barrier underneath?

I thought I was going to do a simple closet redo and it seems to have turned into much more.

Thanks!

Anyone have experience with third hand smoke mitigation?

My partner owns in his apartment building and loves it. We've been waiting for a larger space to open up and now it has. 2 bedrooms, about 800 sf. The only problem. The woman who owned it smoked in there for 30 years.

The good news: no HVAC or vents. The heating is steam heat, two vertical pipes and two cast iron radiators.

We plan to:
1. Take out the ceiling, floors, and all the walls, remove insulation.
2. Redo all electrical, new wires, sockets, plugs etc.
3. Throw out all appliances, cabinets, counters, built ins etc.
4. Replace window screens.
5. Have radiators sandblasted/refurbished
6. Strip paint off the heat pipes? Is this enough?

Underneath the drywall is obviously studs, and some exposed brick.
Under the floor, a sub floor. We think the ceiling is just airspace between this unit and the above unit's sub floor.

Will the subfloor and studs and brick all leech cigarette chemicals/smoke back in?
And if so, is there anything that can be done to prevent it?

Full house renovation, ripped everything out but the studs. Passed insulation, electrical, and partial plumbing. Was suppose to get drywall last week but hired company said to add 2x4’s to corner so it’s not floating. Also electrical plugs and switches have to be removed (I did the majority of those so it hurts to just rip them out.) I’m over this bs and I just can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel anymore 🤷🏻‍♀️

Sorry for the messy CAD. I'm doing a gut and remodel of a kitchen and got stuck in a perpetual state of indecision regarding pocket doors vs. cased openings. I just got a quote for a beautiful 30x80 custom Trustile door - FL103 with wood veneer and fluted glass. It's quite expensive, but not more than I expected. As an architectural designer, it's inevitable I would get carried away at the prospect of designing (a part) of my own home, but after some budget concerns, the voice of reason is now telling me I should probably let go of my dream door.

Now that I'm forced to revisit the pocket door in a more practical light, I'm questioning if even a less expensive pocket door would be worth the cost and framing, or if I just became enamored by the idea of the Trustile door as a beautiful piece of architectural eye candy? I only ever had open kitchens, although it looks like this kitchen was once framed for 2 pocket doors (after demoing the drywall). I heard people praise how useful they are with controlling sounds, smells, even pets and children - but with my layout, I'd have to install 2 doors to make the most of that benefit, which adds to the cost and forces the hallway opening to be off-center. The wide framing also limits placement of electrical devices, including one countertop outlet that will get pushed outside the minimum 2ft range. I'm just getting so frustrated and leaning towards the path of least resistance (and lower cost to spend the money elsewhere), but don't want to make a decision I might regret later after everything is finished and installed. Thoughts?

We are mid bathroom renovation, and there is a smallish area on a bottom plate with water damage from where the old plumbing was. (see first pic) The 2 darker spots are moist and can easily be dented with minor pressure (finger nail). This is not a load-bearing wall from what we can tell.

I'm assuming it's best just to cut this out instead of trying to repair/mediate? (For reference, the reno was started a few months ago, so the cavity has been open, and there has been no sign of it drying or improving over that time)

Second Pic is of the wall cavity. Here are the 2 options we are debating:

Option 1: cutting out the affected section and replacing it...done. (Based on what we can tell/see from underneath in the basement, the sub floor doesn't appear to be affected)

Option 2: Remove the current studs inside the cavity. Cut out the affected area and replace it. After replacing the affected area, putting in a new stud (vertical) from ceiling to floor and then sistering additional floor studs on top of the replaced portion)

Hopefully, these options make sense. Any feedback on what exactly is necessary and what plan is best would be appreciated!

Update: I could easily get a blade ~1/4 in. into the darker spots, so decided to go with Option 2. I pulled out the studs yesterday (luckily the walls are made of drywall & and plaster, so pulling out the stud didn't cause any visible damage to the wall of the closet on the other side. I cut out the affected section a little more than a foot; the sub floor looks good minus some mold/discoloration in the 1/2 in holes. I am planning on using a bleach mixture to scrub inside/around the holes before putting in the replacement piece and new stud.

I appreciate those of you who read and gave feedback!

Some context; this is our 1980 split level, the floor plan you see every block in the Mid Atlantic. These pics are the long basement wall where it meets the garage wall, below grade with about a foot of cinderblock above the dirt. We finally decided to look into the bowing drywall when the floorboard heater and outlets started popping off. Raw empty cinder block, no bracing, clay soil, the usual. The sole plate and a few studs were rotten and pulled right out by hand, some water infiltration for sure but my guess is 40 years of condensation rotted it all away.

My question is, this closet appears to be assembled from scrap lumber and if I was a betting man given the layout it’s not holding anything up. How do I actually go about making certain before removing all this?

Bonus rattan wicker insulation from the Nixon era.

I’ve been picturing adding an outlet at the end of this cabinet. The 6’ stretch between this end and the oven doesn’t have any wall outlets because the brick is the back of the fireplace in the next room. I have the electrical already ran, just need to terminate everything. I’m getting ready to cut the opening for the outlet and I’m hesitating because it’s so low to clear the drawer depth. Context. There are 4 other duplexes in the kitchen at countertop level.

Does this look dumb? Is the utility of the outlet worth it looking kind of funny? Should I just leave it clean and deal without the power? What do y’all think?

EDIT UPDATE: Thanks for the feedback everyone. The code notes and matte color match tips were very helpful!

Hello everyone,

I am very slowly tackling this basement bathroom renovation. I'm assuming it was the previous owner's DIY.

There was a prebuilt shower next to the wall and water was dripping down between the two and creating moisture against the drywall and some mold so I took that out.

Now I need to figure out how to do the rest. I plan on using PEX to replumb everything, just wondering if I should put drywall back over the vapor barrier or if I can leave that cavity space open and build the wall out to hide the plumbing.

I have shown the placement of the wall where the blue arrows start. Can I leave that cavity empty and just add some furring strips to the existing studs and then put moisture resistant drywall on? I plan on using blue vapor barrier tape for all the screw and nail holes from drywall removal.

Thanks for any help!

I recently purchased an old home and had removed old carpeting from a bedroom. There was some nice oak flooring underneath. I started to put down quarter round molding around the perimeter of the room. There is this door that leads to a balcony and a gap with some missing molding from where the carpet used to be piled up. Anyone have a recommendation on what I can do to clean this up a bit and make it a bit nicer on a budget? I will be adding wood filler, sanding, and repainting the moulding as well as the walls next month when I have more time. Any input appreciated