Replacing the Drywall In a Moldy Closet

The leaky faucet and moldy closet saga finally comes to a close today! I told you about the mysterious smell that was coming from our downstairs hall closet in this post awhile back. Well, we found out what it was (a broken faucet upstairs that had leaked all the way down into the ceiling of our closet, completely rotting out the drywall) and fixed it in this post.

But the issue still remained… we now had a moldy closet to deal with.

The ceiling was damp and soft to the touch- completely soaked through. The first step, of course, was fixing the leak so that water would not continue to build up or damage it again after we went through the trouble of replacing the drywall. Then we pulled the ceiling down…

And it was gross. Definitely wet and definitely moldy. There was just no way around it- this job called for a drywall replacement. And my dad. 🙂

Neither Mitch or I have ever replaced drywall before, so my dad came over and he and I did it together (Mitch was at work and couldn’t be there, but don’t worry… I took good notes!). The first step was measuring our space and cutting the drywall.

Because we had to work around the existing shelf, one full piece would not fit, so we did two halves to cover the whole ceiling. My dad taught me how to cut drywall… basically, you measure, use a straight edge to draw your cut line and then again to guide your box cutter along that line. When you’re in a rush and under a time crunch, you use whatever you need to get the job done… in this case, an air filter. 🙂

Then pick up the dry wall piece and smack the back of it along the line and it should snap right along where you cut. Fold it so the paper backing creases and then use your box cutter to slice through that paper on the back.

To install drywall, you need to have something to screw it into… the wood framing. Our closet ceiling had framing around its perimeter, but nothing in the middle. We used a few wood scraps to create center beam so that the drywall could be screwed along the center as well as the perimeter. If you’re working with a full piece of drywall, attaching it to something in the center as well as the perimeter will help eliminate any sagging or bowing of your drywall. Because we were working with two halves of drywall and not a full piece, this was a necessary step for us anyway. Usually, you would just use a 2×4″ for this job, but this was such an impromptu project that we didn’t have time to run out for more wood, so we made our own beam using what we had laying around the house.

Then all it takes is screwing your drywall right into the wood framing! This part was the easiest.

All done!

From there, it’s time to spackle… all of the joints and that center line. I did a thin layer of spackle, put some joint tape over it, and then three more coats of spackle, letting each coat dry for at least a day before applying the next.

When the final coat of spackle is dry, give it a good sanding to smooth it down and it should feel like one continuous piece. We painted the whole closet with two coats of Kilz Stain Blocker (and sealant) primer to ensure that we’d have no stains come back to the surface of our new paint job.

I didn’t want to spend any more money than necessary for this project, so I used leftover paint (which inevitably means blue in this house) and gave the whole closet a coat. Ahhh, so fresh and clean!

Let me tell you, after living with an entire closet (and two bathrooms) displaced into our kitchen for weeks, it felt SO GOOD to get everything back inside where it belongs!

This was one project that was not super fun… nothing decor-ish about it, but it’s just one of those things that has to be done. #homemaintainance 🙂 The funny thing is, as annoying as the process was, Mitch and I both kept saying that we were thankful we got to learn some new skills along the way. Installing two new faucets, fixing the leaks, and re-doing a closet (thanks for the lesson, Dad!) was a good way to add to our DIY experience and learn a little bit more about the ins and outs of a house. So all in all, we’re thankful for the life lessons. But even more thankful to have our kitchen back. 🙂