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Laurie Brown
09-23-2018, 11:04 PM
Back in 2009, I posted on here about a bathroom project I did, where I tore down old wallpaper and patched, spackled, and painted. Here are the before and after pics from that project:

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I have since sold that house and moved, and now in my new house I am going to similarly fix up the bathrooms. I now live in a mobile home, and all the walls have those ugly seam trims and cardboard door trim, etc. It all has to go. Today I pulled off all the trim strips on the walls and took down the shower curtain rails. Tomorrow I'll start spackling up all the seams where the trim used to be. Then I'll prime and paint the walls. After that I need to repair the floor. It originally had carpet, then part of it had a botched tile job installed. Going to pull out all the broken tile and the carpet to the doorway and replace it all with vinyl. Then add some nice baseboard and door trim, and maybe crown molding if I feel like getting fancy. The last thing I'd like to do (but don't know if I will) is replace that ugly countertop and plastic (ugh) sink. I'd like to replace it with some kind of ceramic sink and a homemade faux granite countertop made of epoxy. We'll see how it goes. Here is the before picture:

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I have better tools and more skills than I did in 2009, and much more confidence to try new things that I haven't done before, in large part due to this Forum and its members.

Michael Weber
09-24-2018, 11:14 AM
I bet it will look fabulous when finished. Looking forward to the "after" pictures.

Jim Becker
09-24-2018, 11:38 AM
Your project sounds like it will be a lot of fun! Take your time, however, as typical mobile home construction tends to have some variances from stick-built houses and you may need to adapt to that in some cases, including "available space", not just in the room size, but within the structure.

Laurie Brown
09-24-2018, 1:53 PM
If I had the money and ambition I would probably go back to the studs and rebuild everything, but I don't. ;) So I'm going to go through the place a room at a time and at least make it nice and looking as close to a stick-built home as I can with limited budget. I think it will all look better with a fresh coat of paint and real wood painted baseboard and door trim. The wall panels are held on with staples and the trim with brads. LONG brads, that go through trim, door casing, empty space, into studs.

Laurie Brown
09-24-2018, 2:01 PM
Today I worked on the spackling. I filled the nail holes in the trim around the bath that was never done, and started spackling all the wall seams, pounding in any brads or staples that were sticking out along the way. I still have to fill two seams, plus the lower half of a seam behind the toilet (fun!), and repair the miters on the corners of the bath trim. They have gaps and weren't secure well, so I'll pop some brads in there and fill the holes.

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Jim Becker
09-24-2018, 5:31 PM
Watch out for funky spacing of the "studs" in the walls...I remember that the mobile home my grandmother lived in toward the end of her life on my parent's property had some "amazing" organization in the walls. :)

Frank Pratt
09-25-2018, 9:50 AM
Just spackling those joints may come back to haunt you. After a season change or two, cracks are likely to appear as the panels move ever so slightly. The solution is to tape the joints just as you would if it were gypsum board. That's a lot more work though.

Laurie Brown
09-25-2018, 10:37 AM
I'm not too worried about it. The previous bathroom above I did the same way without tape and it came out great. So we'll see how it goes on this one.

Laurie Brown
10-27-2018, 2:08 PM
Just spackling those joints may come back to haunt you. After a season change or two, cracks are likely to appear as the panels move ever so slightly. The solution is to tape the joints just as you would if it were gypsum board. That's a lot more work though.

Now that the weather has turned cold I have noticed a few small cracks in the larger bathroom, on the external wall. I think I'll fill those with some silicone. The small bathroom in the pics above have no cracks. The external wall is in the back where the bathtub is, and the seams on that wall are very small. Plus it's the south facing wall, so it doesn't get as cold.

Laurie Brown
10-27-2018, 2:12 PM
It's a cold yucky day today so time to get back on the bathroom remodel. Today I sanded all the spackle and the walls, shot a couple nails in some loose trim, and vacuumed up the dust. I found a couple pf holes in the wall I forgot to fill, so spackled those and will sand them when they're dry. Next up is wipe down the walls to get rid of excess dust, and then on to the primer! I'm wearing my spiffy new anti-dust respirator today as well.
Sorry the last picture is crooked, I was trying to get in as much of the room as I could.

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Rich Engelhardt
10-27-2018, 2:38 PM
I think I'll fill those with some siliconeUse a top of the line silicone/latex, like Dynaflex 230 instead of 100% silicone. Nothing sticks on top of 100% silicone & I can guarantee down the road - at some point - that will come back to haunt you.


I'm wearing my spiffy new anti-dust respirator today as wellGood on ya! Send anyone that giggles or laughs at it my way. I'll educate them real quick about what can happen to you if you don't take precautions against unknown airborne particles.
Trust me - -dragging around an oxygen tank and/or having to pay $4000.00 - or more - for a portable oxygen generator ain't fun.

Laurie Brown
10-27-2018, 3:15 PM
Use a top of the line silicone/latex, like Dynaflex 230 instead of 100% silicone. Nothing sticks on top of 100% silicone & I can guarantee down the road - at some point - that will come back to haunt you.

That's what I'm going to use, I just simplified it down to silicone. I have a paintable latex silicone to use specially for bathrooms.


Good on ya! Send anyone that giggles or laughs at it my way. I'll educate them real quick about what can happen to you if you don't take precautions against unknown airborne particles.
Trust me - -dragging around an oxygen tank and/or having to pay $4000.00 - or more - for a portable oxygen generator ain't fun.

Yeah, a friend of mine who died took Fen Phen and ended up with something like COPD. She had to have an air tank everywhere she went, and had to wear a mask with long hose so she could get to all the parts of her house. I don't want any part of air tanks. I already have asthma, so I'm careful about my lungs.

Laurie Brown
10-27-2018, 9:38 PM
This morning I finished the sanding, this afternoon I finished the first coat of primer. It's going to need a second coat, I need a couple days to rest, every muscle hurts...

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