Need Advice on Removing Section of Water Damaged Ceiling
I have to remove a 4 foot X 4 foot section of ceiling that has been damaged by a water leak above. The damaged area is in a kitchen and I want to do it with as little dust as possible. I was thinking i would use a Roto Zip with the dust attachment and a shop vac. Good idea? Any other suggestions?
Replies
Use a utility knife.
Stab saw and vacuum
Rotozip throws a fair amount of dust.
Least dusty is a utility knife, but that's slow going.
A "stab saw" is a small hand saw with a pointed end, designed for cutting through drywall. It's a bit faster but messier, and there's a slight danger of damaging wires or pipes overhead.
A saber saw is a lot faster but almost as dusty as a Rotozip and it creates a significant danger of cutting wires or pipes.
I kind of like to use a "oscillating multitool" (Multimaster) -- it's not as fast as a saber saw, but faster than the others, minimal dust (more than utility knife, less than most others), and there's minimal danger of damage to overhead wires/pipes.
Then, of course, there's the old standby: A hammer.
Rotozip
I have a multi tool. I have used it to cut drywall for a hardwood floor expansion gap. Have you seen the dust collar attachment with dust port for the Roto Zip? I had to grind some wall tile with a diamond Roto Zip blade and I installed the dust collar attachment and connected a shop vac. Didn't have to cut much but it seemed to get the dust. I also have a stab saw. I like the idea of a utility knife but as you said it will be sloooooooooooow going and I've got a good size area to cut.
I suppose the Rotozip dust collar might work -- I've seen it but never tried it.
H2O
Soak the ceiling with water. That'll keep the dust down.
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Jim
Get lucky and find the drywall seam close to you needed cut out. Pull the d-wall tape back there and remove. This will give you a recess to mud in the new tape, thus eliminating a bigger hump to hide. Also gives you a nice straight line to fill in the patch........and less dust from no cutting.
will explain further when we meet up at the Fest .
Don't over-think this!
1) Do most of your cutting with a razor knife and a hand-powered stab saw. What dust there is has large grains and falls straight down;
2) Get a HEPA filter for your vacuum, turn it on, and let it run as you work. It will catch a lot of the airborn dust. No HEPA filter? Then don't vacuum at all- drywall dust is instant death to vacuums;
3) Roto-Zips throw up enormous amounts of dust- especially when the area behind the drywall is filled with insulation. (The bits are designed to push the dust forward, into the cavity);
4) Tools like the Fein Multi-Master create very little airborn dust. Like the hand saw, what dust there is tends to be large grain and falls straight to the floor; and, finally,
5) Don't "cut" at all. Instead, score deeply with several passes of the razor knife, then break it out. You do NOT need a perfectly straight edge - that's what mud is for! Yes, a fit can be too tight, too 'perfect.' You need room for the mud.
Let's look at your "procedure." Cut your patch in advance - mount it atop the damaged area - use your knife to score around it. Remove your patch piece - break out the damaged section - clean up your mess - then instal the patch into the matching hole.
Patch
I was going to cut the patch larger and remove the gypsum from the backside of the edge all around the patch and use the paper on the front side instead of drywall tape.
That's a good approach for a smaller patch, but I doubt that it will work well for a 4-footer.
knife or stab saw with vacumn
I've done a fair amount of patching and for removal the knife creates the least dust. But it's hard work and aggravates my neuropathy so I've recently been using a stab saw with a vacumn. Short strokes should minimize the danger of cutting any wires.
Thats a decent size patch and your're going to have 4 butt joints to feather out. I don't know how skilled you are at drywall but If it's a small kitchen I think I would consider doing an r&r of the whole ceiling.
How bad is the damage.
Drywall
I've done a bunch of small patches with good results. It's a friend kitchen and fairly large. I don't have the equipment to do a large job. The damged area has been water soaked by a leak from the bathroom above which went on over a long period of time as they had touble identifying the leak source. I was cutting the ceiling with a utility knife on another leak job and once it's wet it cuts fairly easily. I'll watch for wires....got the inspection camera.
As someone else pointed out, since you're doing a 4x4 foot patch you will be encountering at least one seam in the drywall. If you can make two sides fall on the seams that makes it a lot simpler -- just rip the tap off of those sides and you only need to cut two sides.
Leaks
Friend of mine has a leak from the bathroom over his family room. He's patched the damaged section of the family room ceiling a couple times already and still hasn't found the source of the leak :). Good luck on your detective work and on the patch job. I hate doing butt joints, especially on a ceiling.
Drywall Patch
I have 2 leak/patch jobs. The first is in my house....the toilet wax gasket post which turned out not to be the toilet but a corroding copper water supply pipe. This will be a smaller patch job.. The Big patch job is being done because the leak was finally found after many eyes looked at it. The wax gasket fiasco.....I replaced the gasket a week ago and the water stain continued.....I was going to replace the gasket again but figured I'd open the ceiling to be certain that the wax was the problem and it wasn't. Did your friend do the patch before he found out where the leak was?
Still hasn't found source of leak
He still doesn't know what is leaking. Were it me I would keep the ceiling open until I knew where it was coming from but he must like patching drywall :).
Leak
At this rate he must be pretty good at it. Does he get the patch completed before the leak returns? Same spot every time?
As you say, he must like it and is certainly well practiced. Do you think he'd like to help out with the large patch? We'd pay him and I'm not looking forward to doing it anyway.