I've contracted with a company to put up new acrylic panel walls on an exterior wall that has the toilet & tub plumbing, as well as the "side" wall for the tub. The panels will go to the ceiling. I don't want to hurt the exterior brick as I've already had to make a mold & actually make new 16"x4 3/4"x6 1/8" bricks. It was very hard, when filling in the "holes" left by replacing windows in the kitchen. New windows are "counter height" for future remodel there. That's when I found out the plaster is applied directly to the exterior bricks! What tool is best to carefully remove plaster & tile from bath walls? How do you suggest I add "framing" for the new purpleboard & acrylic panel installation? The company is installing them on my "rough finish" I'm not sure but doubt there's room for standard framing. Maybe furring strips screwed to a top & bottom plate then maybe glued directly to the exterior brick to make a rough finish they can install to? I've attached a few photos of the bath tile/plaster walls I need to demo & 3 photos of the kitchen walls where the plaster is applied directly to the exterior bricks. I left the openings in the kitchen, figuring I had to demo the plaster when I get to redoing the kitchen walls. The house is 1948 or older. I've seen some records showing 1938 but the last appraisal said 1948, so I'm not sure of the original date the house was built.

 

Sometimes close up pictures don't show what you want. What are the bottom three shots.

A wide notched masons chisel will take the plaster off but not without work. I use. Little air chisel for this kind of work sometimes. If you have air you can get such a little chisel at Harbor Freight pretty cheaply. It works as well as a more costly one only might not last as long. This might be the only time you will ever use it.

 

Hey Tightcoat.

I'm getting upset because the company is now calling me saying I ust take a 13" depth tub, NOT what I agreed to. I didn't want more shallow, if anything deeper The issue is the toilet, in current location, precludes wider tubs. I am in rmodel hell, oh yes, I remember how this is. I will find a solution. The 3 pics were to show the plaster is applied directly onto exterior bricks. an inch of plaster doesn't equal a new rough framing job for company to install to. I mentioned this to company rep & now all is a problem, NO, MY framing.problem. I am cool with reframing if I can remove plaster with an oscillating tool or similar, BUT, the toilet, in current position, makes site too narrow to get deep tub. This sucks. Told co. I was willing to cut out pony wall & move it to accomodate depth of new framing, however, I am not agreeing to a shallow tub install. The only narrow tubs, to meet distance between toilet & tub in current position are shallow. UGH. I intended to move toiletr, cutting bath wall to make n "alcove" for toilet. I don't have the budget to move the toilet before this tub/wall job. What do you recommend? I figured an oscillating tool to manually remove plaster carefully, (albeit time lengthy), from exterior bricks. My quandry ius shall I reframe as usuall, but install a sheath instead of just 16" on center to allow new purpleboard & acrylic install on plumbing & side tub wall... Crap. Forgot how these old homes don't comply & need workarounds. Any input is totally appreciated! Thanks!

 

A small demo hammer or hammer drill that you can "hammer only" without rotation and a wide tile chisel bit will help you remove the plaster. I also used a roto-zip with a plaster bit to cut stripes in the plaster and then used the hammer chisel to knock out the meat of the plaster between stripes. Will be messy, put a box fan in the window blowing out and crack the bathroom door slightly with a window on the other side of the house open to provide fresh air. Negative pressure will force the dust out the window instead of into the house.

From the thickness of the plaster in the pictures, once removed you may gain enough room to go with your wider and deeper tub. You can up acrylic panels directly to the brick wall if needed along the long wall of the tub. may need to skim coat and seal to smooth it out. If you need to fur out the wall to clear the tub lip, then glue 1/4" sheet rock to the wall. The solid acrylic panels will protect the sheet rock in this situation.