Seems to be the case. Can’t follow manufacturer installation instructions with no furring strips on the studs and flush mounted cement board. Looks like surround needs to come out, furring strips and some kinda new fangled barrier installed, then redo tile. Any suggestions on a “system” or board type? I’ve seen the German one before on YouTube, pretty sure all these videos are paid for so I don’t exactly trust it as impartial.

Yeah well now at least I’ll be more comfortable with removing all the the tile and just redoing it with a proper barrier. I got my phone behind the tub via the removed end, and can see there isn’t any water damage from the shit install at least. I was pretty sure it was wrong when I saw the bottom course was grouted all behind and down to the plastic tub and not siliconed at all. I won’t even tell you about the egregious use of sharkbites 🤬🤬🤬. In the event I need a pro, what trade do you recommend I search for? Coming from an electrical background and not knowing a single reputable plumber, are there any keywords I should be searching for? Questions to ask to check credibility for the job type?

So when I moved in, I could tell it was likely all done improperly. There was a lot of janky shit done on the plumbing and electric so it screams budget “renovation” with unprofessional “contractor”. I don’t know much about tile but I can see it’s a very inferior tub, likely why broken and needing replacing. I pulled a few tiles off the non-plumbing end and can see it’s just 1/2” cement board and tile. Looks like maybe non-shower area is greenboard. Is it bad to replace the same way?

Edit: much appreciated response btw

Second edit: looks like it’s worse than I knew and it should have received some kind of water proofing system, which seems to be the norm even when this bathroom was done. 🤬 man the people that did this bathroom make my blood boil.