Hello,

My husband is doing a DIY on the main bathroom. Our home was built in 1974. We had the paint lead and asbestos tested. We plan to add 12x24 tiles to the bath surround, 12x12 tiles to the floor and wainscot to the walls. The bath tub is an ugly biege that i plan to reglaze after the remodel. The pic is in an earlier phase of the remodel. Currently there are no tiles in the tub area or on the floors. the vanity and toilet have been removed and the walls sanded down.

We noticed a few things during this process which i'm hoping aren't major concerns;

1) the bath tub surround tile was on drywall or we think is drywall given the age of the house. After tearing the tile and drywall down, there was another layer of drywall which is in good condition. We plan on putting Red Guard on it to moisture protect it and then adding tile on top of it instead of replacing with cement board. Thoughts? My husband is determined to not replace the drywall.

2) there is a gap between the lip of the tub and the bottom of the drywall. my husband plans to fill in the gap with joint compound or mud. Is this a good remedy?

3) the drywall boards to the left of the bath tub were not installed leveled so they are not perpendicular, all the way up to the ceiling. my husband plans to "macgyver" the tiles on. not sure how. my husband does not want to replace the drywall since that would mean the wall above the drywall would also need to be replaced. thoughts?

4) when removing the floor tiles, we noticed cement underneath. there are now cracks and gaps that we plan to fix with a pre-mix concrete sealer. is this the correct way to fix?

5) lastly, more of a cosmetic question. Do the bath tub surround tiles have to be edged to create a finished look? not sure what the norm is.

Thank you so much. we have a soon to be 1 year old and his birthday party is next Friday. our goal is to get this bathroom fixed before his party. ambitious i know. what were we thinking!