Bathroom redo

[shaun]

... but I had a 9 inch angle grinder to work with.
I finished the boat next spring.

<chuckle>
"All's well that ends well" -- though one might have to "strain at gnats" to see the positive part.

PS: Guess you loved her *muchly*

[shaun]

So, I figured this is the only place I can post a project that isn't woodworking involved.
nathan

Nathan, before you go any farther, check out John Bridge's Website:
[INDENT]http://www.johnbridge.com/[/INDENT]

and the tile advice forum:
[INDENT]http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/[/INDENT]

If you really dig, you'll find some incredible ideas for making your bath a wonderful part of your home.

Oh, and with patience, Habitat for Humanity might provide replacement fixtures to melt the heart. <grin>

[stickthrower]

dgale: The walls in our house are plaster. My wife had at first thought wainscoating, but then she now has decided she wants to do tile on the shower/tub. so from the tub top to the ceiling she wants tile. Then probably wainscoat on the lower part of the other walls and paint the upper. Also she wants the light fixture replaced.

Ryan, nightmare would be more accurate. And so far it has only been removing the wallpaper and tiles.

Dusty, i would love to just pull out the sledgehammer, but the plan is to keep the walls intact. Would be so much easier to tear it all down.

Berry, I have thought of that. If I can get them pulled out in good condition then that will be something I look at. I have 2 boxes full of the salmon tile. i will let you know how it goes.

Lightnin- when we tore out our basement after a flash flood put 8-18 inches of water into the basement, i pulled off a piece of panelling and found a really nice 3 ft level. Also found some nitro pills in the kitchen when we were working in there.

I would prefer to just rip out and start fresh, but my wife is a little concerned about that. she lived through that growing up and doesn't want to live through it now. So I am trying to do this because the walls are still good. Just need to get the adhesive off. It is hard because it is the only bathroom on main floor of the house. It would be nice to add insulation in all 3 walls as 2 walls are matched up to our bedroom and the kids room. The other is the outside wall. i also need to replace the window in there.

I had plans to do this as as surprise for her, but when she went to wash her hair and had a row of tiles fall narrowly missing her, she said it had to be done. I had other plans of pulling the counter and cabinets out, doing a built in that I found plans for, and putting in a pedistal sink, but then I also have to replace the floor.

nathan

[pennview]

Just a few thoughts on the bathroom redo. If you're going to recover the walls with wainscoat, they don't have to be perfect before you add the panelling. You just don't want any bumps. Panel adhesive can be very forgiving.

For the shower/bathtub, you may be better off ripping out the plaster walls in that area and replacing with moisture-resistant drywall and/or cement board. Trying to get a smooth wall comparable to drywall for adding new tile is a challenge. In addition, you'll get better access to any plumbing that may need replacing and also adding electrical if an overhead light is needed. You can rip 2x4s to easily make shims to raise wallboard to the surrounding plaster walls.

[Ed in Tampa]

Unless the walls were plastered and in pristine shape I would remove the wallboard in any bathroom and replace it with green board that would help prevent mold and mildew. Bathrooms are high humidity and high humidity breeds mold and mildew.

My guess is unless you are very very lucky as you begin to remove the wallboard you will find mold and mildrew which can effect the health of the house.

If you removed tile around your tube and you don't have some water damage after 60 years of use, please take a picture. I would love to see it.

[fjimp]

I know that building code differ by locality in many places cement board type products are now required in areas of moisture such as bath or shower stalls. I suggest checking local codes. We have used these products with last three such installs and find therm easy to work with. Jim

[dgale]

As far as tiling the walls around the shower, I second (or third) the suggestion of considering stripping those walls down to studs and using a moisture barrier/tile backer board. Dura-rock cement board is the typical backer board but I used a backer board called "DensShield" with great success:
http://www.gp.com/build/densshield-tilebacker-board

It is better at minimizing any moisture issues from moisture sneaking in through grout etc. and it can be cut, snapped, drilled, and screwed just like sheetrock - this was a huge plus to me as I used it in a bathroom I was remodeling alone and dura-rock is heavy and easily scratches tubs etc, it's more difficult to cut and drill, a pain to screw without screw heads standing proud, and cement is not really the best moisture barrier. Anyway, I used this stuff on the walls around the shower, which then got tiled. For the floor, which I also tiled, I opted for 1/4" hardibacker board:
http://www.jameshardie.com/homeowner/landing-hardiebacker.shtml

It was fairly easy to cut (you can score and snap it like sheetrock) and drill - screwing it was a bit more work as it's pretty dense - they make a special fastener for it and they are worth the extra $$. The bones for me was that it was only 1/4" thick as I was trying to minimize the elevation increase in the bathroom so I didn't have to have a large threshold in the doorway. All other backboards are 1/2", so this saved me a 1/4".