My wife and I had an offer accepted on a house here in the Nashville metro area last week. Other than a few window seals needing to be replaced everthing was in good shape according to the home inspector so we're set for closing on March 14th.

Here's what the house looks like.

house-1.jpg

We're planning on replacing the carpet downstairs with hardwood to match the the entry way and staircase as well as doing some painting. What I don't know how to approch is removing the hidious floor to ceiling mirrors on the back wall in the formal living room.

house-3.jpg

They are not being held on with clips of any kind, they're glued straight to the sheet rock. I read you can heat them up to soften the adhesive and use a wire of some sort to go behind the mirror like using floss to debadge a car. The problem is being floor to ceiling there's no room to get a wire behind the mirrors so I'm at a loss. Does anyone have any experience taking something like these down? Is this better left to a professional so I don't screw up the wall behind the mirror or have shattered glass everywhere when they come off the wall and fall to the ground?

 

No effin clue....but nice house.

 

No clue either. But try not to break them so you can move them to the bedroom ceiling.


Is that a crown molding on top? Can it be removed so you get the wire in behind from the top?

 

Chances are they used Liquid Nails (adhesive) to mount the mirrors. It's a bitch to get off and will always tear the paper (or more) when you try to remove it. Considering how big the mirrors are I'll assume they used a lot of adhesive.

The end result is a lot of patching on the sheetrock. Is there a chance the mirror doesn't go all the way to the ceiling? Pull the crown moulding down a little and look. How about the baseboard? Can you pull some off and see if you can get to the mirror that way?

May be worth it to hire a handyman to pull the mirrors down, cut out the Sheetrock and replace with new. Any spot patching will be noticeable.

 

I had the same issue when I moved into my home but the mirrors were 1 foot squares which made for easier removal. They were all stuck to the walls with sticky foam. Removing the mirrors damaged the drywall and I had to patch the hell out of everything.

Your problem is different. They had to have used some type of calk adhesive and I can guarantee you that removal is going to be a bitch. I would get a throw-away tarp, a hammer, some safety glasses and canvas gloves. Then I would remove the glass to cut out all of the drywall and start from scratch. It's the easiest and least time consuming procedure.

 

I'd say just be prepared to rip them down and redo the sheetrock on that wall. Quickest, easiest way to remove them...

 

Thanks for the responses guys. I think we'll have to hire someone to do this. I was hoping to get them down myself and then hire someone to come patch anything up that got damaged, but sounds like getting them down in one piece might be beyond my abilities.

 

Wallpaper or paint over the mirrors if you want a painted surface.

We have a similar mirrored wall in our dining room opposite the windows on the front of the house-- I like the mirrors.

Looks like a nice house; conrats!

 

Congrats on the new house Todd!!

 

OMG congrats Todd!

I WANT A GARAGE!!!!!!!!!

 

Are you sure they're glued on? What are those triangle shaped pieces at the top for? Hard to see in the pictures.

 

They're beveled mirrored trim pieces which I suspect are glued on as well. I'm 99% sure everything is glued because there's another large mirror above the fireplace in the other living room with no trim pieces and I can clearly see on the edges behind the mirror there's some kind of adhesive bonding it to the wall. Looks like I'm going to be paying for sheetrock patching in quite a few places. They also have a huge mirror in the hallway on top of the stairs and in front of the garden tub in the master bathroom. They also had a 220 Volt outlet installed in the 2nd bedroom for a tanning bed. I kind of wish I got to meet them but they currently live in Denver.

 

Thanks Aaron! It'll be our very first house with a 2 car garage, which was a must have on my list.

 

Gonna have to break 'em and put up new drywall...or patch the crap out of the existing drywall.

 

Probably PL Premium'd on. Your basically screwed as others say remove drywall.

 

Hire a glass company to come by and take them out. Worth the money spent.

 

they sound like nudists.

 

a tanning bed.. haha

 

nudist. DUDE YOUR HOUSE IS NICE! Congrats on the new purchase! Yeah I'd more than likely pay someone to get the mirrors down and get new drywall. Looks like it'll be a serious job for me if i had to do it myself. I can almost guarantee you I'd break more than the glass.

 

Tarp, hammer, and replace the sheet rock. Yes, it's sucks but kinda fun and not a bad project.

 

 

Thanks for the comments/suggestions guys. I found a local handyman that quoted me $280 to take the mirrors down and repair the drywall behind them. I think it's worth the money just to let the pro do it. I've never repaired/hung drywall before. We have a bunch of other stuff we want him to do so he'll do it all as a combined cost.

 

Just find out what he means by repair the drywall. If he tries to patch all of the holes left by the adhesive it's going to look terrible. It really needs to be torn down and new rock put up.

 

Yeah very good point. He did admit it's really hard to tell how much paper the mirrors are going to take off. I'll be there when he does it so I guess if it comes down to what will look best I'll have him replace the sheetrock verses trying to patch huge spots if he feels that's the best approach.

 

$280 is a good deal if he patches the drywall too.

 

That's what I thought as well. I was honestly expecting more like $500. I'll take some before and after photos and update the thread when it's done.

 

I have no suggestions on the mirror removal, but - Congrats on the house! I really like it; especially the brickwork.

 

We closed on the house Wednesday and the hardwood floors were finished this afternoon. The mirrors are coming down Monday to be followed with interior painting. Some before and after photos...

Formal Living Room/Dining Room

Before

formal-living-room-w-carpet.jpg

Trying to match the existing hardwood entry

entry-match-hardwood.jpg

Subfloor

formal-living-room-wo-carpet.jpg

After

formal-living-room-w-hardwood1.jpg

formal-living-room-w-hardwood-dining-room1.jpg

dining-room-to-formal-living-room-w-hardwood.jpg

Living Room

Before

den-w-carpet.jpg

During

laying-hardwood-out.jpg

After

den-w-hardwood.jpg

den-w-hardwood-windows.jpg

 

Looks nice! Great view out on to the deck. Love that.

 

Nice. Make sure the guy that removes your mirrors at least puts down craft paper and hopefully puts down plywood over that. Would hate to damage those new floors.

 

Thanks, T. You see those things out there? Those are called trees. I never knew until I left Arizona.

Good call. I asked him if he wanted to do the mirrors and painting before the floors went in. He said it didn't matter since he always takes care in protecting the floors from damage/paint when he works, so let's keep our fingers crossed he follows through with that.

 

Yes, I recall. They made me claustrophobic after 2 years in TN and KY. When I got back to AZ, I couldn't believe how far I could SEE. I understand tornadoes have a habit of uprooting those things and placing them in people's living rooms.

 

Tornadoes? What in the heck are those things?

 

Your house is extremely nice! Love the hardwood flooring!!!!

 

Love the hardwoods!

 

Wow, the floors transformed everything

Can't wait to see it without the mirrors. I love the brick too

 

Thanks all!

 

Side not, hows the lip from the street to the driveway? Can you lower the MS6 now?

 

It would not scrape if I lowered it.

 

LOVE the house! The floors looks great! Is it real hardwood or a laminate? I want to do something similar with laminate (so it's a bit more animal/people proof ).