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Containers for the Bigger Projects

Not every project is going to be the simplest. What starts off as something that will only take 7-10 days can have the potential to turn into a bit more than what was expected. That recently happened to us. While we make every effort to be sure we know what we’re getting into, and what we as well can tell our clients to expect when we start on their home remodel project, stuff happens.  In this case, it was an old leak that had gotten into the bathroom walls near the shower. It honestly looked fine from the outside, but our guess was that this maybe happened an owner or two ago.

While it maybe wasn’t an immediate problem at that time, over the years the issue became worse.  Once wood becomes wet, it starts to lose structural integrity and can start rotting. If you are using pressure treated (or simple “treated”) lumber for a project, then it’s not an issue. This is why outside projects are always done with treated lumber – heck those pieces of lumber can be stuck straight in the ground and handle all types of inclement weather for the most part. Granted if a finish isn’t put on them, eventually, they WILL require replacement, but treated lumber can hold on for years.

However, when an untreated simple framing stud – a 2×4 – gets sprayed with water and dripped on over time, there will usually be problems. While the walls there did NOT show any major bulges or weakness, when we went to repair some of the tiles, we could immediately tell there were issues with the wall. The backing plasterboard was way too crumbly – pretty much falling apart when we removed some of the tiles. That in turn led to checking out the area behind the walls – and discovering that a water leak had been there at some point. Now not only did we have to replace the wall, but we also had water damage spreading down into the studs and down into the flooring unfortunately.

Over the years, the materials had weakened and now we were going to have a bit more to do than to just replace a few tiles. Good for us (well, sort of – we hadn’t planned the extra time for this), but bad for the homeowner.  Whenever we start ripping walls, we have to admit, there’s usually a lot more stuff than we like to throw onto the front yard. This would prove to be no exception. As we started removing sheet rock, then studs, ripping out some weakened flooring, we needed to contact another vendor to bring out a storage container. Just a small one was all we really needed – a quick 10×10 is often enough for the bathroom remodels we do. This one was a bit more due to the extra work we were going to be doing, but it all would fit in here pretty clean.

There are two points here –

  1. You absolutely NEVER can be sure what you are going to walk into until you get going.
  2. Find a good shipping container company if you’re serious about doing remodeling.

As it always does, everything turned out great. We were happy with the finished results. The clients were NOT particularly happy about it turning into more than what THEY had expected either, but they understood. Though when it came ot the finished bath look? They were ecstatic. Getting rid of that old 70s look made them some happy folks. As well, knowing that their structure was solid again (though it WAS a surprise that it wasn’t) was a relief to them.

Another day in the life! Find out more at our homepage at https://www.matlockbathonline.com/