Mongo, Thank you so much for your detailed reply, I really appreciate your time. We're thinking of DIY-ing at least some of this, we've tiled before and these are fairly small rooms. I have a few more questions if you would have time to answer: -- Do we staple the tar paper and screw on the cement board right down to the flange in the wet areas, or is there a certain distance above the flange in which we should avoid using staples/screws? Just concerned about the holes this will make thru our underlayer. -- Can we just put the cement backer board for the wet areas all over the bathroom? Would this be simpler and give more waterproofing over the whole bathroom (my small kids will use this room and they splash a lot!). Does this cost more than the drywall, is this the reason for using drywall in the dry areas? -- In the bathroom with the tub, the existing tile is 3/4 high, and above it is just painted. The paint shows some mold/mildew. The house inspector used an infra-red camera that is supposed to detect moisture in walls and could not find any behind this wall, so he thought it is just surface mold (probably from lack of venting). Its mainly this mold that is making us think we need to gut this bathroom. The tile itself looks in fairly good shape. Is there some "remedy" we can use to clear the mold and could we then tile over this area to the ceiling? Or do you think we are best to go with our original plan to gut and tile new? trying to save $$ but not at the cost of a bigger fix later on. -- A plumber will come in and check/upgrade/move sink plumbing for us when the rooms are down to the studs. Electrician is coming in as well. neither room is vented at the moment (only windows, but I doubt they ever opened them), so we will be adding proper vent fans that vent to the outside. Thank you.

Long dead thread but i'll post my two cents. Yes, once. My wife and i gutted an early 1980's two story colonial (yeah i know it's not old comparatively speaking to other homes mentioned in this thread) but it had terrible wiring, incorrect and undersized plumbing, bad framing, cheappp insulation full of mold, asbestos floors, over 20 windows that were totally shot, an utter disaster of a kitchen, and two hideous disgusting 1980's era bathrooms. It just made sense to gut the place and put it back together right. Plus two previous owners had been heavy smokers and one of them was a creepy cat lady / hoarder who had filled the second floor with tons of junk and way too much weight (I'll come back to that in a minute). But the worst was yet to come. After gutting the place I really started to fully realize that in practicality 2x4 exterior stud walls and 2x8 floor joists for a 2 story home is inadequate especially if the home DOES NOT not have plywood sheathing (just that cheap cardboard wrap) and has 15/32" plywood decking for the floor (should be minimum of 3/4"). We immediately noticed significant sag in all the floors at the center of most of the spans and some of the exterior walls had started to deform inwards. The only solution was to tear up all the floor decking for the second story, remove the interior partition walls upstairs, all the wiring, plumbing, hvac and then sister 2x12's joists to all the old 2x8's after jacking them back up into place. In some places the sag was so bad (well over 5" in the middle of the spans) they had to be cut out, removed completely, and replaced. Would have been impossible to do with wiring, plumbing, hvac in place. We learned later from a neighbor who has lived here since the 80's that one of the previous owners had been a disgusting hoarder and that she had packed the upstairs floor to ceiling with books, trash, and other belongings for years which created the sag. Worse yet she also had a fondness for cats (most of which were not fixed apparently) and they had soaked the floors and sprayed the walls absolutely soaking the lowest two feet of drywall and insulation throughout the home. A subsequent owner who moved in afterwards (before us) tried to encapsulate it with special paint but it didn't work and her dog also urinated on the floors as well. When the sun shined intensely through the windows into the upstairs you could still smell the pungent ammonia stink up there and it was absolutely disgusting. This Hoarder also once owned (she's dead now) two other houses on the street and they were also packed full of junk. lol Fast forward 2-1/2 years and we had done 90+% of the work including plumbing and electrical (with the exception of replacing the panel), keep in mind i worked for a contractor for years in high school and college so i knew what i was doing, but it was basically a second full time job for each of us (5pm-midnight) most days of the week and full on LETS GO! on the weekends. The end product was great and i'm glad we did it because we saved a TON of money, but i have to admit despite having an extensive construction background we were totally EXHAUSTED at the end. I'd probably never do it again unless it was a very valuable house in a prime location to be perfectly honest. My advice to those thinking about doing this, DON'T unless you have the background and experience in hand before getting started. Learning how to do "gut job" renovations on the fly without qualified supervision is a total nightmare scenario and a recipe for a complete, utter, and demoralizing disaster. You've probably all seen the renovation nightmare shows on cable tv. They only hit the tip of the iceberg to be honest. It can not only destroy your wallet, but also ruin friendships, relationships with family members, and even your marriage, just an fyi. It's hard enough if you know what your doing but if you've never attempted small renos within your home you are best to steer clear. You will get quickly overwhelmed frantically looking for help before realizing IT'S ALL UP TO YOU and maybe a spouse to dig yourself out of it. Don't put yourself in that position without proper preparation. If you do decide to proceed (YOU'VE BEEN WARNED!) PLEASE, PLEASE hire a professional if you have no experience with plumbing or electrical. You can easily kill yourself on electrical by touching or cutting a live / hot wire. You can also royally mess up plumbing by not pitching drain pipes correctly, including the appropriate venting, and or create a ticking time bomb if you can't properly solder water supply lines, or properly crimp pex fittings together, etc. I also warn inexperienced DIYers to stay away from massive drywall mudding, taping, sanding jobs. Don't attempt to do it all by yourself without extensive experience. It really is a skilled trade and takes TONS of practice to get good at. I'm good but it took me a while to get there. If you are bad at mudding you will hate your life by the time you are done sanding and sanding and sanding because you used too much mud and or couldn't get it smooth nor cut your drywall sheets correctly to minimize joints and utilize the tapers to your advantage. Your lungs will feel like they have tons of bricks in them if you don't wear a mask and you will be coughing up white phlegm for weeks after you are done. Plus the shear monotony of taping and mudding 100's of feet of drywall joints is enough to drive some people insane. Hire a team and they will knock it out in days and do it right the first time. Lastly, some people are just not good carpenters and attempting to do millwork (trim, stair rails, balusters, etc.) takes painstaking precision and skills to get right. It can be especially difficult and expensive if you mess up because you think your floors and walls are 90 degrees but they are in fact way off. It's not for the faint of heart. Best of luck!

