I like to apply Scrubbing Bubbles spray when my bathtub is still wet after I shower. The spray mixes with the film of water in the tub and it seems to work better. Yes, it's diluted but a little cleaner goes a long way. When I use it to clean tile walls, sinks, etc, I spray it on dry. But I seem to use more. Take Kathleen's advice, both ways work.

Let me preface this by saying that I am not a wallpaper or moisture expert in any way shape or form. However, I am currently working on remodeling my powder room. The previous owners had at some point had wallpaper on the walls. Some (but not all) of the paper and paste was removed. Some remained and was painted over. We recently fixed a waste pipe leak in the adjacent laundry room that had allowed water to seep under the flooring (previously 2 layers of laminate) and into the subfloor and into the walls behind the baseboards. As a result, the room had excess moisture (not visible) for a few months. The result of this was that the painted wallpaper and paste crackled, pealed, and generally looked bad enough that I finally realized there was wallpaper under there. My (long winded) point is that using wallpaper may make matters worse for you. Instead of damp walls/ceiling, you may end up with pealing or crackling wallpaper since wallpaper paste is water soluble (since that's how you remove the paper). Can the shower head be lowered to come out in the tile rather than out of the sheetrock? That seems wrong and like it's asking for a moisture problem. Also, is there sufficient ventilation in the room? If not, adding in a good quality ventilation fan should help. Is the sheetrock above the tub standard or greenboard? Sorry I can't answer your question about the cost of removing grout. I would recommend calling around for some bids. I can absolutely understand why you would not want to do that.

Hopefully your ductwork is in good condition and properly sized. The fan should be sized for the bathroom. Here are some guidelines: Small rooms: For bathrooms up to 100 square feet in area, HVI (Home Ventilation Institute) recommends that an exhaust fan provide 1 CFM per square foot (approximately eight air changes per hour) to properly ventilate the bathroom. Example: Bathroom is 8'x5' (with 8' ceilings). Multiply 8 x 5 = 40ft. Bathroom area is 40ft. At 1 cfm per square foot the minimum recommendation is a fan rated at 40 cfm. Larger rooms: For bathrooms above 100 square feet in area, HVI recommends a ventilation rate based on the number and type of fixtures present, according to the following table: Toilet 50 CFM Shower 50 CFM Bath Tub 50 CFM Jetted Tub 100 CFM Duration of ventilation: HVI recommends that the fan be left on for 20 minutes after use of the bathroom. A timer is a good solution, allowing the fan to turn off automatically at the proper time. One thing you should know is most fans only produce 50% of the rated cfm because of undersized and poorly installed ducts. Ducts should be hard pipe, not corrugated plastic that will cause too much restriction and possibly degrade and leak over time. 37 year veteran HVAC professional Here is a link that might be useful: Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning Help and Advice

Mystery solved. (See my earlier post for the steps I had already taken to try to get a plumber under the house without success.) I scheduled two crawl space inspectors offering different services, thinking the joists under the bathroom would have to be replaced. The first one said that he didn't see anything serious under the bathroom, and the joist looks fine, but they saw some standing water under the kitchen. he said he wasn't sure if there was a problem or if there had just been some heavy rain. So then I was able to call a different plumber and say "we have standing water under the house." I feel what happened next is an example of exemplary service and professionalism. Even though the old copper pipes had been replaced about 15 years ago, there was a cast iron pipe has had corroded that only handled grey water. (It's not clear why this would have been replaced 15 years ago also, but anyway....) A team of two came out a few days later, did the work in the morning, provided photos and then one of the plumbers said... "We also were under the bathroom and saw that you have a leak from your toilet, so we are going to fix that for free to make sure the job is done right." (He showed me photos from under the house which were similar to the ones I originally posted.) Now all fixes have been made as far as I I know. We have a second crawl space person coming in next week and we're going to keep that appointment. The earlier estimate pointed to other kinds of work that could be done under the house - not sure if we need it, but since one raised the idea we want to match opinions to find out if we have any other problems under the house. Thank you for your responses, they helped me to keep looking and not give up.