# Bathroom Ceiling above shower



## qvminich (Aug 19, 2008)

Our bathroom shower is now tiled and ready to rock and roll except for the ceiling. It is very low with ducts running the length of the shower ceiling. So what do we do? What kind of ceiling do we install? I'm assuming that whatever we put above the shower will be the same stuff for the rest of the bathroom. I'm not sure we even have enough room for a drop ceiling like our plumber has suggested. He claims it's easier to deal with plumbing problems when they arise with a drop ceiling. I'll attach some pictures in the morning to give folks a better idea of what we are up against. Thank you for any replies.

QV


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## RippySkippy (Feb 9, 2007)

My parents have an old house with a shallow basement. Dad purchased a sheet of the tub surround material, cut to fit the foot print of the shower, glued to drywall ceiling above the shower and trimmed it flush with the shower front facing the open area. It didn't look too bad...it was noticeable, it has however held up well, better than I originally thought. The rest of the bathroom is standard drywall primed and painted a good kitchen bath enamel paint. It's key to get the moisture vented to the outside.

We'll look forward to the picts!


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## Brik (Jan 16, 2007)

I want to see pictures - My fear is something was done out of order. You tiled a bathroom but have no ceiling? Drywall is what 99% of bathroom ceilings are made of. Use the green board or similar. Then paint it. Your non-tiled walls will be same. Then paint or paper. Done.


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## qvminich (Aug 19, 2008)

Yes we didn't finish the ceiling at all thinking we could do it afterwards. We had no clue what to put on top of the ducts. Our drywall is blue and not green on all the walls including behind the tiles in the shower. I'm hoping it's comparable to the green. We were told at Home Depot that the blue was bathroom specific. Yikes.


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## ccarlisle (Jul 2, 2008)

uh....bit afraid to ask, but what did you put in between the blue drywall and the tiles, And what did you use to stick the tiles with...?
:huh:


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## qvminich (Aug 19, 2008)

Hello CCarlisle in Montreal. We got back not too long ago from a road trip to Val d'or, where all my family resides. It rained 12 out of the 14 days we were there. Not fun.Anyways back to you question. The tiles are stuck to the blue board with whatever stuff one puts. A tiler with 20 years of experience did it for us. The membrane is behind there at 13 inches above the ground. We thought about doing it the Schluter way all around but didn't. Then of course it was grouted. I sense you are saying Oh No!!!


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## sam999 (Aug 21, 2008)

hello all,
Sounds like you are well on your way to finding the answer. But this looked pertinent to your question: bathroom ceilings

My friend is in the middle of a bathroom renovation right now, so I found this site for her.


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## qvminich (Aug 19, 2008)

*Cool sites*

Thanks for those 2 sites. I loved the TUBZ site and the ceilings looked amazing. Unfortunately ordering that stuff from the UK would be pretty costly. I wonder if they have that material in Canada.

QV


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## Brik (Jan 16, 2007)

That blue board may be moisture resistant drywall. Regardless its not recommended for wet areas, under tile, in showers. Its used for damp areas such as the rest of the bathroom, outside the shower. Sorry. You may be OK for a while. If you are not ripping it out then make sure you keep everything perfectly caulked and your grout is sealed and you may be OK. One little failure in sealer or caulk and the walls behind the tile could turn to moldy mush after a while. The moisture resistant drywall is OK for a ceiling as it doesn't get a stream of water on it.


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## qvminich (Aug 19, 2008)

*blue board*

So what does one put on the walls in showers before tiling if not blue board? Thanks.

QV


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## Brik (Jan 16, 2007)

The most common substrate for tile in wet areas is called backer board. Two common ones you hear about at Hardibacker and durrock. All home centers sell them, all DIY tile books mention them and its considered standard practice IMO. There is more to it than just backer board so do a bit of research if you are going to re-do.


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## AtlanticWBConst. (May 12, 2006)

qvminich said:


> So what does one put on the walls in showers before tiling if not blue board? Thanks.
> 
> QV


Use Cement Board.

Examples: 

http://www.nationalgypsum.com/products/product45.aspx

http://www.usg.com/navigate.do?reso...ts/prod_details/DUROCK_Brand_Cement_Board.htm

http://www.jameshardie.com/homeowner/products_backerboard_halfInch.shtml?openTab=jsnavLink0


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## qvminich (Aug 19, 2008)

*cement board*

Thank you for your response and those links. They were very helpful.

Qv


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## wyly (Nov 7, 2008)

finishing the walls before the ceiling and an experienced tiler of 20yrs never said anything? I've gone through a few tilers and they all have experience but finding a well trained one is difficult.

Tiling over drywall in a shower is no longer acceptable, a cement board is strongly recomended. 
I attach a strong vapor barrier to the studs before the cement board is attached, cement board will not rot but it will absorb water and can still be transferred to the wall studs, so you can still have a water problem but your tiles may not fall off. A more serious structual problem could be developing long term because there are no moldy board or lose tiles signalling a problem.

Some builders will put a protective fabric over top of the cement board as well the Schluter-KERDI system. Many good tilers still don't see the need for the Kerdi system and consider it an expensive overkill.

Tiling over drywall regardless of the color is not always a disaster, being in the home construction industry for 40yrs I can tell you it was at one time the standard system. I've been in thousands of homes that have no problems using this method.
The reason that there are mold and rot issues with drywall baths/showers is due to the grout and caulking failure or mechanical leaks behind the walls, when those fail there is no protection for the drywall underneath.

Bathrooms are expensive, if you going to invest a lot of dollars in a bath do it right, the cost for not doing so is high, the technology is there use it.

I normally wrap a vapour barrier behind the cement board and tile over that, the job I'm working on now a steam shower I'm also applying the Kerdi system over the cement board, steam is worse than water it'll literally peel the paint off the walls. The tile installer says I don't need it but this is a $15,000 dollar bathroom if it fails I have to fix it for free. 

AND...ALWAYS USE QUALITY FIXTURES on a shower or tub...brand X or low end products from a home center will fail, count on it! you need something that will last 20yrs +.....a high end Moen using the M-pact system will do the job nicely...


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