Well boys, I'm in it now. Bathroom remodel steps?

[brnhornt]

I would LUV to!  Problem is...she SPECIFICALLY wants me to do it.  Also, I need/want (and it is need/want not just want) a new car.  Pay for contractor = no new car.

There are few things in life I despise (and suck at) more than anything drywall.

Another vote for just ripping the drywall out.  If you're going to be applying some form of texture on all of it...you don't have to worry so much about getting perfect joints.  You'll just save yourself the hours of sanding/scraping to remove the existing texture.  Also...if you do remove it.  Take pictures of each wall, print, and file them away.  Might come in handy a few years down the road when you're wondering exactly where that electrical line was run

[Anak]

Add one more for pulling down the drywall.

Then you can add to your scope creep:  Put some proper blocking in place for the towel bars, add a GFCI outlet or two in places where they are needed, run separate switches for lighting/fans, add insulation for sound deadening, fix whatever else you find that is deficient in there...

[brnhornt]

Oh...and blocking for a pedestal sink some day...

[jgourlay]

Okay...rip out drywall. 

Please help me understand WHY ripping out the drywall is so important?  Follow-on question.  Let's say that I wanted to do everything EXCEPT hanging new drywall.  So I would rip it down to the studs and do all the rest except the actual hanging, taping and floating.  For a bathroom that's tiny, (say 10' high but just barely big enough for a toilet on the east end and a vanity on the east end), is that a sufficiently big job to interest a drywaller and is that a $500 job, a $1000 job?

[Bob10]

You need the drywall down to see the condition if what is buried it would suck to do all that work and have a galvanized lateral rot out a month later or start to install something only to discover a water line in the wall you think would be there pin pricked and call for not only a redo of what you are doing but even more below that space.

I have a house that was just short of 10 years old when a nail shot into the wall rusted away enough to allow water to seep out of the copper line it nicked when it was installed.  The builder was more than just a little reluctant to do the repairs but I imagine they cost him around $5k in the end

[jgourlay]

Bob, thanks.  I see what you mean.  So let me add information.  We had the whole house replumbed and resided a few years ago, so I have pretty strong confidence that piping, electrical, and studs are good.  Any other reason besides looking for the hidden?

[Bob10]

I think it would be less work and mess than trying to reuse what's there and the finished product has a better chance of looking good.  I don't do this everyday but more often than most and there are times where experience teaches you to do things even if you don't want to.

[brnhornt]

What kind of texture is currently on the walls and ceiling and once off...what kind of texture are you putting back up?

[Bob10]

More importantly how much time and care will be needed not to trash the paper on the rock to clean it off

[JGrout]

More importantly how much time and care will be needed not to trash the paper on the rock to clean it off

This should be the 2nd (first is inspection)  reason to start over if the texture is not acceptable as applied presently. Textures if heavier can be overlaid on existing textured walls  or if the existing texture is acceptable with some minor repair work easy enough to match. but if there is a serious change in the texture starting over is simpler. 

Talking to a drywall contractor is the correct way to find out what might be charged for the work, I am not saying it could not be guessed at for price but that is what you will get at best is a guess