Water was leaking in behind the soap dish in my shower. There’s a section of wall that is pretty much completely destroyed that is about 6 inches tall and about 12 inches wide. How do I patch this properly?
It’s your basic tiled wall above the bathtub.
I recommend you go to a tile store and explain your problem. I’m sure they’ll be able to set you on the right track.
If you are not handy have someone else look at it. Bathroom tiles are often laid on greenboard or the equivalent, which is not very water resistant. When there is leakage behind the tiles, this gets wet and crumbles; the problem is almost always more extensive than it seems. A proper repair requires removing enough tile to evaluate the backing board, and all the wet backing board. It’s not unusual to need to remove all the tile and all the backing board back to the studs and do the job properly with a waterproof backing board.
You can do this job yourself but you must know what you are doing. Any repair less than proper will leave a weak and moldy wall, and be only temporary.
I’m reasonably handy. I can drywall, for example. I’ve just never dealt with bathroom walls before and I don’t want to put up something that’s going to have water problems later.
Can I just put up a small piece of green board and put the tiles over that?
It’s defiantly worthwhile just patching it up I repaired my leaking shower six month ago and its held up fine, just filled in the cracks with cement based grout and applied the waterproofing solution.
Just another one of those pain in the ass home repairs. Don’t bother with the greenboard. Buy some of the cement backerboard of the right thickness. You’ll have to peel tiles off until you can find enough studs to attach the new backerboard. (You could try just mortaring the new backerboard in place if you can’t find a stud, but it would be a weaker repair.)
Try not to break any tiles – you’ll never find the right replacements. Once you get a decent foundation for the tile, it’s a matter of of cementing and grouting it.
I’ll echo what Finagle said. It’s not that hard – easier than drywall, if you ask me. It’s sort of like dentistry – you have to cut out the decayed part, then put a filling in. Use the cement board as he said, and buy some tiles (if you end up needing to), ready-mix mortar, and grout, and you’re good to go. If you need replacement tiles, you’ll never get an exact color match to the existing tiles, but that’s the price you pay for not replacing the entire wall.
In addition to the advice offered above, if you’re removing any tiles which have been cut, make sure to properly mark them so they go back in the same spot-I’ve used a china marker to designate them A1-A6, B1-B6, and so forth.
The next trick is getting the old mortar off the back of the tiles. I made a fixture using a piece of scrap 2 x 8, and some 1/4 x 2" screen stock such that the tile sits inside the screen stock, face down, and doesn’t move when an angle grinder fitted with a wire cup brush is applied to the mortar. After that, wash the tiles to remove dust, allow to dry, and they can be reinstalled, per the layout grid.
If the fixture idea isn’t clear, let me know and I can take a picture of and email it to you.
You’re sure that only that little section of wall was affected? You’ve made sure that the water hasn’t run down farther in the wall and damaged or rotted something out?
That would be my main concern.