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How to repair bathroom wall?

hi all,

I had a little mishap and when installing a hook in my bathroom I hit a pipe. Plumber has fixed and it’s dried out for a few weeks and the time has come to repair.

I have attached a pic and just chasing confirmation that the material I need to replace with is 10mm plasterboard and not a fibre cement sheet of some sort. The house was built in approx 2006 for context.

what would be the best way to repair the hole the plumber made to patch the pipe? It’s about 25 cm by 10cm

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JacobZ

Hi @liambeer,

Thank you for your question.

That is definitely fibre cement sheeting. Can you measure its thickness and let me know what you find?

If it is around 10mm thick, it is probably 9mm Villaboard.

Is it possible to get some photos showing to the left?

How far from that side of the opening is another stud?

Does that pipe extend down the full length of the opening?

The basic solution is to attach some timber around the outside of the opening, then cut a piece of fibre cement sheeting to fit the opening, screw it in place using fibre cement screws, then tape the seams with mesh tape, plaster over it, sand it, and then paint.

We'd need to see exactly how much space you've got to work with to decide on the best method of attaching the timbers, so once we can see the opening a bit better, I am happy to recommend a method.

Check out How To Repair A Large Hole In Plasterboard for an example of what is essentially the same process being done to plasterboard. The main difference is that you would use Wet Area Base Coat for the first coat.

Let me know what you think and if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to ask.

Jacob

liambeer

thanks for your reply. I measured at 9mm which initially made me question if it was fc sheet or gyprock

I have done a repair before with the timber method to attach the patch.

appreciate your advise on what to use to patch the hole

liambeer

Also there is no stud on left hand side that I can feel, the pipe was attached to the stud you can see before the damage was done

JacobZ

Hi @liambeer,

It's great to hear you already have some experience with this type of repair, so you'll know exactly what you are doing.

Considering there is no stud to the left and the pipe can shift inwards a bit, then I'd suggest you attach some 42 x 19mm DAR Pine Premium that runs vertically along the left and right side of the opening, using the fibre cement screws I mentioned.

You can then attach your piece of villaboard to these timbers and follow the process described above.

Let me know if you have any further questions.

Jacob

liambeer

Thanks so much. What material should I use for the patch?

JacobZ

Hi @liambeer,

Ideally, you would use 9mm Villaboard to match what is already there, but unfortunately, it doesn't come in small sizes, so you would have a lot of waste at a relatively high cost.

It's not ideal, but you could use two layers of 4.5mm HardieFlex to make the same thickness. It would be much more cost-effective than the Villaboard.

Jacob

liambeer

That was my fear. What a shame. The 4.5mm eaves sheets are far cheaper

EricL

Hi @liambeer

Please keep us updated with your progress, we look forward to seeing your bathroom wall patched and painted.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

liambeer

Hi again.

I had a thought, what if I got a plasterboard patch and a one mm packer so the timber backing I am screwing into was recessed by 1mm.

would that work?

JacobZ

Hi @liambeer,

That could work, but if you use standard plasterboard, it wouldn't be moisture-resistant and considering this is in your bathroom, it does matter.

Unfortunately, there aren't small repair panels available, but Aquachek™ would be the way to go if you were to use plasterboard.

Let me know what you think.

Jacob

liambeer

I just had a thought, given the small area I need, would this product be suitable

https://www.bunnings.com.au/james-hardie-4200-x-170-x-9mm-primeline-newport-weatherboard_p0710340

MitchellMc

That weatherboard features a decorative rebated detail along its top, @liambeer. Whether you'd get 10cm of usable material out of it, I'm unsure.

Mitchell

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