My house is falling down!

[dcornelius]

This morning while enjoying a sound slumber on my day off my DD came into our room and whispered into Dh's ear " my shower wall just fell down". Indeed when we got up and trodded into the bathroom the tiles had fallen off the wall and the sheet rock was falling out. Evidently the people we bought the house from had replaced some tiles and did not seal it well. So moisture has gotten up into the sheet rock and it has rotted. STINKY!
We didn't even notice a problem!!! So I guess now along with the new tile and cabinet we will also put in a new tub and surrounding wall. I don't think I want to tile again it is to difficult to keep clean. Maybe the reason it was so difficult though is because it was getting moldy from behind the wall and showing up.... I don't know. Any one have any good suggestions on what to replace a tile wall and fiberglass tub with. This tub has been incredibly hard to get clean! What kind of finish should I look for that isn't so difficult to keep clean?

[BosunsWife]

I really like tile walls and hope to have them in my bathroom one day. That said, tile that is installed today is MUCH different than tile that was put in say 30 years ago. My parents have tile in their bathroom (shower, countertop, backsplash and believe it or not the floor) that was installed in 1960 that is okay (mom keeps the mildew away with bleach), and they have tile countertops and backsplash in their kitchen that was installed 15 years ago. The kitchen tilework my dad did and they now have sealants that keeps the dirt out of your grout or at least makes it easier to clean. The also have an area in the kitchen with their commercial stove and it had to be encased in tile (for fire safety purposes) and it also is easy to clean. IMO its easier to keep good tile clean than those horrible fiberglass shower stall type things, and believe me I've had both in military housing.

[Beth]

I like tile on bath and shower walls, but the grout and caulking do need to be inspected on a pretty regular basis to make sure you don't have cracks the water can seep through. But you could also have a leak in the plumbing, so check everything out before you put things back -- if you don't figure out where the water behind the wall was coming from, you may not get rid of the problem. Beter to spend a few dollars making sure everythings tight and dry than to spend a lot doing it all twice. Also, be sure to let everything behind that wall dry out and get rid of the mold before it gets put back together.

As for cleaning, the most important thing in bathrooms seems to be making it a habit to keep it clean - using a squeegy, or whatever. I have also heard that Rain-ex and some other treatments help repel the water and spots off bath surfaces, but don't have much experience with that.

[Kelli Kerrigan]

How old is your home? There are lots of new developments in your area and surronding area. Because you are built on mostly sandy/clay soil a lot of settling occurs. A few questions come to mind....
If your house is newer, settling could have occurred, thus the walls could have seperated somewhat. New grout could have been added to help this.
Moisture control could be a problem. Is there a fan is the bathroom? Usually I've seen a fan and a window in most AZ bathrooms. If you have a window, is it usually left open? Does it get full sunlight?
If in fact the other owners not did not seal it up properly, you may need to go through the hassle of redoing the bath. AZ typically has harder water...do you have a softner? That could help in the clean up.
Just some thoughts.....
Kelli

[dcornelius]

through the shopping process we have determined we will most likely retile. We have just done our floors throughout most of the house and are pretty comfortable with the process. We know about the special sheet rock made just for this purpos in the bath and the mildew resistant grout. Here is a big qquestion though. The wood behind the wall has obviously been wet for quite some time and has gotten moldy. Is there any way to get this mold out? I don't believe the wood can be taken out as it is an outside wall and the wood is part of the frame of the house. Any construction workers out there? By the way we have also found that evidently the fiberglass tubs were hated by more than us as they are not as abundent out there as I thought they would be. I thought I would have a hard time finding anything but fiberglass and that is not so HOORAY!

[funnybone]

In the kids bathroom, we went with a tub enclosure. It is a one piece (fiberglass, I guess) tub and wall and it is wonderful. There are not grout or seams, and it is so easy to clean. I was hesitant about the looks of it, and then saw them in some new construction homes, so when we built our house, that is what we put in their bathroom. It was much cheaper than tiling and a tub. Since the bathroom is Jack and Jill, only they use it anyway.

Oh, about your tiles, the people who put the tiles in probably did not use the right type of wall board. There are special ones that are for wet/tiled areas.

[Alisa]

Originally posted by funnybone
In the kids bathroom, we went with a tub enclosure. It is a one piece (fiberglass, I guess) tub and wall and it is wonderful. There are not grout or seams, and it is so easy to clean.

We have the same thing in our main bathroom and I would also highly recommend it. Many of them are difficult to install in existing homes because they are too big to fit through doorways, but you can also buy them where the tub and wall section come in two pieces - at least it's only one seam to worry about!
Good Luck!

[Beth]

You'll have to have a construction person look at those walls. The boards may be able to be treated with bleach and let dry thoroughly, you may need some reinforceing boards added along side or inbetween them, they may need to have some replaced (in which case I think they can put up new ones, then pull out the old ones without taking the wall down) -- but it all depends on the severity, the construction and other stuff.

BTW, have you inquired to see whether any of this would be covered by your homeowners insurance? Depending on the policy, your coverage, state laws and possibly whether you have a plumbing leak, a failure of some sort or whether they would just consider it a failure to maintain the grout and such -- you may or may not get some help from your insurance....but contact they before you get too far. They may want an adjuster to see everything before you change it or close it up. Take pictures if in doubt.

[Leslie w]

We installed one piece fiberglass units in all our bathrooms and they're made with a special plastic called Microban. It is guaranteed (sp?) not to grow mold forever. So far so good although the units are only 2 years old. They also make fiberglass tubs that look like tile, my dh installed one in my parents' bathroom. (No, he's not a plumber he's just very handy around the house).

If you really want the tile I have one suggestion (and this is why my dh didn't want tiled bathrooms in our new house because he use to do this in our old house) it's recommended that every 2 years you silicone the grout. Even if you use a sealant when the tile is installed. It will keep the water from penetrating and add years to your tile. It will also be much easier to clean. Of course it's a big pain!