Going to be retiling the bathroom in the near future. No issues at all, the old tile is just ugly. What I would like to do is carefully remove the old tile and mortar over the old backer board and put on new tile. I think if I'm careful to not put any holes in it or leave old any old mortar I should be fine, right? Obviously if I discover drywall or something behind it I'll gut it, but would prefer not to if I can avoid it....

Good luck with that, you are going to need it and it may not be worth the trouble of try to save the backer board, things have changed over the years and it may just be sheet rock an not worth the trouble at all to try and save it. An article on what kind of board is right for your application in todays day and age of codes.

http://www.wral.com/a-compa...ker-boards/11911517/

I would recommend cement board. But that is what is up to code today.

Steve

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Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't



Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

Go ahead and knock a couple of tiles off and see what you have. But ultimately, as Steve said, the effort to save that's there just may not be worth it. If it's regular drywall, get rid of it. The cost for that small area to be done correctly isn't much.

I tried to reuse it once, but decided that the labor of getting old tile and mortar off while leaving enough material for redo wasn't worth the effort and time. Backer isn't that expensive and new is MUCH easier to work with.

Did a remodel of the bath after sewer backup took out the first floor carpet.