It looks like some kind of paint/coating was sprayed over the tile.
What can I use to repair it?
Best Answer
That looks like some kind of "Renew your shower with this spray on enamel!" type product over grayish tiles. You can tell because the tiles and grout are all covered with the same white material. It's flaking off in this area.
To repair you would need to find a similar enamel paint to touch up the bad area. Finding a match might be hard, but an appliance enamel touch up spray might work.
Don't waste your time trying to keep damage to a minimum. You are gonna have to patch the wall anyway. If you are installing new pieces of pipe, you will need plenty of working space, so cut a large hole (as oppossed to many little holes); You or the plumber are gonna end up doing that anyway. And patching a hole , say 8" x8" takes practically the same time as patching one twice that size.
Cut you drywall along the edges of two studs, then nail 2 sections of 2x4s to each stud, in order to have a way to attach your new piece of drywall for the patch. Use drywall screws, not nails.
Unless you are planning on using the existing tiles, just remove them with a moulding pry bar and a hammer. No matter how careful you are, Murphy's law says you will break a tile or 2 while trying to remove them in one piece.
Are you sure there is sheetrock behind the tile, and not a substrate made of mortar and metallic mesh?
There are not many options to resolve this properly. So I will address your questions first.
1) Do we need to install some kind of vapor barrier in this scenario?
The current best practice is to place waterproofing over the backer board and just under the tile. (ie Kerdi waterproofing)
2) Can we use insulation board between fur strips and if so, foil facing tile or away from tile?
The answer is no and for the same reason no vapor barrier is to be used behind the backer board. The wall cavity should be able to breath and allow any moisture to evaporate.
Updated: Based on finding out it is a basement
So my answer to you is:
As mentioned by Ed - Spray with water to soften the drywall and it should easily come off to the paper.
Inspect and choose best method of removing glue: if it was glued unevenly.
Maybe snap lines or draw lines as a layout for furring strips. (no need to do more work than needed)
Fasten furring strips, use backer board, seal (recommended) with (ie. Kerdi waterproofing) and tile over that.
Best Answer
That looks like some kind of "Renew your shower with this spray on enamel!" type product over grayish tiles. You can tell because the tiles and grout are all covered with the same white material. It's flaking off in this area.
To repair you would need to find a similar enamel paint to touch up the bad area. Finding a match might be hard, but an appliance enamel touch up spray might work.