Bathroom remodel

[James Hart]

Just bought a condo near my daughters college.

The bathroom has a 25 year old acrylic tub that's very faded. The tub surround is dated ceramic tile. My wife never brought up any of this until we were driving home from the closing ;-).

Rather than prying off all the tile and cutting the drywall out about 8 inches above the tub, I'm thinking of just removing the drywall and tile in the whole surround and replacing it with cement board after replacing the tub.

Any opinions would be greatly appreciated.

Jim

[bruce ingram]

That seems to be the best way to do it. After replacing tub install the backer board over the tub flange to make your tile job smooth. I've had good luck with Hardibacker as opposed to cement board,much easier and lighter weight. Remember,after tiling to caulk the seam at the bottom(where the tile meets the tub) When caulking this area fill the tub with water. This weighs down the tub so after your done there will not be any cracking. Good Luck, Bruce

[Matt Meiser]

My parents had chronic problems with tile in their bathrooms. One was replaced with a 3-piece fiberglass shower unit in about 1990. It was starting to look bad until the lady that cleans their house spent an hour getting the lime buildup off (they have very heavy line in their water) and now it looks great. We all thought the surface was getting crazed until she tried scrubbing one spot and realized that's all it was. Both of our bathrooms have fiberglass units and they still look great at 18 years old.

My parent's other bathroom my redid around the tub with green board from the original drywall (what was someone thinking?) That lasted maybe 5 years before tile started popping off. Then they tried tile board which was a disaster. Then about 1995 I did it in cement board and tile. Now the only thing requiring maintenance is recaulking every few years.

Personally, I'd rather have the fiberglass units over tile because they require less maintance and are easier to clean. Next would be tile with the epoxy grout but I'd pay someone to do that--that stuff is a nightmare to work with and clean up.