Way off topic - shower enclosure advice.

[Cliff Kachinske]

The sheetrock behind the tile in the master bath failed.

I ripped it all out down to the studs and I'm just about ready to redo the enclosure. I did the other bath 2 years ago so I know I can put up cement board and cover it with a plastic enclosure. Works great, doesn't look too bad.

The House Management Committee of One has outlawed anything with grout, so no tile.

The big box store has a plastic enclosure that nails right to the studs. Has anybody used one in a remodel? If so, how did you handle the transition from plastic to the surrounding sheetrock?

Any advice?

Thanks,
Cliff Kachinske

[Bob Gramann]

The ones I have seen have a flange that nails to the studs. The sheet rock goes over the flange. I have seen many, many of the plastic ones with cracks after a few years. For the shower I installed a year ago, I looked and agonized over the choices for a long time and finally went with the tile. They make 12" square tiles for the walls now--that means fewer grout lines, but there's still grout. And you can get colored grout. If you match the dirt and mold with your grout color, you'll never have to clean. I priced doing the enclosure in Corian. It cost as much as the tile, so I did tile.

[Louie Atienza]

There are a few ways. First, I would predrill any holes in the flange, and make them slightly oversize, to help prevent any cracking. If you can , use wafer head screws. Better yet, use shower enclosure adhesive to glue the flange to the stud, and you'll need less nails.

There are a few ways all depending on the situation at hand.

If your enclosure is in an inset area, and the enclosure comes up to the corner, I would remove any existing corner bead (it might even be rusted), and nail the flange to the stud, then get some thinner sheetrock to pad out a new corner bead (just use PowerGrab or other to glue it in place), which you can now get in plastic. I would not use nails on the enclosure side. For the top, you could also fit pieces, but I find it faster to use a setting type joint compound. You have to mix it, but it dries faster, you can build it up thicker and faster, and won't crack with a thick build like regular 'mud.' Pack the hole, then when it dries you can put mesh over the joint and finish it off.

Sometimes, if the opening will allow it, I'll put green board on the walls, THEN put the enclosure on top of it, and then put another layer butted up against the enclosure, and rebated to fit over the flange. It does make a huge differrence in therms of the enclosure feeling more solid.

If you have to remove surrounding sheetrock, then you can cut a rebate on the back of the sheetrock with a utility knife to go over the flange. You may need to add a stud depending where the flange is. Even moreso important if you're using a shower door. In any case, use green board, and use decking screws, stainless screws, or whatever, because any moisture will cause regular sheetrock screws to rust, and they'll push away any mud you use to fill the holes.

Also, while there is no rock on the walls, it doesn't hurt to put insulation and vapor barrier in the walls.

[Cliff Kachinske]

Thanks for the input, all.

A trip to Home Despot revealed that the nail to studs choice was not as attractive as it seemed.

So the choice now is 20 X 20 tile at $1.07 a pop. So that's the current choice. Better bang for the buck than even the cheap plastic surrounds, but maybe a little more work.

[Bob Gramann]

Perhaps more work now, but if you use the cement board and do it right, it will outlast you.

[Randy Roberts]

"If you match the dirt and mold with your grout color, you'll never have to clean."

I showed this discussion to my wife and said "SEE!". She said there are obviously no women on this forum.
I think you will be pretty happy with the big tiles. I redid our shower several years ago with 18 x 18 inch tiles and it's really easy to keep clean...even though the grout doesn't match the carefully documented soap scum and mold colors of the previous shower. <g>

[Jason Rodgers]

Give the epoxy-based grout a try. No sealing necessary.