My bathroom repair project

[Zanne]

Thanks. I'd probably still be crawling under the house doing stuff if my fat behind would fit. I used to play under the house as a kid. No fear of snakes, spiders or critters. My brother and I enjoyed crawling around under there exploring. It was nice and cool under there on hot summer days. Found some weird stuff under there. I think somewhere we still have a plate I found that was white with some sort of blue pattern on it. It wasn't as easy to crawl under there as an adult, but when we first moved back I was still skinny enough to fit through most of the places. So, dad had me crawling under there dragging pipes, phoneline cable, etc. Although at one point I was near the fireplace dragging the phoneline from the front of the house to the back when I crawled under an old metal pipe. Front half of me made it but my butt got stuck. My dad found it hilarious. I did too once I got unstuck. Fortunately I was able to put my foot on the fireplace bricks (they went all the way to the ground) and push myself loose. Now that I've put on another 70lbs I can't even get the front of me under those same pipes. LOL.

Right now I'm trying to figure out the best thing to do with the boards behind the plastic. I'm debating whether I should try to clean them up any-- maybe take the shopvac and vacuum up anything loose. Someone suggested putting bondo over them. The ones at the top have more damage and are weaker. So I was thinking of trying to make them stronger somehow or reinforce them. Maybe cover them in Killz... My concern is if I do too much scraping or something they might fall apart more.

I suppose vacuuming wouldn't hurt if it got off loose dirt. There are two holes on the left side that I will fill with great stuff to keep bugs and mice from crawling through and chewing the plastic.
These are the pics I took:
You can somewhat see the condition of the boards behind the plastic.

Any suggestions?

 

[BlueSkyHigh]

In an ideal world, damaged wood should be replaced.

 

[Zanne]

Yeah, unfortunately it would be way too costly and difficult. I know this is basically putting lipstick on a pig. LOL.
I had some people insisting that I have to remove the tub. That sucker is not moving. We can't get it to budge. It's above the floor drain I believe. I can cut a hole in the wall in the closet to get a better look-- need to do that to remove the overflow and replace it with a direct drain, but that is happening later when we are working on more of the DWV system. Might have to be done sooner if the tub has trouble draining, but we'll cross that road when we get to it. That is something where I might try to see if the jerk plumber will come out.

My current revised plan with the surround is to run the cementboard only as far as the surround. I'll use the PVC L-bead trim along the edge (after sealing the cut edge with aquadefense. The bead adds a 1/8" gap between the cementboard and the PVC board that I will use as trim. PVC board will cover all of the gaps on sides and top of the cementboard and surround. So no cementboard will be exposed. I'll be running a trim piece over the printed plywood panels on the corner so the solid white piece will cover some ugly exposed edge of the wood-- it will go to the ceiling.

 

[havasu]

Is that termite infested boards?

 

[Zanne]

I think there may have been termites at one point but there are no signs of active termites and looking closer I think its old adhesive from gluing the plywood panel in front of it up. I know we had the place sprayed for termites when we first moved in and we also had it sprayed again when we moved back. We haven't seen any sign of them since.
Despite the looks, when pushing on the boards, poking at them, and hitting them with a hammer-- they are pretty solid.
The ones at the very top are a little softer than the ones lower down, but we will be only be screwing through studs rather than just those boards.

 

[Zanne]

I took havasu's advice and started tearing the boards off. Found a rotted stud:


New plan (after checking prices for various options) is to use furring strips and shims. I need to get the strips plumb. The walls bow away at the top just a tad-- I can see its a little off on the bubble in the level, and it was very obvious when the cementboard was put in place and the gaps got wider at the top sides. I'll have to get more pictures later. I'm going to empty the kitchen trash and borrow the trash can from there to load up the wood debris.

 

[BlueSkyHigh]

That rotted stud does look like the bugs had a go at it but I could be wrong.

 

[Zanne]

Oh yeah, the termites ate it up. Fortunately, there is a stud next to it that is intact. I also found that what we marked as a stud is only a partial stud and only goes halfway up the wall before stopping. It is sistered to another stud that is in rougher shape. I'm getting a better prybar in the morning. I hurt myself a little trying to take some of the boards off (slipped and scraped my elbow and then when I was pulling a board off it hit me in the head). At least I didn't fall. *knocks on wood*
I want to have the boards stripped before my friend comes out (if he's able to come out) tomorrow. I'm going to leave some of the lower boards because they are solid and I will add some wood hardener to them.. I marked where I want the corner grab bar to go. The lower boards tuck behind the wall to the left so would be very difficult to remove. Those boards have some big nails. If both of my arms were at full strength it would be a little easier, but having the one injured arm makes it a bit tougher. I'll post more pics later.
Editing to add pictures:

Removed boards are aromatic-- not unpleasant but I can't identify the scent. Look pretty rustic when tossed away.

 

[Zanne]

We got a late start the other day & removing the old tongue & groove boards proved harder than expected. At least I don't feel like a complete wuss after seeing how my friend struggled to remove the boards. I had to buy a better prybar so that helped. Had to get new blades for the oscillating tool too because some of the boards tucked behind the wall to the closet and would not break off without cutting them vertically.
Had one board that was still good that we put back in. Added some 2x4s to support the board (which will be for the corner grab bar to have something to bite into). Added furring strips with shims to make the wall plumb. Realized later that the tub flange is still proud of the rest of the stuff so I will have to put some plywood or something up to bump it a little more forward.

