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In which order should I redo the bathroom with asbestos....

In which order should I redo the bathroom with asbestos....


  #1  
Old 08-02-16, 08:41 PM
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In which order should I redo the bathroom with asbestos....

Hi guys I have a small bathroom on the 2nd floor with a tub and a toilet that is in need of a major fix.

What started out as replacing one cracked wall tile ended up into discovering the entire wall molded over from leaks everywhere...

The curveball is that the floor is cracked (probably from water dripping from the previous owner walking out of the tub wet) and it's double tiled with the original ASBESTOS tile underneath and a ceramic tile on top. (Both layer of tile is cracked)

Should I get the wall and shower and tub fixed first? Or the floor first?

I've called some flooring guys and they just refused to work once I mention asbestos.
I already have an Abetment guy ready but I would like to know what I would be left with once they finish... a bare subfloor with cutback residue?

What work would be involved to recondition the floor to a tileable state?

What if the subfloor has water damage and bent (which seems very likely)
Im guessing it's probably not safe to cut out the subfloor to replace it because of the residual cutback in the wood, so I'm guessing an wood underlayment over the subfloor?

If anyone can give me a basic idea of what order I should call or what type of people to call.

Also how long would it generally take just for the floor, would I be able to live in the condo during the work?

Also would I be able to DIY the floor? The tiled area is only 4x5 and the abetment guys said i can DIY as long as I don't dust stuff up.

Sorry if my thoughts are flying everywhere...

Thanks in advance.
 
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Old 08-02-16, 08:44 PM
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I forgot to add the pictures.

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Last edited by PJmax; 09-10-16 at 12:13 PM. Reason: reoriented pictures
  #3  
Old 08-02-16, 08:58 PM
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You would probably want to have your abatement guys come first. They will likely demo the whole subfloor since the cutback adhesive also usually contains asbestos so they will probably want to remove it. Once they certify its clean, all other trades can proceed. They will probably leave you with bare joists... and a clean bill of health. Then no one has to be scared to work there.

Personally I would want to demo everything possible (anything non-asbestos) that can be done safely (without disturbing or breaking asbestos tile) so that you can get the abatement guys in and out as quickly as possible, to keep costs down.

Biggest problem with DIY is legal disposal. If you are thinking about diy, you should contact your local disposal and see what the reg's are in your area. Some places are more strict than others.
 
  #4  
Old 08-03-16, 02:54 AM
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I agree with Brant. Your walls all have to be taken down to studs. If the ceramic tile can be safely removed without disturbing the underlying asbestos, then remove it carefully. Once it is all gone, the abatement people will come in and rid it of asbestos more easily and at lesser cost. You do have a bit of a mold problem on the wet wall, so don't be surprised if the mold extends into the stud bay area. It needs attention, too.
 
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Old 08-20-16, 02:02 AM
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Thanks for the reply guys.
So I'm having trouble finding an abetment people to do the work.
Seems like my bathroom is too little of a fish when they have other big fishes to catch.

How hard would it be to lay tiles on the floor after I remove the asbestos tiles?
I'm suspecting the asbestos tiles are glued to the wooden subfloor by the asbestos cutback just like they are in the first floor kitchen so they should peel off easily.
If I can get the tiles out carefully can I just lay a backer board over the cutback and subfloor? Of course I need to make sure the floor is flat.

It seems like I can throw away asbestos tiles in the regular trash in my city, only licensed people have to dispose of it at a special place as one abetment guy put it.

Does the wall need to be demolished in order to do the abetment?

Thanks again
 
  #6  
Old 08-20-16, 02:48 AM
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Abatement, not abetment.

In my area asbestos-containing materials (ACMs) do not have to go to a hazardous waste facility but DO need to be double-bagged and labeled as asbestos-containing material.
 
  #7  
Old 08-20-16, 03:16 AM
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When removing asbestos you need to contain the dust! The abatement companies seal off the area and use fans/filters to contain the dust. As long as you seal off the area and keep the asbestos damp you should minimize the dust. The main health concern with asbestos is inhaling the dust!
 
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Old 09-02-16, 01:01 PM
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Thanks for the reply guys.
So I can't seem to find an abatement to come out just for this small space, so I looked for different options.
I called one guy who was working on a neighbors unit to come by and take a look and he said he would tile right over the 2 layers of tile. The fastest and cheapest and safest since the asbestos will be sealed off again.

He said he can demo and skim the bathroom and powder room wall put up a cement board around the shower with new tiles, do the floor tiles and make it extend to the powder room which is about the same size as the bathroom for new shower head and the knob area for $2500.

Hopefully all works out...
 
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Old 09-09-16, 08:16 PM
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Hi guys so I hired a contractor to do the bathroom and powder room floors and walls.

Worst decision so far....


The work description is...

Remove drywall and tile around the tub dispose.

Remove carpet and dispose.

Install new concrete board and wall tile

Repair shower body

Skim coat wall

Tile floor about 90sq feet

I gave them the budget of $2250, he said great at first but I'm sure it will go up because the contractor and the tile guy had some misunderstanding or something, but at this point I'm very disappointed on the work that's been done so far and is regretting hiring them in the first place.

