On Oct 22, 12:13*am, RicodJour wrote:
On Oct 21, 11:12*pm, Michael B wrote:



On Oct 20, 2:54*pm, KOS wrote:

Hi.. *I have a bathroom that will be remodeled.. House is 50 years
old.. Bathroom has plaster walls.. The current tile goes up about 5
feet high.. Then from there to the ceiling its plaster....

Some people say we should demo the entire wall...Even the part where
the tile stops... Completely remove all plaster walls to studs...

Other people say, you can save money... Just demo the tile..... Where
the plaster goes to the ceiling, just feather it with sheetrock and
you wont be able to tell the difference... What do you think? I'm
thinking its better to demo all the walls to the studs... any advice

I've read the other responses, and the term "insulation" was
used rarely, but it was mentioned.

You're welcome.

My suggestion is that you insulate the outside wall.
I replaced a window with glass block, and insulated with
3 layers of Styrofoam to accomplish coming exactly even
with the inner edges of the 2x4's of the outer wall. That way,
it was a very solid surface, and doesn't get so cold in the
winter and serve as a condensate surface for hot showers,
which afterwards encourages mold growth.
But then, I also did my tile work in a BETTER fashion than
you can get from the pros. Because it didn't include grout.

What do you mean about the grout?

R

The grout is the weak link in a tile job. It allows water
to pass, it supports mold, etc.
After doing the Styrofoam in the walls, I covered all
the wall areas with Greenboard. Not because I needed
it, but because it's what I had. After all, it wasn't going
to get wet anyway. I found a tile style with some texture
and random pattern that matched white silicone very well.
Pure white that is unpaintable, so it also doesn't stain
easily, and does not support mold or mildew. I put a bead
of it at the respective tile sides, squiggled it on the back,
put my tile a half inch from where it was going to be,
wiggled it around to get there, and then used my finger
to remove excess and put it on the back of the next one.
Each tile edge and mating edge got a bead of silicone,
so I used a fair amount of the stuff. Three tubes of it.
And instead of putting the tiles 1/2" apart or whatever,
they are butted up against each other, with the silicone
the only transition.

That was over 15 years ago, and it still looks new. No
trouble at the tub transition, no trouble elsewhere. No
mold, no grout sealing, nothing.

And the job cost me the time, the silicone, the 35 or so
tiles, at 72 cents each. And I got a far better job than
the tile professional would have done, and just a little
less expensive, too.