A Stitch In Time...

From the inside of the wall 

The water leak in my bathroom was not from a drain or a supply pipe but caused by my kids. I don't know how many times I would send the kids up to the bathroom over the last 5 years of living in this house and come up to see the ENTIRE bathroom flooded. I'm talking water dripping from the ceiling, 1/8" layer of wall to wall water and toilet papier-mâché stuck to the wall. In retrospect I ought to have addressed the issue that allowed the water to leak down through the floor and puddle on the ceiling of the laundry room underneath a couple of years ago when I noticed it. I figured if I could just mop up the floor as they were done with the bath then I wouldn't have to deal with replacing the caulk. I chose poorly.  Just look at the devastation.  At some point in the future I am planning on ripping out the linoleum and replacing it with tile.  But for the short term I will be satisfied with applying a new bead of caulk. 

The first thing that needs to be done is the old caulk needs to be removed.  For this task I decided to try a new tool.  When I was at Home Depot I noticed a tool pack for about $5 that included a caulk applicator tool and a caulk remover tool.  Both are made of red plastic.  The handle fits nicely in my hand and I didn't get a blister from use.  The red tool has a barb at one end and a V-shaped three-pointed tip at the other end.   I think who ever designed and tested this tool didn't wait for the caulk to dry for 10 years before trying to use the tool.  The scraper contacts set at 90 degrees from each other didn't remove a thing and when I tried to scrape the corner with the center stub it broke off.  The barbed end was somewhat effective but it was set at an angle such that I couldn't even get the tool into the caulk most of the time.  I guess since it was made of plastic it should not mar the surface of the linoleum but I was also having a hard time using this tool to get at the caulk.  I was glad to have my trusty utility knife to do the job that this red piece of junk was unable to do.  I took the knife and scored the bead of caulk along the bath tub and then along the floor.  Take care not to apply too much pressure so that you don't penetrate all the way through to the enamel of the bathtub or the surface of the linoleum.  It may take many light passes or careful slow passes but eventually all the caulk can be removed.  

  

Now that the old caulk is removed a new bead may be applied.  Fully extend the plunger for the caulk gun and insert the tube of silicone caulk.  For this application there were a few choices.  The faster you want the product to cure and be able to use the bathroom for an all out splash-o-thon will determine how much you want to pay.  Be sure to get a silicon based product.  This stuff comes in a clear version too if your tub is not white.  Stay away from the painter's caulk which is mainly used as a gap fill material but is not as durable in such a wet environment.  I selected a middle of the range product that drys in 3 hours and fully cures in 24 and is good for 5 years; which set me back about $6 or $7.  The think I like about this packaging is the cap on the end.  I usually employ a drywall screw in the tip after I am done to cap it off and save the rest for a later use because there is no way I would use this whole tube for this little job.  Cut off the tip at a 45° angle and lay a bead down in the corner between the tub and the floor.  If you install the tube in the caulk gun and squeeze the trigger to find that nothing comes out  there is probably a plastic seal that needs to be punctured before the tip of the tube will fill.  I like to use a cut-off end of 14 gauge electrical wire for this job but a slender screwdriver will work just as well.  Most nails I have laying around my garage are usually too short.  

Clean and dry the surfaces that will come into contact with the caulk because if there is hair and other contamination on either surface  you won't get a good seal and will be back redoing this project again a lot sooner than you would like.  Lay an even bead of caulk the length of the tub and use a caulk applicator tool to work it deep into the groove.  I used to use my finger for this which works OK but for larger jobs you can actually get a chemical burn from prolonged exposure to this stuff.  To get the look you want it may take a few passes with the tool.  I just used some toilet paper to wipe off the excess from the tool when there was excessive  build up of caulk on the tool.  This red tool was packaged with the piece of junk intended for removing the old caulk; and was the reason I bought the two-pack of tools.  If this guy was packaged alone I would have preferred this option.    

Once I was done with the bathtub joint, I was inspecting around the baseboards that extended away from the tub and noticed there was cracked caulk there too so I cleaned and caulked anywhere I expected water to end up for any length of time.  The seal around the base of the toilet was intact so I didn't have to worry about that but when I lifted the flange for the water supply line I noticed that there was absolutely now caulk around the pipe and no caulk in the seam of the linoleum that was cut as a relief to install around the pipe.  If my home were newer I would have probably had my builder come in and fix this whole thing because this is a defect that was here since the house was built.  There seems to be bit of swelling in the layer of plywood that the linoleum is sitting on around this point of entry into the floor.  When I go to remove this linoleum in the future I may have to replace some of the sub-flooring because of the damage the water has caused, but that is a future project.  After the caulk fully cures slide this flange back down to cover the unsightly mess.  I am going to let the bathroom go back into use now for about a week or so before I patch the drywall to make sure I took care of all the problems that were allowing water to pool on the ceiling below.  

