I'm doing a shower repair and learning a lot. I think it would have been easier ultimately to do the whole wall, but I decided to only do the first 10 rows of tile from the bottom of a walk in shower that had damage up to that point. (Roughly 10x10 4.25 inch tiles.) I removed the old stuff. Installed a 1/2 inch green board, then a 1/2 inch durock. (Simlar to what I removed.) I taped up the seams. I left about half tile of old wall which just seemed logical to do, and that worked well (even though I've never seen that.) And, probably overkill, covered with Aquadefense. However, in the top left corner of the repair, the new tile (not installed yet, just dry fit) will stick out about 1/4 inch. Its obvious the wall was/is not perfectly flat. There was something different about this area during deconstruction. I'm thinking it was the previous "fix" for this condition. Anyway, if I could remove material, I could get to a tolerable "lip". This is just a repair, learning not perfection. Someday I would like to gut/redo the whole room. So, how does one thin durock? Multitool? Sanding? Give me advice, or wish me luck.

Hello! Water was getting behind this wall and I removed where there was damage. It was early 60's construction where tile wedges were also cemented to the tub. Getting those off and using a non-abrasive wheel attachment to remove the cement was awful, but I didn't damage the tub to the point where I'm going to still keep it. The issue I'm running into now is HardieBacker comes in 1/4" and 1/2" slabs so the seams won't match. I'm no expert but the tub placement has me scratching my head. For example, if I were to remove the rear wall, I would still need 3/4" of some material or it won't be flush with the tub. I won't have that problem with the front or side using 1/4" material. Half inch protrudes just a bit whereas 1/4" barely touches the tub. I think 3/4" material against the front and side protrude a lot into the tub whereas it's more of a clean look in the back. I'm assuming what they did back when the house was built was correct but it sure took up a lot of the real estate to set soap or whatever on the ledges. Since water wasn't reaching the rear causing any damage I don't think I have to remove the rear wall as long as I can get a clean flat surface for the surround to stick. Going back to how they don't build them like they used to...man there is a lot of wire mesh in the corners that was difficult to pull out. Knowing what I know now I can probably remove the wall up to the ceiling without too much trouble. I don't know how difficult it will be yet to get a clean seam in the corners if I go that route. I'm assuming I will have to use wire snips around the ceiling to prevent me from ripping down part of the ceiling. Would I be better off removing the rest of the material up to the ceiling or using 1/4" furring strips with 1/2" HardieBacker? I was going to use a MirroFlex surround that should run up to the ceiling. If I keep the remaining wall IDK if the MirroFlex would adhere to the old wall/paint long term. Any feedback is appreciated! [img]https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.doityourselft.com-vbulletin/2000x456/bathroom_tub_wall_1_217a87ee3bd516d48172a3e23f28707b9d79bf42.png[/img] [i]3/4'' Plaster[/i] [img]https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.doityourselft.com-vbulletin/2000x503/bathroom_tub_wall_2_eb5b08b75d3f71fdebee45a4d032209ca1c7ce91.png[/img]