I renovated a shower stall about one year ago. The customer called yesterday and said that nails are coming through the front of the panels. This gave me a jolt as no nails were used.
I had relined the old shower stall by gluing “barkerboard” panels onto the old plywood walls , making it as seamless as possible and the caulking the corners. An “economy job”. I went back yesterday, took a look, WOW, looks like nail points coming through on 10 places. However I used no nails and there were no old nails and nothing done since to the wall behind the shower. I have ruled out damage from nails. On close inspection it looks like there may have been pinholes in the sheets and then water entered the holes and the fibers in the panel swelled, blowing out the front skin of the panel in irregular, mostly three pointed star like pimples that really do look like nails were driven in from behind. There is no sign of water leakage and all joints look good, I cannot find any sign of poor workmanship except perhaps in my choice of material. The lumberyard told me they may discontinue handling this product because they seem to be getting a lot of damaged panels due to poor delivery. I did not notice any flaws at all in the panels when I took delivery.
Has anyone else had a similar problem? What did you do about it?
Thanks
Seaview Handyman
Replies
it could be the glue that you used. those shower panels come with explicit instruction as to which type of glue must be used. liquid nails or PL will dissolve the plastic
my brother had the same happen to him.
What is "barkerboard"?
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FRP???
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it googles to be tile board...
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Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
"Some days it's just not worth chewing through the restraints"
Did you notice any sort of pattern to the bad spots? Is is possible that the board was damaged AFTER you installed it?
The old "tileboard" is carp, of course, but generally should hold up for 2-3 years before showing signs of age, and 5-10 years before it looks slum-shabby.
Sorry about not using a more generic term. Barkerboard is a brand name for a sheet good with waterproof front and a tile pattern embossed in it. It is a cheapo substitute for real tile and usually does a reasonable job. Could it have been damaged after installation? Yes it sure could have and that is a big question as it determines who is responsible for the problem. Me, the product manufacturer or the tenant. There is no pattern to the damage but they "pimples" are all in the same area at about the height of the taps and a foot to the side. They are fairly widely separated so cover an area of about 2 square feet. I have used this product before and have never seen anything like this. I may need to rip it down just to prove to the owner that there are no nails coming in from behind it as it really does look like that but I am CERTAIN this is not the case.
Seaview Handyman
Is it possible that the nails are really screw points coming from the other side of the wall? And then someone realized their goof and "fixed" the new screws?
Got any pictures?
Most likely scratches in surface, then water got in and swelled the fibers.
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Edited 8/23/2009 11:25 am ET by PatchogPhil