How far should I go in tub repair?

I need some general guidance!

Our house may have the worst pluming job in Texas . . . and I've been working through repairs and replacements as long as we've lived here. I"m somewhat handy and have been able to everything myself SO FAR. But I think I'm in over my head with our tub faucets!

Hubby bought me a nice, new fixture for Christmas and was going to call a plumber but I wanted to try to do it myself . . . . we have 2 kids in college and one in high school and it takes every spare penny to avoid student loans!

Well, I've never gotten around to it so I'm finally giving in and we're ready to call a plumber!

Here's the question (sorry it took so long to get to the point). The tub is an 'all in one' tub/shower surround'. The sheetrock above the tub is damaged (moldy and 'waterlogged'). And the tub USED to have a sliding door that was removed and left drill holes and marks where the tracks were. Someday I'd love a new tub but I don't know if now is the time.

Before I call a plumber, how much of this would it be best to handle now?

For instance, can I replace the sheetrock without removing the tub?
How hard is a DIY tub replacement if a plumber does the fixtures?

anyway . . .guidance is most appreciated . . . and please remember my budget is tight.

THANKS!

If you or someone you know has a digital camera, it would be best to take a few pictures and post them on a web site like Photobucket so that we could actually see the situation. It's hard to know if a job will be easy or hard unless you see it.

I'm not sure if you have the large fiberglass single piece tub and shower, but my understanding is that some of those things are so large that you really can't "replace" them because you can only get it into the house while the house is being built and the walls aren't in the way yet. You can always get a conventional enameled steel tub into the house, tho. So, if yours is one of those really big fiberglass ones, then you might have to replace it with an enameled steel bathtub rather than another "all-in-one".

This will be a major undertaking. You will need to strip the walls down to the studs to repair the drywall and remove the unit. Getting it out of the space will be even worse. While you could cut up the old unit, you can't do that with the new one to install it. Do you even have the room to get a new unit into the bathroom (including fitting through the door) and slide it straight in?

A lot depends on the condition of the old tub...
Is it fugly? Is it a steel tub?
If it is either of the above now is as good a time as any to replace it.
If you don't you will kick yourself later!

You can get a replacement fiberglass bathtub with a seperate
shoher surroundthat can moved though the house in parts
and put togeather in the bathroom,
but you still have to pull all your plumbing fixtures and drywall
to do this, which would allow you to go back with greenboard
which is for wet spaces like bathrooms

I've done a gazillion of these tub replacements... including new plumbing fixtures. Generally, it takes me 13 to 16 hours to do the whole job then all the taping and first mud for the drywall. With a good sawzall I can have it ripped down and out of there in 45 minutes. I use a tub that the surround is separate and comes in 3 pieces. The plumbing is the easy part... getting that baby back together and all the drywall fitted in so the tub is level and drywall fits right is a bugger. I also learned from other forums to put down mortar under the tub to make it a firm set. This was great for a guy who weighs near 400 lbs. He had already busted the bottom of two tubs in that house...but my installation looks great and is holding up just fine.