Fixing it up, again

At some point in the ongoing adventures of home ownership and remodeling projects, I think everyone finds themselves at the point where they are re-remodeling or fixing stuff they were already proud to have called finished.

Upon study, it's my hypothesis that this natural phenomenon, normally brought on my age or changing tastes, is greatly accelerated by the presence (infestation) of the pint-sized interlopers commonly referred to as "children".

One of my early (pre-azdiyguy.com) projects in this house was the remodel of our guest bathroom. Along with new cabinetry, the train-rack towel rack, vanity top, paint and pluming fixtures, we'd installed wainscoting. I'd made it from a 1/4" x 4' x 8' particle board panel with a beaded finish and trimmed it out with wide base molding and chair rail.

I think a cannon exploded right about here.

Now two years later, next to the bathtub where a deluge from countless water-gushing naval engagements had been fought by our little pirates, the panels have become damaged.

Evidently, I didn't seal them up well enough when I painted them. The decorative grooves had let splashed water into the fiberboard, and it has swelled horribly. 

Ohhhhhh,..... the horror!

Luckily, in the dryer than dry climate of the Sonoran desert, the panels were bone dry. The swollen spots were not spongy at all; they were left hard nodules of ugliness. It took just a few minutes of sanding with my sweet DeWalt random orbit sander and some 220 grit sandpaper to get all the swelling knocked down and the panel smooth again.

Sand-tastick

Unfortunately, the worst area was swollen so thickly that sanding it had completely taken out the groves (beading?). That would certainly look stupid if I simply painted it. I tried to cut new grooves with a razor knife and a straight edge, chisels, and even sandpaper folded over a thin piece of plastic. Nothing worked well enough for me to really dig in with confidence.

Staring slack-jawed at my garage tool cabinet, I finally remembered my oscillating, multi-tool. It's an inexpensive Harbor Freight version, but its served me admirably well on two projects already. Sure enough, plunge cutting and giving it a slight wiggle scored the new lines in mere seconds. The grooves on the existing panels are already a little rustic, so the hand-held cut matched up just fine.

I finished it up with some fresh caulk and a coat of KILZ primer. I taped the whole panel off with my favorite painting buddy, Frog Tape, and painted it a fresh, glossy white. I think I sealed it up pretty good.

Fixed. Repaired. Re-remodeled. It looks nice against the new door I think. Hopefully, our youngest is at an age that we can keep the raging geysers of Poseidon's oceanic tempest under control.

How about you? You get tired of fixing up stuff you've already fixed?