We were not going to replace our cast iron tub in the kids bathroom which doubles as a guest bath when we have company. I have the mentality that if it's not broke, why fix it? We ripped everything else out and decided to replace the tub as well. Everything else in the bathroom would be new except the tub which was not new and shiny and more importantly, the drain was 25 years old. We decided to pull the tub. I would hate to have an issue in a few years and have to ruin all the new stuff we are putting in. My 12 year old and I had fun breaking up the tub with a sledge hammer until daddy came home and did the final whacks to split it in half. Once out, we decided to bite the expense of a larger tub. What was there was a 30 inch tub which was only about 9 inches deep to the overflow. The new tub is 32 inches wide, a nice shape lending to more room in it and allows 12 inches of water to the overflow. Those few inches were costly; doubling the expense of the tub, but man what a nice tub it is!

Did we have this discussion a few weeks back? Can you get another spout with threads that aren't recessed? If not, in my opinion it is much easier to do the job from the rear. You can leave some kind of acess panel which could come in handy. I tried messing with tiles once and it turns into a problem trying to mount replacement tiles on a backing that isn't secure. Also, there is a thicker teflon tape available. Could you try that with thread paste on top to see if that stops the leak?

Likely not available but even if they're not, repairs can usually be made as long as it's not deteriorated by corrosion. Typical repairs might involve replacing a seat washer, packing the stem, lubricating the stem, and finally replacing the seat. That would be the hardest thing to find and match, so you need an old-school hardware store with drawers full of them. You remove the one you got, if you're at this last resort stage, and size it exactly. That's the only way to do it.

First, I'd pull one of the stems, take it to a REAL plumbing store and see if they can identity the manufacturer, American Standard, Kohler, whatever. They can probably order replacement handles that will fit your needs. Sounds like your plumber is on the young side. I just got replacements for my 1950's AS. If you wind up replacing the tile (depending on how many you need), you can get 8 full tiles by pulling down the tiles above the shower and just leaving the bullnose trim (that's how mine is and it's original). Patch the drywall and continue the crown molding around the corners to meet the other crown. It looks like pretty standard crown so it should be pretty easy to match. You might also get some extra tile from behind the side panel of the vanity where it meets shower. Just a thought.