I discovered green board on tiled shower wall...

11 years ago

We did a kitchen addition a couple years ago, before I discovered GW. I was flipping through my construction pictures looking for one to help answer someone else's question on GW this morning, and noticed, in a picture I took of our pantry, you can clearly see that the bathroom wall (other side of pantry--was remodeled at some time prior to our owning the house) is green board, and not a hardibacker.

This used to be an exterior wall (until we added our addition). And, the insulation they put in was a plastic wrapped insulation (I'll post the picture below). The bathroom side of that green board is 12x12 tiles with a shower/tub combo. The first 6 yrs of owning the house, we rarely used that shower (only the tub). We have started to use the shower more.

Now my question--not knowing if they put hardi over the green board, and assuming they did not, how long until I need to replace that whole wall/tile installation? What can I do to "protect" it in the mean time?

Here is the picture:

From construction

and, lower:

From construction

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Comments (2)

clg7067
11 years ago
There's always a posibility that they put Red Guard, or some other water proofing coating on the other side.

But, to be safe, just squeegie your shower walls after every shower and you might get by for a long time. And don't take any 20 minutes showers. ;)

I just had my shower removed and replaced. They at least put up cement board before tiling, but there was no vapor barrier on the back side to direct moisture back to the pan. There was a vapor barrier for the insulation. Surprisingly, there was absolutely no water damage, even though the grout was totally compromised. That shower was 24 years old!
kirkhall
Original Author
11 years ago
Thanks clg.

Here is another question, maybe for tile pros...

At the edge of the tile on the end, there is the regular silver edge strip, but behind that and "visible" under paint is some "not-well-trimmed" "mesh". What texture are topical waterproofing membranes like Kerdi or redgard, or... Could this "mesh" I see be that? Or, is it some other thing that is used to help the tile backing adhere?
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