The Last Bathroom

[Snets]

I am gearing up to build a new shower in what I will call "the last bathroom" as I have remodeled the other two. Actually, I did remodel this bathroom about 18 years ago but did not touch the shower - I did the tile floor as part of the hallway as well as the cool texture and faux finish on the walls, pedistal sink and toilet.

So now my lovely bride of almost 30 years would like a shower that "Pops!" So I am going to make it pop. After all, I retired earlier than we had planned AND bought a fishing boat 7 days after I retried....so yea, "Pop" it will.

Here are the details and questions:

1) As you can see in the photos, the existing shower walls are set on a mud bed. I have torn these out in a bathroom and a kitchen - what a pain. What is the easiest way to remove these shower walls? ( I plan on replacing their exact dimensions with Kerdi Board)

Cut drywall along edge of tile and just tear it down? Sawzall? I remember this being a pain in my first shower demo.

2) Once all of the mud bed and drywall is out, insert a stud at the new edge (assuming it does not fall on a stud, which it won't) and butt Kerdi Board right up to exixting drywall?

3) Since the joint above in #2 will be outside the shower, I plan on just mudding it like drywall to keep things easy and simple outside the shower.

I have not done any research at all on Kerdi Board which did not exist when I did my first Kerdi shower - 3) Can you seam it to sheetrock with sheetrock mud OUTSIDE of wet areas?

Thanks, looking forward to continuing to learn and finishing this project.

[John Bridge]

Hi Snets, -


Looks like only the shower base is plastic. I usually just lift them out after the tile is removed.

Yes, you can use drywall mud on Kerdi-biard, Sticks fine.

[Cobra1365]

I just removed a fiberglass tub surround similar to what you’re doing. I found there was a 2 inch flange behind the drywall. After I used the sawzall (yes, very messy) I found I am between two studs..even though they sistered the stud closest to the shower to attach both the flange and the dry wall.

I think I’m going to end up having to tear out a section of drywall to the next stud and then splice in new stuff.

Pics: OK, no idea why it keeps flipping these pics on their sides!

[Snets]

Looks like only the shower base is plastic. I usually just lift them out after the tile is removed.

Yes, walls are tile, set on a thick mud bed (circa 1993) From two pervious tear-outs of similar walls in other bathrooms, I know there is chicken wire and a million staples on the wall below the mud. I'm hoping someone has a better method of tearing that out other than brute force.

I'm going to cut the drywall with a multi-tool around the perimeter right at the tile edge.

Glad to hear I can connect the Kerdi-Board to drywall with tape and mud!

[cx]

Snets, best way I've ever found to remove those old mud walls is to cut them into manageable chunks (2'x2' or less for moi) using a hand-held wet saw. Cut tile, mud, lath, another backing, and all in one swell foop as it were. With the receptor still in place the mess is somewhat contained, but you still gotta remember to plug the drain to keep the mess outa there.

It's still a mess, but I like it a lot better than the dust without the wet cutting. If the bathroom has a window to the exterior, so much the better for tossing the wall pieces outside.

My opinion; worth price charged.

[Snets]

Brilliant. I had not thought of that likely because I do not have a handheld wet saw. I will be investing in one and believe it will be well worth the money knowing how it went tearing out a shower and tub enclosure previously, made of the same tile and mud walls (PITA!)

Great advice, CX! I will be sure to plug/filter the drain. It is a completely interior bath with no window so will be wheelbarrowing debris out, luckily, it is all bulletproof tile floor from the bath out to the front door (I installed that in 1998 - Subfloor/thinset/cement board/screws every 8 inches/thinset/tile - not a crack in the grout anywhere!)

[cx]

Originally Posted by Snets

(...not a crack in the grout anywhere!)

Probably not a lot of loaded wheelbarrow traffic on it, either. Just sayin'......

[Snets]

Ha! Good point, cx. But there has been plenty of furniture and apliances on dollys plus 20+ years of now-grown kid's antics, so I'm pretty confident.....but maybe I'll just have my lovely wife carry each piece out by hand, she won't mind.

[cx]

Naaa, that would be unnecessarily burdensome on your wife. Just have her put down a plywood path from the bathroom to the outside door.

[Snets]

My wife has provided me with the tile for this shower project, as pictured - Large hex flower pattern for walls and small hex on shower floor. I will likely find a piece of "marble-ish" quartz to cover the curb, as the flower tile would be wierd cut down to cover the curb - too busy to be cut up, in my opinion.

I'm worried about the bottom course of wall tiles. In my previous shower, I set the whole tile layout (horizontally) on where the main shower conrtol fell on the tile and set a ledger based on that to set all of the walls (including grouting) before building my shower pan. Then, I built the pan and cut the lowest course of wall tiles to fit - it worked out fine, square tiles.

My worry is potentially ending up with a funky bottom course of tiles because they are hexagon. I guess since I am building my own sloped pan outta deck mud, I should be able to proceed with calculating out the measurements and proceeding with the walls first and make the pan perimeter land where I want for the bottom course of tile to be "right."

Am I missing anything?

Hopefully this makes sense - I want to build my walls first and then build my pan, but want to end up with exactly (or very close) whole tiles in the hex pattern at the bottom course. Opinions, please.

[cx]

With good planning and careful measurement there is no reason at all you can't do that, Snets.

I would still plan to start my walls on a ledger and leave out that bottom row 'till last to give you space to form your mud bed and install the receptor waterproofing. How large are the wall tiles?

My opinion; worth price charged.

[Snets]

They are 7" X 8" so not too big.

Appreciate the confidence, doing walls first on a ledger is my preferred method for sure.

[cx]

But that's large enough to give you plenty room to work on the receptor mortar bed and waterproofing.

And you're still dealing with two parallel edges as would be the case with a square tile so there's really nothing more complicated in your necessary measurements. You'll be fine.

My opinion; worth price charged.

[Snets]

[Snets]

Well, I finally got around to starting this new shower I began mumbling about back in March, 2021. I went and picked up a handheld wet saw and started demo.

Thanks, CX for the advice in Post #5 Those couple chunks only took about a half hour, and some of that was trying to figure out how to keep the water hose from falling off that saw