I live in a small apartment with my girlfriend, and lately I've noticed that one specific corner of my wall, in the living room, is starting to bubble out. I believe it's sheet rock walls with spackle slapped over it, and possibly painted over. I don't know if it's sudden water leakage, because of the stains, but the ceiling itself isn't bubbly or mushy. I don't hear water dripping, and the wall isn't wet when it rains outside. My landlord doesn't care at all.So anyway, I was thinking of scrapping the spackle away, it's about a 2x2ft section. Then just applying some. There doesn't seem to be any pattern that they used, if you look at the wall they kind of just went crazy with it. I was also thinking of using some sort of sealant where the wall meets the ceiling, it looks like they did that before. Is there anything I need to know before doing this? The spackle is currently so crumbly that I feel like I could scrape it off with my fingers. But I have a putty knife and am going to borrow a shopvac and just scrape it off and spackle it up. Seems pretty straight forward, I just feel like I'm missing something? Do I need to prime something first...or just do it?
>>2791584Are you in Europe and own this apartment? Or are you renting? Yes, I saw that your "landlord doesn't care," but if you're just renting you'll get different advice than if you own.
>>2791588I'm renting in the US. Why would I get different advice? I'm assuming that it's massive water damage that a simple spackle job won't fix.
>>2791589Walls are made completely differently in many places in europe, in addition many builings may be quite a bit older (by hundreds of years sometimes).Depending on what you find under there, yeah, you can prime it with white PVA glue thinned out to a watery consistency and paint it on there before re-plastering.Usually I wait until the glue is tacky before applying the plaster over it. Do NOT let it completely dry—it’s the same with multiple coats of paint.You can seal the plaster afterward with a penetrating resin after it is 100% dry.I usually just use a board or something to level out the first coat, which leaves a terrible finish, but then you skim-coat with a thinner mix afterward.
>>2791598Well this building is definitely old, it used to be a school house that they converted into apartments. Brick. I just went outside and looked at the corner stone and it says 1893. So the outside of the walls are brick, but the interior walls are not drywall. If I tried to punch it I would probably break my hand. The places where the paint/spackle is chipped off, I can see parts of the wall, and it looks course and feels hard and rough. In my OP picture, the dark spots are the actual wall. It's almost like it's concrete. I mistakenly called it sheetrock, I didn't know that was a brand of drywall. Here's a picture of what it actually is supposed to look like. It's the other side of my living room. It's like they just took spackle, or drywall mud, or joint compound and haphazardly slathered it all over a concrete wall. Every wall in my apartment is like this. So I'm not worried about making it look nice, because it looks like some crackhead just slapped it on there and possibly painted over it. So my problem is something (moisture?) is getting in between the concrete and spackle (or whatever it is). I want to chip away the crumbling spackle/mud and redo it. I believe the wall is concrete, or some other hard material that is rough and hard. It seems like I should just get some joint compound and slap it right on there. Seems like a half hour of work at the most.
>>2791588>I'm renting in the USCall your landlord. If your ceiling looks like that you live in a slum though, so you'd be better off moving.
Okay, so it seems like I need to chip away the 2x2ft spot, wash it down with a sponge, and do a shitty fucking "skip trowel" job with a joint compound. My only question is, do I paint it afterwards? The rest of the wall looks almost glossy. >>2791609It's just this one spot. My landlord isn't going to do shit. Besides, I want to you know...do it myself out of boredom and curiosity.
>>2791622I don't think you should do anything to it, you've already asked the landlord to spend money on it and been told no. If you ruin something or find a larger problem, you could be held to blame under the rental contract you signed, and be on the hook for the entire repair bill. Also there's probably asbestos mixed in with some of the building materials. Hang a tapestry over the area if it bothers you that much, put your natural fix-it instincts to work on your own belongings or activities instead.
>>2791622>My landlord isn't going to do shit.Ah, so I was right. you're living in a slum. there's no point trying to fix it because without fixing the underlying water issue there's no point. >/diy/ - Useless slum apartment rehab
>>2791640>without fixing the underlying water issue there's no pointYeah, that's not going to happen. I just wanted to know if I could slap some fucking spackle or joint compound on it so it wouldn't look like shit for the next few months I'm living here.
>>2791642Paint over it with some Kilz primer and then paint it whatever color but do it corner to corner or it'll look like ass. You can get away with spot priming it
What does your girl do? Who is the income earner. It doesn't sound like you, if you're so bored you will fix up 'your own' place. I mean that's an admirable trait, but as anon said, it's misplaced: this is strictly an issue of your landlord needing to repair the area. And you need to leave if they aren't. That's the nature of renting. They will find some other schmuck, who doesn't mind absorbing mycotoxins into their bloodstream, compromising their health, and who will pay them money for that priviledge, for a room(s) in a building the landlord already owns - controls, and you don't.It's water getting in. Whether it's a leaky pipe or leaky roof, it's likely not a job for you. Could I handle it? Yes. Would I? No. Should you? No.I'm not some dumb cunt in an apartment. I'm a dumb cunt who moved to a farm, to help out for room and board. We are the same dumb cunt, but that's to say you can do better. I refer all you young boys (males) that are missing a huge amount of basic skills, to volunteer on helpx.net etc. My journey started there, then quickly bounced to helping a friend with his farm.Now whether you can also earn the same income at the same job, probably not. But these 'lucrative' wages or salaries from jobs near cities, are fake. You are chained to paying all the bills, rent being one of them. The employer has already factored that in, to keep you under their thumb. It's not bad or good, it's a sucker's gamble.If you want to have children, there's nothing sexier than a man, who can split wood. Fresh air, the smell of woods, ample space, not being asshole to bellybutton with every other medicated wagie..
>>2791642What's the point of spending the money on some place you're only staying for a few months? Are you literally retarded?
