A couple of months go, my brother bought a three family house in Bridgeport, CT. He got a good deal on the house and with a little initial help on the exterior, he was able to close fairly quickly and work on getting it rented. The first floor was in excellent condition, the second floor needed and still needs some work, and the third floor in my opinion, should be gutted. Well, within a very short period of time, he was able to get the first two floors rented and start paying the mortgage, luckily. Then the fun began. The caveat with getting the first two floors rented so quickly was that not much was able to be done on the second or third floors. Lets take the third floor out of the equation and focus on the second. For the most part, the majority of what it needed was paint, which got taken care of fairly quickly. Another minor issue is that it does not really have any kitchen cabinets. The only kitchen cabinet it has is the one that holds the sink. Then there is the bathroom. Completely outdated, it needs help, but for the time being it is functional, kind of. Within probably a month of getting it rented, my brother started getting complaints that the ceiling was leaking in the bathroom on the first floor, presumably from the second. As the bathrooms are stacked on top of each others, we figured out that it was somewhere around the shower that was causing the leak into the first floor. So myself and a few contractor friends tried giving my brother suggestions on what to do and how to fix the problem. We told him to start with re-grouting around any tiles areas on the walls around the shower that needed it and caulk all the edges. He did that and it significantly reduced the leaking. So at least we knew where the leak was coming from and it wasn't the drain, pipes, or anything major. Just the walls around the shower. Well, in order to get it back in complete working order, my brother asked me to go and re-grout some areas that he had missed. So I go in one morning, take a look, start pushing a little, and find that the tiles have some give. For those of you that don't know, tiles aren't supposed to have any give; they shouldn't move. So I tell the tenant that I can't fix the problem right now, it is a little more involved, and will have to come back.
So yesterday I go back with my brother to try and fix the problem by pulling off the loose tile, re-applying them, and re-grouting. So I pull of one tile, not bad, and about 40 tiles later I have to find a good stopping point so I don't pull the whole shower down and turn it into a nightmare. (I have a feeling that it had become a nightmare for my brother at that point.) It turns out that moisture was getting behind the tile through failed grout lines and had cause the tiles to release themselves from the glue or whatever they used to stick them on. After the tiles popped off, I could get a good portion of the glue off with just my fingers, not good. So we start re-claiming the tile, scraping the grout off the edges, the glue off the back, and while doing that, I notice that the wall behind the tile is starting to change color. This gets me a little worried so I get my moisture meter from my van and find that a good portion of the concrete board has a moisture level at or above 25%, not really ideal for attaching new tile to. So, a project that should have been done in about 3 hours was going to drag into another day, for my brother at least. Unfortunately, yesterday was the only day that I could help him out and now he is left with putting the tile back up and re-grouting it. And this is only a band aid. The whole shower is going to need to be completely gutted and re-tiled in order for it to last and prevent future leaks downstairs. The screws holding the concrete board to the studs are completely rusted and who knows how long they will be able to hold the tile and concrete board to the studs. Hopefully this little band aid will last about six months so my brother can save up some money to re-do the shower properly. If not, bigger issues will ensue.
Before I left yesterday, I made sure to show my brother how to mix the thin set, how to apply the tile, how to set the tile, and how to grout. It will be a little tricky for him as I have him using speed set (thin set that dries in about 15 minutes) so he can re-grout in the same day. The only other issue is that he is completely different that me and is not that skilled when it comes to working on houses. He is much better at saving lives and working with electronics than tiling, painting, or working with any type of wood. If I can, I will try and make it over there to help him out today, but it will be a close call. If I get enough done on my job, I will definitely help him out, but I can't make any guarantees. Such is life. He will figure it out eventually. After this bathroom fiasco, I will be helping him put up some kitchen cabinets so that his tenants are a little bit happier. They are luckily understanding as they moved in quickly to an apartment that needed help. Welcome to home ownership and the joys of being landlord bro!
So yesterday I go back with my brother to try and fix the problem by pulling off the loose tile, re-applying them, and re-grouting. So I pull of one tile, not bad, and about 40 tiles later I have to find a good stopping point so I don't pull the whole shower down and turn it into a nightmare. (I have a feeling that it had become a nightmare for my brother at that point.) It turns out that moisture was getting behind the tile through failed grout lines and had cause the tiles to release themselves from the glue or whatever they used to stick them on. After the tiles popped off, I could get a good portion of the glue off with just my fingers, not good. So we start re-claiming the tile, scraping the grout off the edges, the glue off the back, and while doing that, I notice that the wall behind the tile is starting to change color. This gets me a little worried so I get my moisture meter from my van and find that a good portion of the concrete board has a moisture level at or above 25%, not really ideal for attaching new tile to. So, a project that should have been done in about 3 hours was going to drag into another day, for my brother at least. Unfortunately, yesterday was the only day that I could help him out and now he is left with putting the tile back up and re-grouting it. And this is only a band aid. The whole shower is going to need to be completely gutted and re-tiled in order for it to last and prevent future leaks downstairs. The screws holding the concrete board to the studs are completely rusted and who knows how long they will be able to hold the tile and concrete board to the studs. Hopefully this little band aid will last about six months so my brother can save up some money to re-do the shower properly. If not, bigger issues will ensue.
Before I left yesterday, I made sure to show my brother how to mix the thin set, how to apply the tile, how to set the tile, and how to grout. It will be a little tricky for him as I have him using speed set (thin set that dries in about 15 minutes) so he can re-grout in the same day. The only other issue is that he is completely different that me and is not that skilled when it comes to working on houses. He is much better at saving lives and working with electronics than tiling, painting, or working with any type of wood. If I can, I will try and make it over there to help him out today, but it will be a close call. If I get enough done on my job, I will definitely help him out, but I can't make any guarantees. Such is life. He will figure it out eventually. After this bathroom fiasco, I will be helping him put up some kitchen cabinets so that his tenants are a little bit happier. They are luckily understanding as they moved in quickly to an apartment that needed help. Welcome to home ownership and the joys of being landlord bro!
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