GreenDesigns, thanks for your input. I am not plastering, just skim coating a thin joint compound over the entire drywall surface to even out the contrasting textures between the dry wall paper and the smoother areas of joint compound at the seams and at the screw sites. Maybe "skim coat" is the wrong term, or used loosely in this application. I have read multiple opinions on the use of moisture resistant wall boards. Opinions are very divided. I was miss leading in my OP in that this is a moist room, as this room has never gotten steamy in the 22 years we've lived here and there was no fan. There is no shower, just a tub. But, because this is a bathroom I can assume there is more moister than, say, the living room. What I have read regarding regular drywall is that if it is used in the non wet areas of the bathroom it really is more important to have a proper primer and paint installation to protect the wall system. When my kitchen was done last year the drywallers did skim coat my walls, I just wasn't there to see how they did it. I have watched the USG video and it is straight forward enough. I have attached a link below. Lastly, to provide some context, this room is not our main bath, that is why there is no shower. This bathroom is next to my kitchen. The bathroom is really a combo utility room/bathroom for our farm house. Here is a link that might be useful: US Gypsum video on level 5 finish.

Some tile and stone does need to be back buttered, but it's usually due to the size of the tile, and/or where the tile is being installed. On floors you want 100% coverage so the tile or stone will be fully supported. On a wall, it's not as important. As a matter-of-fact, large format tiles on walls are often installed with the "dot method", where several dollops of thinset are placed on the back of the tile and the tile is set against the wall, it can actually stand away from the wall a bit. For typical medium-to-small porcelain tile, back buttering is not required. "Adhesive" versus "mechanical" is somewhat semantics, as when all is said and done and the thinset has cured, you have a mechanical connection. "Adhesive" is mechanical. The thinset has "stuck" to the texture on the back of the tile. It's not chemical, like joining PVC pipe, where the glue somewhat dissolves the surface of the pipe and the two pipes sort of dissolve into each other and become one. Buttering the perimeter of a tile and then setting it can give better initial tack, it's almost describes as "suction". It's done on ceilings quite often and also sometimes done with large format tiles. You get somewhat better resistance to creep or tile movement after the tile is set. What it sort of comes down to is: The more thinset-to-tile coverage you have, the more secure the bond will be. 100% coverage will give a better bond than 70% coverage. Still, most installers will comb the thinset with a notched trowel, set a few tiles, then pull those tiles up and examine the thinset on the back of the tile. If you have unsquished ridges and valleys of thinset, you have inadequate coverage. You can then go with a larger trowel size which will give you more thinset. Or you could back butter. As far as cutting with a wet saw versus snapping tiles...yes, some cuts need to be made with a wet saw, but quite often a lot of cuts, especially perimeter or border tiles, can be made by snapping. Depending on the location of the cut edge, there may be no difference in the quality or appearance of the end product. So is he right? Sorta kinda. 100% thinset coverage is always better than less than 100% coverage. But you don't have to back butter each and every tile to achieve that type of coverage. Wet saw versus snapping? Yes, a wet saw will give smoother cuts, but if that wet sawn straight and smooth edge is going to be hidden under a baseboard, is that worth extra money over a still straight but slightly rougher cut that was snapped? I've snapped, I've sawn, and you can't really tell which method was used after it's grouted. It sounds like the guy is conscientious and tries to do good work. That alone may be worth something. So in the end I guess I really didn't answer your question. But I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.(sorry!) Mongo

We did veneer plaster for a couple of reasons. In our regional area, no one does it. We had to go to a specialty supplier and order it in. We found someone who trained in Maine to install it and the only reason it was a bit more expensive than drywall is because our original framing was uneven and we ordered 5/8" thick sheets. I had a pretty strong aversion to drywall after the adventures with mold. Veener plaster is freakin' gorgeous, perfectly smooth and we would do it again in a heartbeat. The feel of it perfectly matches the rest of the house - which is all 1920's plaster. Here, people call the supposedly water resistant drywall "blueboard", so I was surprised by what it looked like (gray, gray and more gray) and that it was made up of two slightly different layers and that it is much harder and denser than drywall. It works pretty well as a sound deadener too! @casey Wow, that is really nice!

I have just put some finishing touches on some small imperfections. The method I used to do this wall is a combo of everyones input. I'll call it the Barbara Method. I'll post the long version below, but the short version is mix, manipulate, fuss, sand, fuss, sand, repeat 4 -5 times. Brickeyee, YES:) my walls have the feel of plaster. Thank you so much for your help with this project. I couldn't have done it without you. You've been very encouraging. I have worked these walls in my Method to near perfection (IMHO) This Easysand is like velvet/glass. Here is what I have done: 1) Went ahead and did another Gardz coat over the initial drywall work and drying type JP that I had originally done. 2) Mixed the Easysand 90. I did a crappy job of mixing BTW, was mixing by hand :( I tried to muscle the JP onto the walls. I tried the regular trowel, the pool trowel, the 6" knife. It all worked for me at different times. I think I am just not strong enough to do this. Thank goodness I had the 90min stuff. 3) Sanded:) Looked beautiful and encouraged. 4) Put another layer of 90min Easysand on the walls using a variety of trowels but finding that the 6" knife was the easiest for me to use. I made this batch thinner. Too thin, was like pancake batter. Not so encouraged. But I have such a thin layer on that I hope the strength is not impacted due to the thin mixture. 5) Sanded:) Looked beautiful again. 6) Spot treated all my divits using 20min Easysand. Very beautiful. I have to say that each coat is micro-layer thick because of my sanding. (I have practically a whole bag of easysand in my shop vac by now, with all the sanding:) 7) Looks like heaven, so applied some more 20min Easysand to a few more very small imperfections. I will sand these last two layers later today and prime. I have shined lighting, angled to the wall, to help find these imperfections. I also use my hand to feel how smooth and regular the wall surface is as well. I love the depth of the color of the Easysand applied in the different coats and patches. I tried the sweeping trowel work that I've seen others do, but I can't get that tech. with this medium. Maybe if I was younger and stronger. I have a very DEEP RESPECT for plaster and drywall installers now! This was a lot of work for me. I think some of my issue was strength, but the other was expertise and skill. I am very glad I did this with the Easysand. It is lovely. Thanks Brickeyee again.