Know When To Say When
So one of the rentals has been vacant for two months now as mentioned in this post. The main reason for the delay has been a shower stall repair that was just going awry. I almost had it completed myself but then I stopped and called in a professional for the following reasons:
- The repair looked like complete crap (for lack of a better term)
- It would have to be repaired again in a couple years
- Apparently the construction of the shower stall was unusual (according to my tile guy)
- The third remaining wall will need to be repaired sooner than a couple years time
Apparently when the house was built, the builder poured a separate slab for the shower stall which is slightly elevated from the main slab of the house. I have to admit that I’ve never seen a shower stall built like that myself either.
Also, in this house, the builders put down a thick rubber liner between the shower floor and the main slab. This rubber liner presumably is supposed protect the slab and more importantly, the surrounding drywall from moisture should the grout between the tile start to leak.
I guess back then there were no products like Greenboard or Durock and so they actually tacked up two layers of drywall since the wall studs are about 1.5 inches away on all sides from the weird elevated shower stall mini-slab. When the last tenants moved out, the leaking moisture got both those layers of drywall and the drywall on the other side of the studs nice and moldy.
The tile guy intends to do the repair so the shower stall is serviceable for years to come but he did mention that for it to not have to be repaired again, it would need to be rebuilt to the tune of around $2500. Um, ya, not this year anyway.
That job will definitely have to be done by a professional because I personally have never rebuilt an entire shower stall and I don’t think that now is the time to attempt it.
