Kerdi.

Have them take it back down.

They are paid and gone. I'll be taking it down (well dh and I). I'm aggrevated that my builder didn't take care of it before they left. I was unconviced about his remedy, leave it and put something over it.

Green board is garbage -- totally unnecessary. If you are using drywall -- then have the tile hung over kerdi. In fact, the Schulter folks recommend regular drywall rather than green board.

If you don't want to use kerdi, then tear out the drywall and put up cement board over a moisture barrier.

But -- kerdi is a far better system...

/p

I know what Schluter accepts, but I'd still rather Kerdi over cement board. On a tub, I'll risk it if a GC screws up. But in a full shower, I'll demand it come out.

Have you already paid the builder in full? The fact that he already paid the drywallers shouldn't excuse him from remedying their mistake.

Thanks for the advice. As for the builder, his last job for us was the drywall, we have taken over for all the finish work. (this was decided a long time ago, it's not a reflection of his work, he's been great) All in all, it will be less hassle to just remedy it ourselves.

"I know what Schluter accepts, but I'd still rather Kerdi over cement board."

That is what we did, Kerdi over cement board. What did the contract specs say? You should NEVER tile directly over bare (non-Kerdied) drywall or greenboard. I know someone that ended up going through the tiled shower wall and into the adjoining closet when the wall fell apart.

Oh, we'd never tile directly over the drywall. The builder said something about putting black paper and then a thin cement board over that (leaving the drywall).

We had a similar problem. Contractor put up GP Densarmor Plus...not approved for wet shower areas. My tile guy Kerdied over it and seem to have no problems doing so. I did call Schluter and they said that would work, but that he might have to sponge down the DAP a bit when applying the Kerdi. They also said to use unmodified thinset. Hope you figure something out.

pup

I second what Bill Vincent said.

The drywall MUST come down. It’s done wrong. It needs to be either cement board on walls + Kerdi membrane, or do Kerdi board on walls + Kerdi strips. I prefer cement board + Kerdi membrane as it’s super rock solid. If a heavy person falls into it, it’s not breaking. Kerdi board isn’t quite as rock sturdy.

Shower pan, should be Kerdi shower system. Or if needs to be custom mortar shower pan due to size, then ok, but make sure it’s waterproofed.

=====

If the builder refuses to correct this clown work, contact the state licensing board.

As a licensed HIC (and PTC) contractor myself, nothing is more shameful than a contractor that won’t correct or stand by his work.

It’s one thing if the workers did something behind his back that he didn’t approve of, and then the owner/builder offered to fix it once he found out…

but as the owner of the company, it’s infuriating that he would be informed that they used drywall in a shower wall, and then him not immediately be offering- no, INSISTING- on fixing it free of charge. Absolutely unacceptable he wouldn’t fix it. It’s crazy to me that he’d hide behind “I already paid my drywall guys”. Ok, so he’s gonna let your shower rot and mold from the inside, and get insects or god knows what else? Even a Kerdi membrane over drywall doesn’t fix the issue. Water finds a way even with perfect waterproofing. The backer board needs to be cement board, or Kerdi board, not drywall.

=====

As for the owner whining about how he paid his guys:

There’s plenty of ways you get drywall guys to fix shoddy work. If they’re subs, let them know you won’t hire them again if they don’t fix it. If they’re employees, simply send them the next day to fix it. If they’re subs and still refuse to fix it, take them to small claims. Heck, tell them you’ll contact every company in your entire state with their photograph and tell them “don’t hire these clowns, they put drywall in a freaking shower”.

And if none of that works, simply take the L, pay out of pocket to fix the shower, and then don’t hire those losers again. Build a quality culture at your company, where you have employees & subs who take pride in their work, continue their education, pride themselves on knowledge and intelligence, and want to do things the right way. Weed out workers who are lazy, unethical, or just not smart.

You need to fight hard to respect your clients and do quality work.

Yes, I know that “customer service standards” have gone down in recent days. You can’t even get fast food with a correct order half the time. People don’t even say thank you when you tip them. Etc.

But on your jobsite, as the owner, you need to enforce quality work and good behavior from your employees and subs. Period. You need to have a conduct handbook. You need to have detailed workmanship requirements that (in my opinion) should not only meet, but EXCEED Aka be better than, code requirements. You need to do everything you can to give the customer the best experience.

@Charles Graves, you do realize this is a 13 year old post?

"The drywall MUST come down. It’s done wrong."

Not according to Kerdi's manufacturer.

"You need to fight hard..."

"...you need to enforce quality work"

"You need to have detailed workmanship requirements..."

"You need to do everything..."

Charles Graves:

You need to familarize yourself with the manufacturer's installation instructions of the products about which you are speaking before posting.

Verbo:

You're going to need to substanitate what you say. You know, like I did with my link to the manufacturer's instructions. I'm fairly certain that most building codes will require installations to be performed to manufacturer's instructions. But hey, you made the point, so you cite your source. If you can't, I guess we'll discover who is BSing and who is the obstreperous hack.

Verbo:

I don't know how much Kerdi training you've had, but I've had some. I can promise you that if you built a box out of drywall without a lid and lined it with Kerdi, you'd have a waterproof bucket.