 

[havasu]

Way better!
You know a Sawzall with a demo blade could have been used to make the board removal a 2 minute job!

 

[Zanne]

I thought about that, but I was worried about what was behind where I couldn't see and the hardness of the board was so inconsistent. I was worried hitting a soft spot might get someone hurt. I do actually have a sawzall attachment. Those boards are tougher than they look. LOL.

Now I need to shim up a bit so it will be even with the tub flange.

 

[Zanne]

I noticed a scrap chunk of plywood almost 9' long by I don't know how wide-- maybe 20"? I suck at eyeballing and I didn't measure. It was on the porch. I tried to lift it but had trouble so I asked my brother to bring it in. He had a hard time with it but he got it in for me and got to feel strong. I measured 60" and dragged it over to the tub and set it up so it was on my lap and the cut line was off to my right (way far away from any chance of hitting myself with a blade. Could not find my reciprocating blades so I used the jigsaw. It was sloooooooooow. I stopped and started using the oscillating attachment but its 3/4" thick and smoke started coming out. I alternated between both, flipped it over, and used the oscillating tool to at least score it. Then back to jigsaw after it cooled a bit. Didn't even make it halfway through but the board got weak enough to break off. I left a puddle of sweat on the seat and floor. My hand is a bit sore from the vibrations but it will recover. I'm cooling off and then will see if I can get the plywood put attached to the wall. The 5' chunk needs to go at the top so I will find out if I'm able to hold it up long enough without help. Too bad my drywall hanging sticks are at my friend's house.

Instead of using the 1x4 at the top, I'm using a big chunk of plywood. I will also be using it over the grab bar area. I'll put the 1x4 on the bottom above the flange.

I forgot to post so I'm adding more info. LOL. I started lifting the plywood and then realized my left arm couldn't go any higher so I had to get my brother to come help. The stupid bit that came with the self-drilling screws kept sinking into my screwdriver attachment. Fortunately, the cementboard screws I got uses the same kind of bit and was longer. I drove some of the screws and then ran out of battery. LOL. But, I got the pieces of plywood where I want them. Just have to add in a few more screws on the top board and should be good.

 

[Zanne]

I've modified my plan a bit. I still want a 1x4 on the very bottom to level things out. I measured from where the 1x4 would sit up to the plywood pieces.

I know they say cementboard needs to span studs that are no more than 16" on center. Although, these boards will be run horizontally so I don't know if that makes a difference. I have good space from top to bottom on the left where I scabbed in some plywood. On the right I have ~17" of space between the studs. I was thinking of running 1x4s horizontally above and below the lower plywood piece to help fill that out better (the chunk goes all the way to the end of the stud). That wasn't intentional, that just happened to be the size of the scrap once I cut the other one to ~60". I can put a furring strip on the far right board to bring it out to be level. I also wanted to fill out all of the vertical pieces to be flush with the plywood.

I've got three chunks of 1x2s left over although one of them is warped.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

 

[BlueSkyHigh]

I don't think the cement board would care one way or the other about a 17" center-to-center distance you've got. If it was 24" then I'd be concerned.

 

[havasu]

I agree. Using 1/2" cement board should provide you a stiff enough wall.

 

[Zanne]

Ok. Thanks!

I've decided that I do want to add another 1x4 spanning above the partial plywood piece approximately where I drew in measurement lines because that will be where the lower cementboard ends and upper piece starts. I want to have something solid for them to end on. I have to keep in mind that Doofusaurus will be using the shower too and I don't want his fat asterisk busting through walls by falling against them. Murphy's Law and all that. So, very bottom above the tub flange will have ~58.25" 1x4 and then the other same size board will be set with the center ~36" up. I'll run a 1x2 up the very far right side so the cementboard has something to grab. I'll reinforce behind the 1x4 with pieces of 1x2.

I saw a clever idea for knowing where screws are-- painter's tape with a line at the location and height of the screws written on it. That way we will know to avoid those spots with the cementboard screws.

 

[Zanne]

I was tired and messed up some measurements somehow. I should have used the measuring tape instead of the long straight edge ruler thingy that is like 6' long. Fortunately, I was able to make do with what I had (and still have a full 1x4 leftover). I filled in with furring strips and paint stirring sticks as shims and then put up the 1x4s. They should be in all the places that will need screws driven. I actually glued some up with Titebond2 and it held well. Used screws on stuff that was heavier. It's still not perfectly plumb so I will have to do some adjustments. Might have to remove some screws and add in some shims. It's plumb in the middle but off on the edges a bit. One of the nice things is because of how I filled out the wall, the edge of the glue-up surround will be closer to the edge of the tub.

Next step is to mark all of the screw locations-- saw a trick where someone put painter's tape with a line where the screws were above and wrote the height of the screws so I will use that technique. I still need to figure out how to level the side walls out. Left wall is worse than the right and will need more shims. I think it's actually a whole 3/4" off in the span of the cementboard from the flange up. I may ask for my friend's help on that part since it may take more than 2 hands to get everything aligned properly.

 

[Zanne]

I didn't like the gap on the right so I filled it in a bit more and tried to level things out a bit more with paint stirring sticks as shims.

 

[BlueSkyHigh]

Thank goodness those paint stirrers are free!

 

[Zanne]

Thank goodness those paint stirrers are free!

Not where I live. They were about $1 per 3 pack. I got about 13 packs. I got the thicker 5 gallon ones. Still worth it though because they come in handy for drawing straight lines, shimming, etc.