A whole bathroom remodel

[briannarae]

We have water damage in our bathroom, and since it is our only one, we are going to have to do parts at a time. We are going to put tile down and also in the shower and on the wall behind the toilet. In the shower, do we need to use a specialty backerboard (for being wet), and against the studs, do we put up plywood or whatever then the backerboard and tile, or just backerboard and tile? Also for the wall behind the toilet, the sheetrock is going to have to come off. The same with that. Do we put up new wall then backerboard? The floor is aweful. You can stand next to the tub and look down in the corner and see past subfloor to under the house!!! That is because the plywood has rotted away in the corners. We thought about using marine plywood, just bc of the fact that I NEVER WANT TO HAVE TO DO THIS EVER AGAIN...and I know it is expensive, but our bathroom is only 8'X5'. The subfloor looks to be in good condition, and when you jump on it it seems sturdy. When we take out sink, I know that we are going to have to cut out some of the subfloor inbetween the joists so that we can get under the house to brace up the joists, as there are some squeaky spots in front of the sink. Not to mention putting all the weight of the tile on it, it is going to need it. What do we put back in the spot that we cut out the hole? When cutting out the hole, do we cut halfway over the joist so that the new wood lays on that half? This is going to be sooo much work, but it HAS to be done. I am going to be taking pictures as we go along and will post them, probably along with millions of other questions I have lol....

[Glasshousebltr]

You need the ply on the floor to achieve the 1" 1/4 of substrate needed to support the tile. As far as the walls go, I've hung backer right over drywall but don't advise this. To do it right beef the walls up with some ply or some one falling into the wall can ruin your grout.

I look forward to your pics.

Bob

[briannarae]

So no sheetrock on wall under backerboard, but plywood? I cant just put up backerboard against studs? So what would be a good thickness? Do I need to use a small thickness with small thickness backerboard? It is going to have to be fairly small bc where the bathroom door is, on the hinge side there is only 2 inches of wall before it hits the corner and goea around. HA! We had had a contractor come out to do an estimate and he wanted $10,000 JUST for labor, and that was with us doing the demolition!!!! Um well for one, if I had $10k to put into my bathroom, it's going to have diamond studded faucets and gold trim and a soundproof door......lol

[Glasshousebltr]

Where are ya located Brian? Just Curious.

10K sounds a little high for L&M, more less just labor. Most the bathrooms I do range from 3,500 to 8,500 L&M RI in place. However, I've done a few higher end that knocked the roof off a buck.

If you can get it, you need 1" 1/4 of ply/and or backer. You might get away with hanging backer over the drywall but I think chances are about 50/50 the grout wont stay put long. It's your house, so it's your call, you'll be the fella fixing it or paying for it.

Good luck with it

Bob

[JPcoupe]

I'm a retired remodeler and if I'm understanding you correctly, you have a separate stand up shower plus a bath tub, you say that you want to tile the floor of the shower and there is a whole through the floor by the tub?
Question? Is your house old with plaster and if it is drywall and the the house is only 30 yrs old the drywall can be thicker than 1/2" just from moisture build up and swelling. If you are going to only cut out sections it takes some experience to shim the new and old for a smooth wall.
Unless I am misunderstanding,I've never heard of using plywood under drywall. Cut whatever amount of section you need to replace back to the stud,punch a whole in an area that you plan to replace and find a stud,cut your drywall 3/4" from the inside of that stud leaving 3/4" of good rock on the stud to tie in the new rock. Use 1 1/4" drywall screws not nails. The screws won't work themselves out like nails will and they won't rust as long
as you maintain the grout and caulk.
You can use cement board ,backer board or green board. Cement board and backer board come in I believe 3x5' sheets, cement board is thinner than drywall, and hard to cut cleanly. Backer board is 1/2" like drywall but again comes in smaller sheets.Cement and backer board are much more costly than green board.The moisture problems occur due to poor gout and caulk around sinks and tubs and for painted walls use a high quality bathroom paint. Ventilation is also very important.
As far as the sub floor goes, replace the whole thing,nice level floor. If the base floor (slated boards under the sub floor) need som new wood do that too. Use screws not nails.screw everything down tight,base floor and sub floor.
As for tiling I can write you a whole page of do's and don'ts. Before adding tile it is a good time to up grade shower fixtures and pipes, you don't want to have to tear out your new tile due to old pluming. If you are tiling the floor of your shower don't forget that it isn't a flat surface,the tiles have to pitch to the drain. Make sure the drain pan and pipes are in good shape and seals properly.
If you still plan to do all the work your self, get 3,4,5 or more estimates ask a lot of questions and see what they might do, you'd be surprised how much info I've given out through the years even when I knew I wouldn't get the job.
Our house turned 90 yrs. old this year, we have just sold and moving to a smaller community. Our house is all plaster except the bathroom, I gutted it and rocked it. I've lived here 12 yrs.I've fixed any cracks the walls are smooth and show no repairs but bathrooms are wet places and sometimes it's better to start from scratch. Good Luck

[briannarae]

Pics!!

Well...holy cowboy. It's done. I am never having any part in any bathroom remodel EVER! I am really glad that we hired my bro-in-law and his brother. They've done lots. The water damage we assumed was from the tub, was from the toilet. So we had to replace that 3sq ft of subfloor. Had a lead flange, was beat to crap. But subfloor was great, even under tub. They get everything tore out, go to put in tub we waited 5 weeks for, get it opened, and it's wrong! Left handed instead of right, plus was cracked. We HAD to find a tub! Now! Just happened to come by chance, had one! Yeah! Get everything in and realize our shower doors are not going to be able to hang on the side of this new tub. It's a Jacuuzi 20" deep, and the outside egde is run at a slant, inward. We thought about building a wall up, tiling it as well, for the doors to sit on, with the inside edge of track resting on outermost flat part on tub. Man, that is really going to crowd...but here are pics, some of the tile is not quite done, but finishing that through today to Wed.

[peterpan0071/2]

build a shower base

I am a bout to build up a shower base..any web rhat shows alot of pictures of how to do it?..It is my intention to build it on the second floor, where the subfloor is 5/8. I will place another 1/2 inch of plywood. My base should be 5 ft by 3 feet. I know that it should havev slope of 1/4inch per foot....BUT..the procees of how to do the shower base...i have aluck of knowledge of the base shower.

[kactuskid]

There's the tried a true older method like this: Tile and Mortar Shower Curbs

And this: Shower Pan Installation

But as the second link will tell you, the best way nowadays is to use a waterproof membrane by Kerdi:

Innovations in shower stall assembly

Schluter-KERDI

Course yu still wanna go with a preslope to make sure the water drains properly

[HayZee518]

peterpan - I put in a membrane shower stall that measures 3 feet by 5 feet with a 6 foot ceiling. the curb is 6 inches high. I used heavy duty clear poly shower curtains on a brass rod inside the shower. My shower heads (2) come down from the ceiling on both ends of the stall. I have tile on the floor and walls up to the 5 foot mark. the rest is high gloss white paint. I used a mixture of sand and portland for the base which I pounded in place with a 2X4 and a mallet.