DIY Network

Curing Those Broken-Down House Blues DIY's Finders Fixers team comes to the rescue for a in-need-of-repair California Tudor. From "Finders Fixers" episode DFFX-201

(Continued from page 1)

Repairing Damaged Plaster Walls

One of the bathrooms in Curt and Faleen Campbell's California Tudor has damaged plaster walls. DIY's Rick Yerger shows them how to remedy this problem by replastering the wall.

advertisement

	Plastered Wall — before
	Plastered Wall — after
	Figure A
	Figure B

Materials:

drop cloth
scrapers
plaster mix
trowel
damp sponge
sandpaper

1. Remove any existing fixtures from the wall including shelves, towel racks and light fixtures etc. Make sure the power is off at the circuit breaker box when removing any electrical fixtures.

2. Lay down a drop cloth (figure A).

3. Use scrapers to remove any of the loose plaster.

4. Once the area is clean and the edges smoothed off, use a damp sponge to wipe down the wall (figure B). You just want the plaster damp and not saturated to enable the new material to meld with the old.

5. Prepare the plaster mix. The mix should be the consistency of thick pancake batter in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions. Make sure that there are no lumps in the mix to avoid air pockets in the wall.

6. Once the mix is ready, apply to the wall using a trowel. Fill up the holes first and then the joints as you go then go back over these areas again.

7. Once dry, sand the wall down and apply a second coat of plaster.

8. Allow to dry and sand down the wall once again to a smooth finish.

9. Prime and paint.

	Water Heater — before
	Water Heater — after (note the flexible brass gas line with polymer coating)

Fixing the Gas Leak at the Water Heater

Flexible brass gas lines have a high failure rate and immediate correction is a crucial safety measure. Here are a few simple steps to prevent a potential hazard.

Materials:

copper pipe (threaded at only one end)
flexible brass gas line with polymer coating

1. Turn off the gas.

2. Remove the threaded pipe leading from the temperature pressure relief (TPR) valve and replace it with a new copper pipe. This new pipe should only be threaded at one end to avoid the misconception of trying to cap off the end.

3. Remove the flexible gas line. Replace it with the new line that has a protective polymer coating on it.

4. The new gas line should terminate no further than 2' off the ground, and no closer than 6" to the ground.

5. Once all the new connections are snug, turn the gas back on.

1 | 2