While removing 1 ceramic tile in my bathroom wall I damaged some of the backer board behind it. It's only a 5" x 8 " area. How can I repair it?. Also, once repaired, what's the best adhesive to use for the new tile?
Joe, thank you for your question. There are a lot of unknowns here, and it would help if I had more information related to the following things.
- I am not sure if you are going to be removing all the tile on the wall, a few tile on the wall or just the one tile that you already removed.
- Is the backer board cement board?
- I am also not sure how much or what type of damage happened to the backer board.
- I am not sure what type of backer board material you are talking about. Is it drywall, plaster, wood or other material? Knowing these things would make it easier for me to pinpoint the problem and give you the most accurate answer.
- Is the 5" x 8" damage area the actual size of the tile or larger?
- If it is just one tile that you are removing, are you going to replace it with another matching tile or is something else going to be place in that area?
- Why did you need to remove the tile in the first place?
I am going to use the repair that would involve using drywall. If drywall is not your backer board, the same technique can be used even if it is wood that is the backer board.
Assuming that you are only going to replace the one piece of tile, the fix may not be too difficult if the area to be repaired is in the center of the 5" x 8" space that you are talking about. Please take a look at the drawing below.
Assuming that you have drywall as the backer board, you would need to use a utility knife to cut out the center of the damaged area and leave about 1" of drywall showing all the way around the opening. If there happens to be a wood backer board, you may need to use a key hole saw other small saw to cut out the damaged would area, but again this answer is based on drywall.
Once the hole has been cut, take some drywall and cut a piece that is about 1/4" smaller in width and height (7 3/4" x 4 3/4") then the entire area that you are working on. The next part is a little tricky, but not difficult to do if you follow these instructions.
Take the piece of drywall you just cut and lay it on a workbench or piece of scrap plywood, and put it face down. On the back side use a pencil and a ruler and measure and draw lines in from the edges 1" all the way around the piece of drywall you just cut.
You will now need to score the lines with your utility knife one end at a time. As you get each end scored, you are going to snap the pieces and carefully pull them away from the paper. When you are done, you will have all the paper remaining and just the center section of drywall remaining. This will be used as a patch to repair the damage area of backer board. See the drawing below.
Next you will need to take some joint compound and using a small putty knife apply the joint compound to the 1" area left in the the 5" x 8" area of the wall. You can apply it a little thick. After that you will take the "patch" that you made as indicated in the drawing above a place it so the drywall part of it fits into the hole in the damaged section of the backer board that you cut out and press the paper against the joint compound. Using your putty knife, flatten out the paper by pressing and sliding the knife against the paper so the it fits nice and flat against the wall. You will be squeezing out some excess joint compound that you can scrape off and wipe way with the putty knife.
Next there will be a series of photos showing the concept mentioned above using a couple of pieces of drywall. The section of drywall with the hole cut out represents your wall with the tile removed the backer board would have been showing.
The first few photos show the steps taken when working on the 7 3/4" x 4 3/4" piece of drywall that will become the patch.
Score along drawn lines on back of drywall with the utility knife.
Snap end piece back.
Carefully pull of piece leaving the paper.
Drywall shown with piece removed and paper remaining.
Cut, snap and remove all remaining pieces.
How piece will look after all pieces are removed.
This shows the hole to be fixed with the piece above that will be used to make the patch.
Make sure piece fits in the hole properly. You can always scrape away and excess drywall if it needs trimmed a little. I drew lines on the front of the piece just to give you a reference point between the drywall and paper.
Apply a coat of joint compound with a putty knife to the 1" area around the hole.
Insert the patch into the hole with the paper against the joint compound.
Use a putty knife to flatten and smooth out the paper of the patch.
Patch is now in place with all edges smoothed out. Let this dry.
After the patch dries, you may want to apply a skim coat over the entire patch.
Applying a thin skim coat over the patch and letting it dry, can help the patch to become more ridged. You can test the patch after the edges dry by pressing on the center to see if it feels secure and then decide if you need to apply the skim coat.
Once your patch is complete, you can then install the replacement tile and the job will be complete.
If this is not your situation, please email me with more information to askrick@showroom411.com, and I will be glad to give you the answer you need.
I hope this helps, Rick
Rick Maselli is founder and editor of Showroom411.com and Ask Rick