Had success remodeling our 1/2 bath so I moved onto the full bath. Relatively handy guy but this is my first house so I'm still learning. I'm replacing all the 'fixtures' in our full bath and putting down a new floor and have a quick question. I removed the vanity, toilet and then the tiles and old avocado green cast iron bathtub with relatively no surprises (taking the sledge hammer to the tub was fun -- yes the new one will fit in the door/bathroom!). The water lines are all currently capped off. The bathtub sits adjacent to an exterior wall, all of which are constructed of concrete block covered in plaster. Much of the plaster was falling down because there is a window there that must have leaked. I'm having the window (along with all the others in the house) replaced Wednesday. So here's my two main questions: 1. There was no ledger supporting the old tub, just 2 or 3 1x1's sitting on end, nailed to the wood floor. Do I need to put a ledger on the wall (after leveling the new tub) and if so should I just attach it to the walls with tapcons? Or are the 1x1's sufficient for the new tub (which I expect to buy an acrylic/lighter tub). 2. I've knocked off all the old plaster that was loose but there is a significant amount left on two of the walls, along with old glue from the tiles. Can I put cement board on top of all this with construction adhesive and tapcons? It would be a very daunting task to try and get all that plaster off because what is still remaining is attached very well. Never posted here but I'm looking forward to starting some conversations! Thanks in advance for the help! Joe

Our current free-standing oven is on its last legs. I recently purchased a lightly used slide-in oven as part of package deal. Now I'm trying to figure out if I can actually use it. There are three problems I think I need to deal with: 1) Adequate support: I haven't yet seen the slide-in oven uninstalled, but it looks like it supports itself on the edges of the counter on each of the two sides and at the back. The edges of our existing counter don't protrude from the edges of the cabinetry, so I'm not sure if this oven will be able to hang there. And there's nothing to hold it up in back, which leads me to... 2) It looks like there will be a gap at the back of the oven. Our Formica counter top has a curved back that goes up a few inches. I've thought about filling the gap with ceramic tiles. (I've been thinking about tiling the wall behind the oven for years anyway to make it easier to clean.) But I'm not sure I can make an attractive transition between the tiles and the counter top. 3) In the house that the oven is coming out of, I noticed that the baseboard runs right under the front of the oven. Our baseboard, of course, is interrupted by the space where the oven goes. I think the gap will look bad. Is there a good way to piece in another piece of baseboard (chipped wood with a faux wood finish) without leaving an ugly line at the joints? At Lowe's, a lady told me to just forget it. But maybe someone will have an idea how to solve my problems and make it work. If not, I've got a nice slide-in oven for sale! :-) One idea I had to solve problem 1 and maybe 3 was to fashion some sort of feet to turn the slide-in oven into a conventional one.