Options for how to install new subway kitchen tile after old one removed

Question

Countertop contractor removed old kitchen backsplash tiles but badly damages walls (some parts). I'm planing to install 3x8 white subway style ceramic tiles. Which options are better:

1. Patch drywall holes and install new tile over ols drywall

2. Don't patch drywall and add 1/4" cement board to old drywall and install new tiles over it

3. Remove old walls, replace with new walls (or 1/2" cement board?) and install new tiles

4. Any other way?

Any potential issues with each option. There are electrical outlets. I attached some photos.

Answer 1

Scrape off any loose paper and remaining thinset (I think that I see uncollapsed ridges from old thinset in area 3 from your photo). Use Zinsser BIN on the wall to prep the torn drywall paper areas for water based products (instead you can use an oil based primer to save a buck, but it'll smell for a few days). You'll get blistering under your mud and/or thinset if the BIN layer isn't thick enough, so apply 2 or even 3 coats--it dries amazingly fast. Fill in all of the low spots with a wide putty knife and 20 minute mud. Proceed with tiling (I would use adhesive, not mortar).

I don't like the un-taped horizontal joints in your drywall. If a horizontal grout line lands within an inch of a joint, then I would tape those joints (open it a little with a knife, mesh tape it, and use the 20 minute mud again).

Answer 2

What to do depends on what quality of job you desire. Are you looking for quick and easy, or something that takes time but has better results?

The areas are in varying degrees of damage. ( Not the contractors fault. Tile comes off as it comes off.)

Area 1 needs nothing to tile.

Areas 2 and 3 look to be able to have some divots filled with patching compound and then tiled.

Area 4 is best served by cutting out the drywall and installing new. There are so many big divots, that patching will still leave a weak surface.

                                OR

Cover all the areas with 1/4 inch drywall. It's the most work. But it will ensure a flat secure surface for the tile. A thick aluminium edge Like Schluter or another trim and you can avoid redoing the corned bead. Use plastic spacers to move the outlets out

"Thanks RMDman. Area 1 was so bad with large holes that I temporarily covered by a cutboard." – Moe 1

With that new info; If it were my kitchen, I would replace all the drywall.

Answer 3

Suggestion: Replace the drywall and take the opportunity to upgrade the wiring.

Remove and replace all the drywall in areas 2, 3, and 4. While removedreplace all the outlet boxes with quad ones. Make sure at least two different dedicated breakers serve these boxes. Use metal junction boxes installed robustly on bracing to withstand abuse, and use mud rings carefully selected to be almost flush with the new tile.

Use new, 15A GFCI outlets, one per circuit. Someone "got fancy" and installed 20A outlets there. I would not bother with that. I have never seen a kitchen appliance that requires one. Unless you are washing your kitchen floor with a commercial machine that you borrowed from the supermarket, you don't need these.

If you do want to "get fancy" -- mix and match the dedicated breakers across the new quad boxes. IE make multiple circuits available in each box rather than have one circuit for the left counter and one for the right.

The resulting tile job will look better, not just because you have a nice flush wall to work with, but because the outlets won't wobble and the covers will sit flush and won't crack.