# Drywall Screws Rusting?



## Whitepower

Did you compound good and tape right? Also what kind of paint did you use?


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## rick112

I used paper tape and premixed general purpose joint compound. I bought Myron Fergusons book and read it several times then tried to follow his methods exactly. I primed with Kilz Premium Primer/Sealer then rolled on 2 coats of Behr Premium Plus Interior Semi-Gloss Enamel.

-rick


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## lrobertstoner

1st from ya pics it dont look like screws your stud should be in closer to angel or out father from angel are you sure you didnt role some dirt from the floor a little piece of rock crumb stuck in a nap roller could give you that result if you sunk your screws properly and used sheet rock screws then they shouldnt be rustingyou could have sanded to much exposing the head of screws wich means you didnt have your screws set deep enough this will continue to be a problemunless you fix the screw depth outside of that i cant think of anything else that would cuase this problem for future always use a drywall screw gun make sure that depth is set for person running gun and thier push and use the black coated sheet rock screws back in the day we would have this problem with the nails but now they are coated to hope this helps:huh:


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## oh'mike

lrobertstoner said:


> 1st from ya pics it dont look like screws your stud should be in closer to angel or out father from angel are you sure you didnt role some dirt from the floor a little piece of rock crumb stuck in a nap roller could give you that result if you sunk your screws properly and used sheet rock screws then they shouldnt be rustingyou could have sanded to much exposing the head of screws wich means you didnt have your screws set deep enough this will continue to be a problemunless you fix the screw depth outside of that i cant think of anything else that would cuase this problem for future always use a drywall screw gun make sure that depth is set for person running gun and thier push and use the black coated sheet rock screws back in the day we would have this problem with the nails but now they are coated to hope this helps:huh:


Robert---That's about the longest sentence I've ever seen!:laughing:


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## lrobertstoner

how is this . can you read this better. i hope so. wouldnt want you not to be able to read this. mike.......... hey gues what! the period button does work! so does the explanation mark to bad this doesnt have a middle finger.


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## lrobertstoner

rick even though i didnt use periods i hope this helps you and for you mike.


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## rick112

Those spots are right over drywall screws for sure. I checked each one with a small rare earth magnet. Also, each spot has a sort of rough feel to it. The screw depth is correct, I used a drywall screw gun and set it to just slightly dimple the paper without tearing it. I remember there were only a couple of places I accidentally sanded through to the screw heads and that was in the back of the closet so I didn't really care to much about it. 

It has to be rust right? What else could it be, mold? 

Has anyone seen this before?

-rick


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## Whitepower

Thats new to me never seen that before. You used all the right products and sounds like you did everything correctly. Were the screws rusty before you used them?


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## rick112

No, the screws were new. It's just hard to believe that those drywall screws could just rust through like that so quickly without a major source of moisture.


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## Willie T

oh'mike said:


> Robert---That's about the longest sentence I've ever seen!:laughing:


I've gotta say, I just stopped trying to read it.


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## rick112

I give up. I guess I did something wrong, but hell if i know what. Wait 'till my wife sees me ripping that wall apart. GOOD TIMES!


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## rditz

how long has it been since you completed this project?? weeks, months?? I am not sure why you would have rust, and not see any other signs of moisture in the drywall. 

are these both exterior walls?? did they get Vapour Barrier??

was your paint a "bathroom" paint??

before tearing it out, pick the mud off of the screw heads to see if it is rust..

rod


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## screwy

Not sure if it is rust, rust occurs when oxygen reacts with iron to form iron oxide. So if it is rust, then oxygen must be getting to the screws. But it shouldn't get through the mud, sealer, paint and the coating on the screws. We are missing something here.


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## rick112

@rod
We started using the bathroom about a month ago. There is only one exterior wall and it has a vapor barrier behind the drywall. The other wall is an inside wall and has no vapor barrier. The paint is Behr Premium Plus Interior Semi-Gloss Enamel which is supposed to be for wet areas. Um, yeah, I guess you're right. I should probably dig out one of the screws before going loco on the whole wall.

@screwy
If not rust then what? It's not just a discoloration, the spots have a slightly rough feel.
The only thing I could come up with was that the moisture (if that's what it is) could be coming from behind the wall. The inline exhaust fan I installed in the attic is twice as powerful as it should be. It will also eventually service another bathroom I am working on now. The other day I shut the bathroom door, turned on the fan, lit a match, blew it out, and held it up to the toilet water stub-out. There was definitely air blowing out of the wall at that point (which is directly below the spots on the wall). Now, direcly below that stub-out is the corner of an unfinished laundry room with the dryer and furnace. That room gets pretty hot and most so I'm thinking that the bathroom fan could be sucking air into the wall from the laundry room. It's probably pulling air from the attic too but it's cold and dry up there this time of year. Complicated theory I know, but hey, it's all I got.

-rick


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## lrobertstoner

i agree remove the screws i still think you picked up some kinda trash as you painted .
but removing a few screws will let you know if that is rust 
it being rough in texture fits with trash in paint try scraping the spot
then re finish it if this was absorbent amount of moister you would have this on every screw on the wall 
and mike and willie no periods but maybe you can understand me now


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## tpolk

could be rust, looks like a section of outside wall framing/ tee might not have good insulation and is allowing cool air/ moisture in. just a thought


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## rick112

@lrobertstoner
I checked each spot with a magnet, they're screw heads. Either that, or very magnetic dirt. I'll dig one out and see what's what.

-rick


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