Designing Kitchens and Bathrooms - bathroom walls, should i just re drywall?

I have 2 quick questions.
1. I just bought a 25 year old condo and it had wallpaper in the bathroom. I removed the wallpaper in order to paint but you can see what seems to be unsanded mud underneath the paint. Should i just re drywall? I'm doing a total bathroom reno everything is out except the tub. I'm also adding a light fixture on the wall which i think would require drywall removal.


2. In that same bathroom i've pulled all the tiles from the bathtub surround and was wondering if you use that i think its called cement board for the surround only or for the entire bathroom?

Unsanded mud??? Not sure what you are talking about.

Anyway. Yes you should use cement board in the tub surround. Make sure you put up a 6 mil poly vapor barrier prior to the cement board.

You can use regular drywall for the rest of the walls (outside the tub/shower surround area) in the bathroom.

wow thanks for the quick reponse. sorry i'm a novice just learning, but what i meant was i removed the wallpaper and the walls were painted underneath, but the walls are not smooth at all. Where all the joints of the existing drywall looks like the mud was not sanded before they painted and wallpapered. Since there is paint on the wall already it would be hard to sand down and since i'm adding additional an additional light fixture to the wall i thought i would already be removing drywall.
thanks tory

I agree with HJ, gut the whole thing out and do what you want to it. CBU in the wet areas after moisture barrier, and new sheetrock elsewhere. You will spend more time and effort trying to skim coat the old rock than you will replacing it.

+1 on gutting and starting from scratch. This way you can replace any insulation and do any wiring or plumbing as well.

Keep in mind though when you remove walls you are required to upgrade the electrical to current codes I beleive. I think the new codes state that you have to have a dedicated 20 amp circuit for bathrooms.

Just replacing the wall covering won't make it mandatory to upgrade anything. BUT, what a grand opportunity to put things like you want them, and, of course once you start moving electrical, you have to bring it up to code, and that ain't all bad.

Just replacing the wall covering won't make it mandatory to upgrade anything. BUT, what a grand opportunity to put things like you want them, and, of course once you start moving electrical, you have to bring it up to code, and that ain't all bad.

Are you sure? I read in the electrical forum that when you start removing wall board you have to bring the electrical up to code. :confused: