# Bathroon reno, tiles, mold issue



## Evalove (Apr 25, 2012)

Dear fellow diy-ers,

I am renovating my master bathroom next week and would like some tips on particular things.*

I currently have a very nice bathtub liner. I would like to keep the bathtub as is, without replacing it. What I am very excited to do though is remove the ugly, out dated plastic liner panels that are on the walls around the bathtub. I would like to tile those walls instead.

My question, and concern is what will I find behind those plastic panels once I take them down? I currently have a very slight mold problem that is in a 'dot' pattern on the ceiling above the bathtub. My guess is, either there is some water damage behind the wall panels, or perhaps very poor ventilation (my bathroom vent is very old and is one of the things that I plan to replace during this reno).*

The mold can easily be wiped off, but it just comes right back in a few weeks. There currently is no heavy mold spots where it affected the surface of the ceiling.

I also have a slight mold spot on the front side edge of the bathtub (where the bathtub meets the wall.*

Questions that I have:

How do I best remove the mold off the ceiling and on the side of the bathtub where it meets the drywall? Any sealants/protectors that you can recommend?
Are the plastic wall panels usually glued down on top of drywall?
When I take down the panels, if there is water damage, should I replace all of the drywall around the bathtub?
For the tiling, do I even need the drywall? Or can I rip it down to studs and just slap cement backerboard on it for the tiles?*
When I do this, do you recommend taking out the bathtub completely? Especially if there is water damage?
What is your advice to ensure very good moisture proof and waterproof renovation, when it comes to tiling around the bathtub?

I apologize for so many question. Any help will be very much appreciated! Thankyou inadvance.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Hi Eva, welcome!
Not necessarily all or in order...
If you're going to all the trouble of taking down the liner, and you already have mould, my first thought is gut the bathroom and start with a clean slate. The benefit is that you will know for certain that you've removed the mould and that there's no rot in the tub surround framing, or if there is, you can fix it.
I'd suggest for sure that you remove the ceiling drywall. All the new board should be designated for damp locations (the stuff up here is coloured green).
-new fan with, a humidistat control...it'll run until the humidity is down to a normal level (or a timer...set for a 1/2 hour following a shower)
-absolutely use cement backerboard for the tub surround; don't even think about using any kind of drywall.
-I always seal my backerboard with a couple of coats of acrylic additive. It adds about 400% bonding strength to the thinset tile mortar and it won't support mould growth.
- I strongly suggest you hire a drywall installer rather than trying to do the boarding yourself. It isn't expensive for a bathroom and you _really_ won't enjoy the experience of working in a small room!
-unless you're a very experienced tiler, farm that out as well...but make sure you've seen the guy's work and that he comes recommended (if he's Italian, even better! )
-This is a perfect opportunity to upgrade the bathroom waterlines, shutoffs, and fixtures.
You'll kick yourself if your waterlines develop a small leak _after_ you've gone to all this trouble and expense.
Good luck on the Reno, Eva.
Cheers,
-Dan


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## Matador58 (Jan 28, 2012)

*Mould problem*

Hi Eva ,

For your mould problem you buy a bottle oil of cloves and also 1 litre spray bottle .
You put a quarter of a teaspoon of oil of cloves no more into 1 litre spray bottle of
water . Just mist it over the mould areas don't wipe it off you just leave to dry and 
in a few you should see it flaking off then you can wipe it off . The oil of cloves will 
kill the mould spores and stops it from growing . I hope that helps .

Cheers Graham .


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## allthunbs (Jun 22, 2008)

Hi Eva:

We've also run into a mold problem in this house. When I was researching it, I spoke with microbiologists at Université Laval and the best suggestion was soap and water. That's soap, as in made with sodium hydroxide (Lye) and oil. Just wash it with a cloth and soap and water. Lots of lather and foam. The trick is to remove and kill it without it releasing spores. Spraying and other applications will allow it to release spores. The foam from the soap and water will capture any spores that are released. To remove the stain, a strong chlorine bleach solution works well but wear dangerous chemicals protection, i.e. gas mask with good filters.


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## paduke (Mar 28, 2010)

As a contractor I would not do the job without gutting the drywall. I do not want the liability of the mold. But its your home


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## mgmine (Jan 16, 2012)

First thing is the mold on the ceiling. This is very simple to deal with, wash it off with bleach then paint the ceiling with Zinzar (not sure of the spelling but they make BIN also)ceiling paint. It stops mold for 5 years and it really does work. As far as the tub goes if the tub and wall covering were sold as a unit then you can't simply tear off the wall material and tile. These types of units have a special edge built into the tub to accept the wall material. If you find that once you tear it off it is possible to tile then I would rip the wall board off and start from scratch with new cement board. Gutting the whole bathroom is not necessary


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

My sentiment exactly.


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## DaninVan (Jan 1, 2012)

Oops, that last comment was in reference to PADUKE's statement.


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## allthunbs (Jun 22, 2008)

paduke said:


> As a contractor I would not do the job without gutting the drywall. I do not want the liability of the mold. But its your home


I've got to agree with you Bill.

What I'm doing in my home is remove visible mold, determine - then rectify the cause, search and remove hidden mold, reconstruct and refinish as necessary.

I found the "rectify" step the most problematic.


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## denniswoody (Dec 11, 2011)

Mold in a room, any room, may be caused by a lack of ventilation. A bathroom in particular must have a good fan system removing damp air to the the outside. The fan should be on a timer so that it runs at least 30 minutes from shower beginning to end. A renovation that doesn't include ventilation will be a disappointment in my opinion.


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## mgmine (Jan 16, 2012)

As far as the mold goes I still say try Zinsser paint. I had a ceiling in a bathroom that was covered with mold and I mean covered. It seemed to grow overnight. I had three girls that ran the shower for so long that water dripped off the ceiling like a rain forest. There was no vent in the bath and no way to put one in. I was set to rip out the ceiling and replace it but instead I washed the mold off with bleach. A month or so it came back. I did the same thing again then again. Finally after about four times I went to Home Depot to buy some drywall however instead I found the Zinsser paint. I thought why not get it I would need to paint the new ceiling anyways. Well 6 years later the mold was still gone (no vent in the bathroom either). I have since moved so I don't know if it came back. I told someone else about the paint and they had the same luck with it. There really isn't much to loose by trying it but there is a whole lot of work and expense to save.


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## Cherryville Chuck (Sep 28, 2010)

mgmine said:


> As far as the mold goes I still say try Zinsser paint. I had a ceiling in a bathroom that was covered with mold and I mean covered. It seemed to grow overnight. I had three girls that ran the shower for so long that water dripped off the ceiling like a rain forest. There was no vent in the bath and no way to put one in. I was set to rip out the ceiling and replace it but instead I washed the mold off with bleach. A month or so it came back. I did the same thing again then again. Finally after about four times I went to Home Depot to buy some drywall however instead I found the Zinsser paint. I thought why not get it I would need to paint the new ceiling anyways. Well 6 years later the mold was still gone (no vent in the bathroom either). I have since moved so I don't know if it came back. I told someone else about the paint and they had the same luck with it. There really isn't much to loose by trying it but there is a whole lot of work and expense to save.


If everything else in the bathroom were good and you were trying to avoid a reno I would agree with this approach. Since you have decided to do the reno it wouldn't make sense to "patch" the ceiling. You might also be able to apply cement board over the existing drywall covered walls after you remove your tub surround but it is a good opportunity to make sure the structure behind it is sound. If you plan on selling the home in the future it would be a good idea to take some pictures if you open up the outer wall to prove that everything was sound at the time of the reno.


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