Is knockdown texture popular in your area? Here (PNW ) orange peel is fairly common and I have two textures in my home. They did the ceiling in knockdown and the walls in orange peel. I understand what southgeorgiamom is referring to, but I have crown molding in my home and have not found it that difficult to cut in a straight line when I painted. Of course, it all depends on how heavy the knockdown is! Get two more quotes to get an idea of pricing for your area. I would also suggest you ask to see some of their work.

I have remodeled 4 bathrooms (2 were a full gut) and working on 2 more in my own home right now. Cost is very subjective but if you have a new vanity and new, sink, toilet, etc...the cost wont be that bad. If the house is from the 80's or newer, it should be pretty simple. Tear out is a great place to save money. Its hard labor but it is easy work. I live in the DFW area and you can rent a 12yd dumpster for $250 which you should be able to junk everything in it. If you have time, you can slowly put it out in the trash. If you have any DIY skills, you can plumb your own fixtures. Sweating copper pipe is easy and there are tons of videos on youtube. Use maap gas, not propane (yellow bottle). Using a prefab pan probably wont work unless it is the exact dimensions. If it is 5', then you might have a change of a prefab pan that they sell to replace tubs. There are plenty of products out there that help you get the correct pitch on the floor slope if you cant to prefab. Mixing a mud pan is simple (cement, sand, water) until you get a damp sandy mixture. I would look into good sealing techniques (better than a 6ml liner). Something like Kerdi or hydroban. Tile...its not hard but it takes time and patience. A decent tile saw isnt cheap and renting one is probably $70/day. A good place for tile is floor and decor. We have bought lots of tile from there and they have great prices. I guess this all comes down to how much you want to do yourself. Most remodeling is not hard, just labor intensive. Im not a professional but have remodeled plenty of bathrooms and kitchens. The house the fiance and I bought, we completely gutted the house and now are starting the building phase. We do our research and have the simple mechanical skills to do the work and the drive. I refuse to pay $65/hr to an electrician to rewire my house with all the walls out. Any monkey can pull wire. A smart mokey can wire a circuit breaker box (there is only 3 wires per outlet unless its a 3 way switch, 240v outlet or something like a ceiling fan). Youtube is an amazing resource.