Tiling new shower

[Rick Potter]

Well, the next question I have about my room addition is about the shower tile. Should we install blue (or green) drywall, and tile over it?

Or: Should we do the above, and then put the sheets of concrete tile backer up, and tile over it?

Or: Should we not drywall at all, and put up poured concrete on the shower walls, and tile over it?

Thanks again to the best panel in the realm.

Rick Potter

[Greg Crawford]

Rick,

Concrete backer board is my preferred method. I was also told recently by a Lowes employee of a material that you can put over regular sheetrock (or whatever) that makes it impervious to water. Of course, green drywall is supposed to hold up, too.

Greg

[Tim Boger]

Well, the next question I have about my room addition is about the shower tile. Should we install blue (or green) drywall, and tile over it?

Or: Should we do the above, and then put the sheets of concrete tile backer up, and tile over it?

Or: Should we not drywall at all, and put up poured concrete on the shower walls, and tile over it?

Thanks again to the best panel in the realm.

Rick Potter

Hi Rick .... Done a lot of tile work over the years.

From the studs you should have a vapor barrier (tar paper), wire mesh then about an 1" of applied mortar. It's done much like the process used to stucco the exterior of a home.

Second best option is the cement board, still a good idea to have a vapor barrier behind it, the panels can be screwed directly to the studs but I would probably put a layer of the green sheet rock first to the studs then the cement panel and use the appropriate tile which allows for the radius style of trim pieces.

Applying tile directly over sheet rock in a wet area will fail with in weeks I would expect. I've seen plenty of guys steal jobs from me by going in cheaper and setting directly to the existing bathroom walls ... I would leave my card with the customer as a call to rebuild the shower was imminent.

How any of the suggested applications tie into you shower pan or perfered method of waterproofing is absolutly critical .... copper pans are very good and very expensive. There are plenty of rolled materials that are secured to the studs and dog eared to form a open box so to speak before mortar is applied.

Hope this helped.

Tim

[Bob Lloyd]

Rick

Do not use sheetrock and tile directly to it. Check out Kerdi by Schluter which can be used over sheetrock although when I used it I still used concrete backer board. It is a membrane applied with unmodified thin set mortar. Also, there is a lightweight product made by Wedi; I have not used it but have used a preformed niche made out of it. You could also look at a brushed on product over cement board or Hardi backer.

Bob

[Eric Larsen]

We used cement board over sheetrock, which we treated with this stuff (http://www.flooranddecoroutlets.com/new/product_details.php?mcid=170&pname=V0FURVJQUk9PRg==). After a second coat of the red goop, there was essentially a 1/8" layer of plastic between the hardiboard and the sheetrock. I think it will last for years.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Don't use sheetrock in a shower area.

I had done numerous tile jobs for friends and relatives but never a shower. One day I was scrubbing the tile in our main floor bath when I pushed a number of tiles right through the wall. They had been layed directly over sheetrock. Duh!

That was nearly 20 years ago.

I redid the shower surround on that tub using Wonderboard and it is still stable today but.....I'm tearing it out this weekend to replace the tub and retile it. Now I'm kinda wishing I hadn't used Wonderboard as it would be easier to remove and redo!

[Prashun Patel]

I installed a Kerdi shower in my basement. It works wonderfully.

Basically, you put regular white drywall or cement board up over the studs, then you mortar the Kerdi membrane to the walls. Then you tile right on top of that.

The only 'catch' with Kerdi is that you have to use the drain kit they provide. It's all quite straightforward and extremely rewarding to install.

A complete kit (drain + sloped floor + enough membrane for a 4x4 shower) costs betwen $300 and $400. If you want to know more, PM me....

[John Shuk]

Go for the dura rock. I have the green sheetrock in mine and I'll be replacing it soon. It has been there about 8 1/2 years and a bit of grout came out. Dura rock is a way better option which I knew when I built but didn't push when the contractor said green board is fine.

[Johnny Pearce]

Rick, I may be too late with this, but here's my $.02 opinion.
Find out if there is anyone in your area that does site installed fiberglass shower pans. They actually lay fiberglass mesh and cover it with resin on your sub floor and 12" up walls. The drain is also glassed in. Then use hardibacker directly screwed to studs. Seal all seams and corners with "Redgard" before thin setting tile. After tile grout has cured 3-4 days seal entire shower with "Aqua Mix Sealer's Choice Gold". I use a lot of tumbled travertine marble and the Sealer's Choice works great on it. It is expensive [$85 per gal.] but it does last 15 years if done properly. I recently installed over 4000 sq. ft. of floor, a 5' shower and kitchen back splash using 2 gal. of this sealer.
John

[Bob Vavricka]

Rick,
You've been given several good options in the above postings, but I would encourage you to check out the John Bridge tile forum. You will find some very knowledgeable and helpful people there, many of whom are professional tile people and the site is a wealth of tile related information.
Bob V.

[Rick Potter]

Off line a couple days. Thank you guys for the replies. I should have said I have a fiberglass shower pan (a good one). I have a tile guy coming over next week, and now I have enough knowlege to tell him how I want it.

Thanks again,

Rick Potter

[Dennis Thornton]

The Kerdi system is getting a reputation in the industry as THE system to use.

Another product not mentioned here is Denshield. It's a drywall product that has a waterproof fiberglass(?) coating. I used the 1/4" product over plywood and it has performed very well. Green board and the concrete backer products are water resistant, not water proof. To use them you will typically need something behind them, ie plastic sheeting.

My next shower project will use the Denshield and the Kerdi system.

[Prashun Patel]

With Kerdi, you don't require any kind of waterproof substrate. Plain Old White drywall is sufficient. There's some literature out there about the danger of putting Kerdi over greenboard because of a double-vapor barrier that can trap water in between. Not sure if it applies to Denshield.

The folks @ JBridge or Schluter'll surely have the definitive answer on that.