Any drywall experts?

[Twinpanther]

When my system was set up at one point the top tank return had sprung a leak. It misted my wall with saltwater for a couple hours before I caught it. Now that I'm getting ready to move out of the apartment I want to get it fixed.

Please keep in mind I'm no expert in drywall or building construction. The wall it is on appears to be a fire wall as it sounds solid when tapped on. The opposite side of this wall is a common area to the building. The damaged area is approx 48"x18". Is it possible to smooth/sand down the rough area of drywall and repaint? Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Here is what it looks like atm:

Thanks,
Paul

 

[jfl14609]

I would just scape it then put a little drywall compound on let it dry sand and then pain. I used to work at apartment complex's for about 8 year and trust me thats way more than most people would do.

 

[Jacwil]

I would just scape it then put a little drywall compound on let it dry sand and then pain. I used to work at apartment complex's for about 8 year and trust me thats way more than most people would do.

+1!!! If scraping doesnt work, take a utility knife and cut through the layer of paint and drywall paper, thin coat of mud, sand and paint..done!

 

[Gravesj1s]

Agree, as well. You could also use some spackling compound ,comes ready mixed in small quantity.

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

If the dry wall is sound, I would scrape any loose material off and skim coat with compound. If its not sound, I would remove the bad material and either fill with faster setting compound (so it doesn't have time to sag) if the holes are small, if its medium size, I would likely use a blow out patch, made by taking a piece of drywall an inch or so bigger all the way around and cutting the filler piece from the back and carefully removing the rock portion, but leaving the extra surface paper attached; you then mud it right in, second coat and sand. If its at all big its best to fix and tape in a piece of drywall. Drywall is as easy as it gets to repair, the worst part is it is a two or three day fix, or more by the time its painted, even though it may only take a couple minutes each time.

 

[gandolf8]

I wounder if it is green board

 

[TimmyNY]

Ive been doing drywall for 30 years. first off 18 by 48 is too big for a blow out patch. If the area feels solid you can try to scrape it down to a fairly level surface. Try not to go all the way through the paper if you can. if you do and it doesn't break through you can then skim it with ready made compound. but first you have to get a can of killz primmer. the lacquer kind. it will seal the paper so it doesn't bubble from the moisture in the compound. put a couple of THIN coats on as smooth as you can. its much easier to ad another coat than it is to sand one off go from 2 directions don't worry it will look like crap when you get this done.next take a sanding sponge (medium grit) and sand it flat as possible. don't worry if there are scratches in it you just want to take off the high stuff.then skim it with another coat. put this one on ad an angle from the directions of the scratches.when it drys you can then lightly sand again and you should be good to prime and paint

if the drywall is too badly damaged you Will have to cut it out and replace it. the good thing is that a rated wall between a common area and a apartment should be 2 layers of 5/8 drywall. If you have to cut it out try to only take out the top layer then when you replace it use a layer of 1/2 inch that way you don't get a hump in the wall where the patch is. be sure to use tape around the edges or it will crack. use paper its cheaper and sorks better

Good luck
Tim

 

[Twinpanther]

The apartment complex was built in the 70's if that helps any.

Thanks for all the help so far. Couple questions:

Scrape = paint scraper? Or a sand block of some sort?
Drywall compound and mud (in this instance) are the same thing, correct?

Paul

P.S. Just noticed the "Similar Threads" section at the bottom. How cool is that?!

 

[TimmyNY]

drywall knife ( putty knife) paint srcaper or sand paper the idea is to remove any soft or damaged areas.

Tim

 

[TimmyNY]

if you scrape an area fairly deep you can load it up with mud and use a straight edge to level it off. you will have to use more coats because it will shrink and or crack if you put it on thick but eventually you will get a flat surface. just dont forget the killz otherwise the paper bubbling will drive you nuts

Tim

 

[Twinpanther]

Good news?

I started rubbing the wall with my finger to see how solid the wall felt. After all these years it seems there are a LOT of layers of paint covering these walls. As I rubbed I was getting peels of approx. 5-6 layers to rub off. Under that the paint is slightly different color and seems to be solid with no bubbling or peeling. I can even see a painted over nail in one spot. I've only scraped off about the size of a football and so far the under paint seems to be in tact and the wall feels solid and not squishy. I'm thinking it might be a semi-gloss under all the layers of flat white. I'll get my hands on a scraper tomorrow and see what turns up after it's all scraped off.

Again, thanks guys. You are a huge help.

Paul