Help with shower walls

[stephlove]

I need to do something with the walls in our bathtub/shower. We moved in last July, and have been trying to figure out what we are going to do to replace the linoleumed walls. Yes, the previous owners used linoleum on their shower walls. In theory, it was kind of a neat idea, except they used cheap ass caulk, and water has been seeping in through all of the edges. The dry wall behind the linoleum needs replaced, so it's not a matter of just re-caulking. 

H and I finally decided last month that we were going to tile the shower. Well, then our water line into our house burst, our furnace went out, and my car died... leaving us with very little left to spend on the bathroom. The drywall needs replaced ASAP, because I can feel it getting soft. I'm just looking for the cheapest route that will be effective. My mom suggested using tile board, but I'm not sure how effective that would be. I'm basically just looking for a short term solution until we can save up and do the tile like we had planned. I've looked into wall surrounds, but they feel so apartment-y to me. I have a feeling, though, that a surround will be my only option at this point.

Any advice?

[whitemerlot]

I would be pretty concerned about mold and rot if there is water getting back there. I would fix it with the surround for now just to get it fixed.

[ssmjlm]

A surround will be cheapest.

Although next time I do a shower, I'm doing full panel walls out of something like swanstone. I'm over grout.

[FoxInFiji]

OK you can't use drywall in a shower wall. You need to use some type of cement board. If you do in fact actually have drywall back there that is wet and soft you also have mold so it's a matter of health and safety to fix it not just some nice to have thing.

Does your tub have a tile flange on it or was it part of a surround that was eventually replaced with linoleum? That may limit your options if you're not looking to replace the tub.

The cheapest and easiest option would be to buy the fiberglass wall panels that are made to go over standard size tubs. Otherwise you can replace the whole surround. These types of systems will be easy to remove and replace down the line with tile if you ever do decide to redo it.

Cement board + thinset + tile + grout + waterproofing doesn't actually cost that much more. But it takes a lot more time, renting some tools, and there's a learning curve. It looks better and has a better resale value though. For example we used a 12x12 tile in our main bath shower that was less than $2/sf so it was very affordable.

[stephlove]

Mar 5, 2013 16:55:47 GMT -5 FoxInFiji said:

OK you can't use drywall in a shower wall. You need to use some type of cement board. If you do in fact actually have drywall back there that is wet and soft you also have mold so it's a matter of health and safety to fix it not just some nice to have thing.

Does your tub have a tile flange on it or was it part of a surround that was eventually replaced with linoleum? That may limit your options if you're not looking to replace the tub.

The cheapest and easiest option would be to buy the fiberglass wall panels that are made to go over standard size tubs. Otherwise you can replace the whole surround. These types of systems will be easy to remove and replace down the line with tile if you ever do decide to redo it.

Cement board + thinset + tile + grout + waterproofing doesn't actually cost that much more. But it takes a lot more time, renting some tools, and there's a learning curve. It looks better and has a better resale value though. For example we used a 12x12 tile in our main bath shower that was less than $2/sf so it was very affordable.

I know I can't use drywall, I'm not even sure why I put that. But I'm pretty sure the previous owners just used regular drywall, and stuck the linoleum right on top of it. Whatever way I choose to fix it, I need to rip the drywall out and hope that there is no other damage behind it. 

I was just checking tile prices online, and that may not be a bad way to go. I'll have to look into it more. Either way, it needs to all be fixed ASAP. 

[FoxInFiji]

Mar 5, 2013 16:59:27 GMT -5 stephlove said:

I know I can't use drywall, I'm not even sure why I put that. But I'm pretty sure the previous owners just used regular drywall, and stuck the linoleum right on top of it. Whatever way I choose to fix it, I need to rip the drywall out and hope that there is no other damage behind it. 

I was just checking tile prices online, and that may not be a bad way to go. I'll have to look into it more. Either way, it needs to all be fixed ASAP.

That's good.  I was just making sure.  You wouldn't be the first person to try to put drywall in their shower.  We just had a post about that a month ago or so. 

It's not the tile that really costs all that much.  It's if you're paying for labor or DIYing it.  If you want I can go into more details about the construction of the wall and the waterproofing options.