BeerBorg

I started ripping out my bathroom down to the studs for a small remodel. We had a water leak behind a wall that caused some damage to the shower walls, , leaked into surrounding walls...etc. My house was a "flip" where there was a lot of lipstick done around the house. We have been here over 8 years and yeah it has served us well but I have started to dig into and find a lot of the things they did wrong and incomplete.

I'm going to rip out and set a new tub. Instead of tile again, my wife and I are leaning towards a tub surround for the shower walls. We have a nice small average ranch home so functionality is more important than looks or return in investment. Especially as our 1 and only bathroom and low maintenance with young kids. My brother is a plumber so I'm going to take care of any problems while we are in there and run new lines for the tub/shower.

Anyway my question for any of those that can help is when it comes to installing the tub surround. The tub is on the long side of an outside wall. The back end is up against my bedroom and the front end is up against my kitchen. Whats the proper installaion for the surround against an outside wall. The walls I ripped out where not fully insulated, there was no vapor barrier and I don't even know if they used the correct wall board for putting up tile. To insulate the outside wall, is there special insulation I should consider for use in the bathroom? Is plastic stapled to the studs over the insulation the way to go about this as a vapor barrier prior to putting up new wall board. My 2nd question is wall board even needed with use of a shower surround? I have seen it both ways. I have the bathroom down to studs for the most part. My brother and I will be setting a new tub soon, I will be redoing the floor and taking care of some electrical things while I have the walls open. This is something I know I can handle, the only parts I'm not sure about and want to handle correctly is insulating that outside wall and providing the correct vapor barrier and wall board before moving on. What about the type of wall board for bathroom walls in general, outside of the shower area?

Thanks guys.

I would use Roxul mineral batts instead of fiberglass for insulation. Plastic vapor barrier on the inside would be standard. Moisture & mildew resistant wallboard would also be standard, but not required. A surround is typically easy & fast to install.

And if you see any cracks or areas where cold might come through you can use some foam insulation before putting in the sheet insulation to really tighen up any way cold air can get in.

Thanks guys. Hopefully this weekend we can make some progress.

Well, after some research I discovered there are different tub surround installations. There is direct to stud surrounds and those that are adhesive backed installed to backing board. (Green board, cement board...etc). To answer one of my own questions, wether or not to install any backer board depends on which type of surround I go with. At this point, the idea of a direct to stud installation sounds great. Save a lot of time and work installing any backer board. The direct to stud surrounds are sturdy and thick and in all honesty seem they would go together better. They have interlocking corners with gaskets to make for a water proof seal. The adheasive back type seem to have more joints and places to be sealed off.

I ripped out the tub today and tomorrow I'm going to finish cleaning up the area. I'll insulate the outide wall and If I'm going with the direct to stud installation I guess a vapor barier makes sense. If any water was to get behind the surround, it wont soak into the insulation or saturate the studs with plastic behind it. Back to Menards in the moring to look for the surround. We already picked out and purchased the tub, sink/vanity and mirror. We had a shallow tub, the wife no picked out a much deeper tub and it's 2 inches wider. I'm hoping to have a working shower again by Monday. Then the rest of the bathroom can be worked on.