I'm working on finishing our downstairs bathroom over the holidays. I have the plumbing and electrical all in, next up is the walls. My question is around the tub, it's just bare studs now, do I just put backer board for tile straight to the studs or do I do sheetrock as usual, then backer board, then tile?
Industry standard around here is backerboard only. Some even go sheetrock only, if it's a tub- even if it's also a shower. There is no reason to put sheetrock behind the backerboard.
I personally use 1/2" cement board to a minimum of 5 feet from the floor behind tile in any shower or tub.
I put the heaviest plastic polyethlylene roll sheeting I could find against the studs surrounding the tub and stuck it to the studs with staples at the top and a bead of acrylic caulk running down the stud face. The plastic sheet was trimmed to sit inside the tub lip. I screwed cement board over this ... was heavy and dirty and tough to cut ...then I set tile against that (can't remember what I used to set the tile but as I recall the grout was "high sand" for water resistance )... if I was doing it again I would have looked specifically for "porcelain" tile with it's lower water absorbtion as I notice one or two of my more pedestrian ceramic tiles are showing some signs of minor discoloration which I believe is related to water absorbtion. fwiw.
But I am a big believer in cement board for bathrooms - the last tile which was set against drywall fell off - was ugly and lots of nasty mold had a chance to get established in the wall as a result of going unnoticed for a bit - used bleach to get rid of that.
It really depends if its on a exterior wall you use felt or plastic but if its interior its really over kill.
As posted watch your dimensions putting the purple board under because it can really cause the backer board to hang over the tub flange.
Also use mastic and not thinset if you are tiling.
I really think you need to look into Schluter Sytems product called Kerdi
I used it in two bathrooms in my house and it is the best system I could find. It is a waterproofing membrane that gets thinset right over regular drywall and has precut corners and stuff to make everything completely waterprooof.
Check out johnbridge.com for the best info and a downloadable guide for the kerdi system
There are a couple online stores to get the stuff that are pretty reasonable but most Home Depots stock Kerdi but it isn't cheap
Industry standard around here is backerboard only. Some even go sheetrock only, if it's a tub- even if it's also a shower. There is no reason to put sheetrock behind the backerboard.
I personally use 1/2" cement board to a minimum of 5 feet from the floor behind tile in any shower or tub.
Industry standard around here is backerboard only. Some even go sheetrock only, if it's a tub- even if it's also a shower. There is no reason to put sheetrock behind the backerboard.
I personally use 1/2" cement board to a minimum of 5 feet from the floor behind tile in any shower or tub.
Some good ideas but a little over kill,shower pan are membrane systems walls are wonder board or dura rock with a poly barrier between the studs and board the shower pan membrane should go up the wall 12" at least.
The Kerdi membrane is the waterproofing. There is no such thing as waterproof sheetrock and green, yellow, and purple are just a gimmick. THat is the main advantage of Kerdi - it goes right over regular drywall with unmodified thinset
The Kerdi membrane is the waterproofing. There is no such thing as waterproof sheetrock and green, yellow, and purple are just a gimmick. THat is the main advantage of Kerdi - it goes right over regular drywall with unmodified thinset