Tools Required for this repair:

• Utility Knife
• Caulk Gun
• Caulk Applicator
• Rag / Paper Towel

Materials Required: 

• Silicone Caulk

Houston, We have a problem!

Houston, We have a problem!

While at work I get a text from my wife... That night I took a closer look and this is what I saw.  There was a small puddle on the floor directly below the stain.  Where could the water be coming from?  I'm sure you could probably guess. The sheet rock was still wet and I was able to use my fingers to enlarge the hole.

Once drywall gets wet it changes shape so to fix this we need to probe to see where the moisture has done the damage.  To do this I used a keyhole saw but first there was the issue of the light fixture right next door.  For safety's sake, make sure the light is on and flip the breakers -

Remove the Light fixture

.  one at a time until the light goes off.  This way you can be assured that the power is off before removing the light fixture. This type of light has an electrical junction box centered above the fixture.  Loosen both screws and twist the fixture to move the heads of the screws to the end of the slots that will allow the heads to pass through the fixture and remove the fixture from the ceiling.  For this repair the water had crept under the light fixture so it needed to be removed.  Using the saw I started in the center of the wet spot and moved out until the saw moved into the dry spot.  Be careful of where the wires might be routed keep the saw shallow near the light fixture to avoid accidentally damaging the insulation on the wires.  Drywall is usually less than 1/2" thick so it is not necessary to plunge the saw all the way into the ceiling.
      Water tends to pool in the lowest point of a flat surface so the leak may not be directly above the wet spot.  The drywall will have to be replaced what is removed can not really be salvaged.  This image shows the cause of the low spot in the ceiling; the junction of two ceiling joists.  The joist hanger is protruding a significant amount below the wood and when the drywall was installed, nothing was done to accommodate the uneven installation surface.  Later in this posting I will address a couple of ways to allow for such irregularities in the framing when installing drywall.  Once all of the damaged drywall is removed, the source of the leak may be apparent from underneath.  In my case there was no obvious source for the leak.  Roughly above the location of the leak is the kid's bathroom.  Tell me your kids always keep every drop of water in the tub...want to trade?

     
     First thing I did was remove the chrome cap inside the tub that caps off the overflow drain.  The screw that holds the cap onto the pipe was rusted out and broke off inside the PVC.  In order to replace this part I cut into the drywall on the opposite side of the wall from the bathroom to get to the pipes without disturbing the tile surround for the shower.  The pink stuff is insulation for fire-blocking to prevent airflow through the floor.  I noticed a bit of moisture directly under this pipe on the drywall directly below the  p-trap under the sub-floor.  I don't think it is the primary source of the water causing the damage below but it was enough that I am not sorry I opened up the wall.

Tools Required for this repair:

• Keyhole drywall saw
• Hacksaw blade
• PVC primer and ABS cement
• Phillips Screw Driver
• Utility Knife

Materials Required: 

• 1 1/2" ABS pipe (approximately 6" long)
• 1 1/2" ABS coupling union
• 1 1/2" Twist 'N Close Plumber's Pak (chrome trim)
• Contains the top elbow part replacement the seal and the chrome overflow cap plate

Steps in making the repair: 

1. Using the hacksaw blade cut off the pipe a few inches above the floor level making the cut as close to level as possible.  A perfect cut will be perpendicular to the pipe.  The remaining surface of the pipe needs to fit into the union piece completely with no gaps. 
2. Cut the length of 1 1/2" PVC pipe to length so that when fitted together the top joint sits in the center of the hole in as viewed from the inside of the bathtub.  
3. Dry fit the pipes together for a height check 
4. Apply the purple primer to all surfaces of the pipe and let the primer dry for about 30 seconds.  
5. Apply the ABS cement and fit the pieces paying special attention so that the top union fits as before.  

Overflow Pipe Centered

 

Once the parts have been cemented together place the seal on the pipe between the bathtub and the face of the pipe and fasten the face plate on the inside of the tub using a screw driver.  Do not use a drill or power screw driver to tighten this screw.  If the chrome finish on the head of the screw is damaged it will rust over time.  

Now that the pipe is repaired, the main problem can be fixed.  While I had the wall open I was able to see mass amounts of wet sub flooring along the edge of the tub.  The house is about 12 years old and the bead of caulk where the tub meets the linoleum is probably original; so in the end this extensive repair could have been prevented had I simply reapplied a new bead of caulk when we first moved into the house.  Oh well hind sight is 20/20.