Demolition is a quick and easy part of a project. This is where you commit yourself mentally to a project and any of the unknown issues that may arise along the way. My safety equipment consisted of some good work gloves, eye protection and a dust mask. The tools used were a Stanley Super Wonder Bar and a mallet. A large drop clotch was placed on the tub so it would not get damaged by falling debris. The water damage was centered around a soap dish in the middle of the back wall so that’s where I started. The tiles around the soap dish popped off with very little resistance, but as I worked my way out of the damaged area the tile became more and more difficult to chip off. Eventually large chunks of drywall were coming off with the tile.
A couple of things to note at this point.
- Broken tile is SHARP! Do not attempt to handle it without glove. I received a couple of cuts while cleaning up tile debris that I didn’t feel until I saw blood covering the tiles.
- Tile removal is easier with air tools. I didn’t have access to an air hammer for this project, but I bought one later while tiling the bathroom floor. It reduced the effort of removing tile by 90%.
Once the tile was off the wall ripping out the drywall and insulation was effortless. The first time you take a wall down to the studs there will be a moment in time in which you think to yourself “What have I done?” Don’t worry, it’s easy to put a wall back up, I promise!
Once the wall was open I could fully asses the damage. One of the studs was thoroughly rotted out, but luckily that was the extent of the damage. Now that the demolition was done, it was time to start fixing the wall so we could put it all back together.
