I'm remodeling a bathroom in a house built in the 50s. After removing the old tile on the walls in the bathroom, the wall behind has adhesive as well as damage. Do you think all the walls in the bathroom are backerboard? The tiles only went 1/2 up, how do I replace this part of the wall without gutting the entire wall?
I will tell you from my experience. Your walls are probably either plaster + wire lath or possibly some type of sheet rock. In either case, try to scrape and/or sand the wall and fill in any holes or depressions. If the problems are slight, fill them with tile adhesive, otherwise use a plaster patch. If the walls are plaster and very damaaged, you may need to mix some mortar yourself. Just make sure you let the walls dry out sufficiently before tiling.
The main thing is that the walls end up flat and fairly smooth. If you are tiling around tub or shower, you may need to brush on membrane like Red Gard or something. removing plaster and wire lath will be time consuming and messy, plus what to do with the debris.