I would like to know if it was a reasonable amount for the job that is listed or if it is too cheap or too expensive.

The floor area of the bathroom and the powder room is about 90 square feet including the closet. Tiles are 12x24 and its $4.37 each so $2.19 per square feet.

Tiles that just goes around the tub is subway tiles with $50 worth of accent tiles.

So far from the look of things I think I could of done a lot better job on the wall and wall tiles. Tiled walls are not completely flat, looks great from afar but not up close. They also tiled over the wall paper on the top area which I told them to redo. Cement board isn't flush with the drywall I don't know if they'll fix that once they finish.

The whole project was planned to be done in 5 days but it's day 5 and the only thing they've done so far is the shower body repair and the cement board and the wall tiles. They've told me they'd come at 9 sharp and never show up, only twice they've actually came to do the work.

Carpets torn, parts of the asbestos tiles are exposed nothing else done.

They are planning on tiling over the ceramic tiles that are tiles over the asbestos tiles.

The walls still have the old wallpaper and some area the brown paper is torn just like the first floor bathroom nightmare I've done in the other post. The contractor himself is planning on skimcoating over everything, which I don't think will work out from my experience.

Sorry for the rant.

Thanks for the help guys..
 
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Old 09-09-16, 08:19 PM
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Old 09-10-16, 04:25 AM
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Are there any plans to remove or skim over the popcorn ceiling? If not, make sure it gets well coated with a latex enamel. Popcorn texture is prone to fail anywhere the humidity is high

Before hiring the contractor did you check his references? get multiple estimates?
 
  #12  
Old 09-10-16, 05:23 AM
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How does he plan on addressing the raw edges of the tiles across the top and along the sides? Normally there is bull nose tile applied there. Why is there a disparity in the height of the cbu from the active wall to the others? Looks like they skimped on it on the back wall, at least.
 
  #13  
Old 09-26-16, 08:11 PM
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So this whole thing has gotten into a nightmare, i hired the guy because he was working on a couple other units in the neighborhood seemed like a good guy. Worst decision i made.
He is apparently doing my place as a side job and that was a huge mistake.

The project was suppose to be done in a week, demo the wall tile carpet door casing etc in 2 day, get the floor guy to do the floor and wall tile in 2 days, skim coat the entire room and clean up in 2 days all for $2250. I paid him $1250 and the rest, when he's done.

So the guys super inefficient, its taking him 3 weeks already and 1 week since the floor tiles where placed, he comes in does a little work and says he'll comeback and never does, and thats how it goes everyday. Meanwhile i am living in an extended stay for 2 weeks now because the house is completely filled with drywall dust and i dont even know if theres asbestos lingering.

To compare what hes done and what the tile guy has done, its taking him 3 weeks so far to demo, and skim coat parts of the wall and hes still not done, where the tile guy only needed 3 days to do the wall tiles, and the floor tiles.

My mistake was that I paid the tile guy $900 because his part was done and he really needed it. I should of let the guy pay his tile man from his pocket because thats where everything started to slow down.

Well you learn from the mistake.
 
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Old 09-26-16, 08:15 PM
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@chandler The tile guy came in the second and third day to finish up the wall with the edge and floor tiles. They were talking about the waterline not needing to be as high as the shower side wall, so they ended up cutting it lower?? I dont get why that would save any money or work but thats what they did.

@marksr The guy ended up removing the popcorn.
 
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Old 09-26-16, 08:23 PM
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So the wall tile and floor is about 2 weeks ago. That new washer dryer outlet is now and it looks like a bad DIY job
 
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Old 09-26-16, 08:26 PM
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This is what it looks like now, the bedroom is just caked with drywall
 
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Old 09-27-16, 02:55 AM
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Don't finish paying him until everything is finished AND all the mess cleaned up! Drywall work is messy but that is no excuse for not taking precautions to contain the mess. The good news is the dust will vacuum up [clean/change filter often] and the dried mud is normally water soluble.
 
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Old 10-04-16, 04:17 PM
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Yes, i learned that the hard way. I should of held off till the end.

Anyways they got their part of the job done. Not the best looking work but its done, for now.

To be honest I could of done a better job if there was 3 clones of me. This experience just reinforced the fact that I hate hiring "pros" to do stuff when I can DIY it to a better quality (no offense to the real Pros out there) but I needed a break, and I didn't think it will end up being more problems and more time and im not even sure how the asbestos got put away...

I vacuumed the house a couple times with mask on, did a rug doctor and wiped everything i could because the house was caked with drywall dust. im not even sure if there was asbestos dust everywhere, but the abatement guys i called said that there is very low risk even if there was asbestos tile chunks since the dust wont travel as far and are mostly non friable but i cant really do anything about it now.

Thanks for the support guys
 
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Old 10-05-16, 03:20 AM
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Here's a description of friable versus non friable, http://www.co.fresno.ca.us/uploadedF...asbestos_0.pdf
 
 

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