LESLIE: Susan in Tennessee, welcome to The Money Pit. What can we do for you?
SUSAN: Hi. Well, I’ve got a kind of strange question but I have a mirror that we’ve been trying to get off our bathroom wall. And it’s – it has been applied with liquid nail.
LESLIE: Of course it has. So it’s really stuck there.
SUSAN: It’s very stuck, yes. And we’ve tried to read up on it on the internet and all we can get through is smash it and then replace the plasterboard and I don’t want to do that.
LESLIE: Before you go smashing it, there’s a trick of the trade that Tom and I know. If you get your hands on some piano wire –
SUSAN: Yes?
LESLIE: … and wear safety goggles and wear long sleeves and gloves just in case the mirror does break – and the rule of thumb is when a mirror breaks when you’re doing a home improvement project, it doesn’t count for bad luck so don’t even worry about it. (Tom chuckles) But if you take the piano wire – and if the mirror’s small enough where you can do it on your own or if it’s large enough, grab a partner – go behind the mirror – start at the top – and use the piano wire as a saw to cut through the adhesive. And it might break but it’s going to get you through and it’s going to get it off in less fewer pieces than if you just shattered it. And it would do a good job at not destroying that drywall.
TOM: Another thing that you can do, Susan, is you can cover the mirror with like a contact paper or something like that that’s going to basically be an adhesive …
LESLIE: Ooh, smart.
TOM: … so that if the mirror does break it doesn’t fall off in pieces at you.
SUSAN: Sure. Well that makes sense. But the biggest fear that I have is ruining my plasterboard.
TOM: It’s only a wall, OK? What’s the worst that can happen? You’re going to ruin the plasterboard. OK. Then you’re going to cut it out and put a fresh piece in and, believe me, that’ll be a heck of a lot easier …
LESLIE: You’ll never know.
TOM: It’ll be a heck of a lot easier than trying to repair it. You know, it’s very difficult, if not impossible, to get this mirror off without damaging the wallboard. But wallboard is cheap and wallboard is easy to replace. So don’t worry about it. Just worry about getting it off in as few pieces as possible. Use the piano wire trick of the trade; put the contact paper on it; wear the safety glasses; work slowly; work carefully. But you’ll get it done and then you just repair the wall or replace the wallboard. No big deal.
SUSAN: Well, I appreciate your help and I’ll be calling if it works or if it doesn’t. (laughing)
TOM: Well, if you call us with wallboard repair advice, we’ll know it worked.
SUSAN: (laughing) OK.
TOM: Susan, thanks so much for calling us at 888-MONEY-PIT.
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