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Confused about prepping tub surround for tile

15 years ago

We just removed and replaced the old steel tub in our bathroom with a Sterling Ensemble 32x60 tub. The old tile was put up in 1955 with wire and mortar and has been completely removed to the studs leaving just about 2' of drywall up near the ceiling. The plan was to trim off the edge of the existing drywall and then use Hardibacker or Durock down to the tile flange on the tub. Then we'd install the tile and run the top course of tile to cover the transition from the Hardibacker to drywall.

When the new tub was being installed by dh and his uncle, who is a professional plumber, I was painting the LR. I didn't notice till after the plumber left that the tile flange is sitting up against the wall studs on both ends of the tub, but there is a gap of about 1/2' between the tile flange and the studs along the 60" side of the tub. Is that the way it should be so that the 1/2" Hardibacker sits flush with the flange, or should the flange actually be up against the wall studs? I forgot to take pics of the install before we left for the day.

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Comments (3)

MongoCT
15 years ago
My first step would be to recommend you go to the manufacturer's website and get the specific framing/attachment instructions for your tub.

Your tub might need a horizontal 2x4 ledger just under the 60" flange for support, and the flange itself may or may not be screwed into the wall studs.

That will dictate how close the flange needs or does not need to be to the framing.

As to the flange detail, you'll first cover the studs with a barrier, usually 6-mil polyethylene sheeting. Staple this to the studs and let it lap over the flange of the tub.

You'll want the face of the durock to at least be flush to the face of the flange. Having the cement board slightly proud of the face of the flange is okay, too. If the cement board will not satisfy this as things are now, then use thin 1/2" furring strips nailed off on the faces of each stud to bring the framing closer to the flange. If furring, your poly would go over the furring strips.

The cement board can be held just above the tub's flange. That way your bottom course of tile will cover the flange and stop about a grout width off of the tub. That tile/tub gap will later be caulked.

Ignore the reference to "kerdi" in the following drawings. The two following sketches show tub sidewall details both with and without furring strips.

In your case, you'd want the poly between the cement board and the framing.

{{gwi:1489043}}

{{gwi:1489044}}
scoutfinch72
Original Author
15 years ago
Thank you Mongo! Those sketches help a great deal! I did just look at the installation instructions and they don't specify the 2x4 ledger support for the 60" side of the tub, but that is how it was installed.

I can furr out the studs to support the Durock, but the problem will occur where it meets the already installed drywall near the top of the wall. The Durock will end up 1/2" in front of that drywall. DH seems to think we could just get some kind of bullnose tile to bridge that, but that wouldn't on the side walls as the Durock would be flush to the drywall on the sides where the tub flange is sitting flush with the studs. Is the only way around this to remove the drywall at the top of the long side of the top and replace it with a piece that is furred out from the studs to meet the Durock? Dh already had the drywall guy skim coat the drywall up there (yes, backwards, I know)so he's going to be grouchy if I start tearing into it.
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Comments (1)
On an exterior wall in a heating climate, the poly behind the cement board can act as both the house's vapor barrier AND as the vapor barrier/drainage plane for the shower. To be the vapor barrier for the house, the poly should be continuous and any laps should be sealed. If the insulation in the wall behind the poly is faced (kraft facing, foil facing), render the facing ineffective by slashing it with a utility knife. For interior walls where you just need a drainage plane, the seams in the poly can be simply lapped to shed water, but they don't need to be sealed to prevent vapor drive. With a continuous and fully sealed plastic/visqueen membrane, you don't need Kerdi. If you did use Kerdi, then remove or slash the visqueen to render it useless as a barrier where the Kerdi and Visqueen overlap. You don't want overlapping non-permeable membranes in a wall assembly.
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You could also cut your own using a table saw, slicing "shims" from a 2x4. By the time you're done, if this tub's big enough, you could almost pay for the table saw with the money you'd save from not having to get that extra layer of cement board!.
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1. I cut the 5 pieces of plywood to size. 2. I miter cut the picture frame molding trim and glued it together at the miters. You can also nail with tiny little nails made for that purpose, but I didn't know about that at the time. 3. I attached the trim to the plywood. Glue didn't work and nail guns left holes that were too large, so I ended up screwing them in with short screws from the back side. 4. I nailed the plywood pieces to the 2x4 framing around the tub. 5. I glued the chair rail pieces onto the top with heavy duty construction adhesive. 6. I nailed the baseboards all around. 7. I nailed the corner trim over the seams. Hope that helps!
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Hm, I had been wondering if you'd taken the past surround *down* or just put the new surround over it. If you've *taken it down* and you didn't see any rot behind the sheetrock when you removed it, then I'd venture to say that you're safe. There was *no* black or otherwise unpleasant anything where the low point was? Checking downstairs will eliminate the other one possibility, which would be that the rot went straight down and didn't communicate upwards at all into anything you removed. Which would be odd, but I guess possible. Maybe you just had *really good* sealing. We don't.
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MongoCT
15 years ago
You can add another 1/2" of drywall over the existing. A 2' by 5' piece can be added with no seams (except the corners), and you'll only need a couple of screws in the field.

It might seem like a "two steps forward, one step back" type of thing, but that's what happens in remodels.

Plan your tile layout so the upper course of tile covers the cement board-to-drywall seams on the walls.

Mongo

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