Tile On Drywall Vs Cement Board

Screws secure the cement board to the wall studs.

Tile on drywall vs cement board.

These are available in 4 8 foot and 3 5 foot sheets that are either 1 2 inch or 1 4 inch thick. Then the cement board is installed on top of the plastic sheeting. Cement board is perfect for tile covered wet applications like showers and tub surrounds. Cement based backer boards durock wonderboard and hardibacker are all mineral based or cementitious materials.

Cement boards are made up of cement and glass fibers. Cement board is a very hard panel formed by cement slurry and reinforced fiberglass mesh. Tile is laid onto the cement board with thinset mortar or mastic. Greenboards or blueboards on the other hand are types of drywall.

Essentially drywall is gypsum pressed between two sheets of paper. Wet or dry such backer board provides a stable base for tiling. Green board drywall is water resistant not waterproof. The core of the green board drywall is a thicker and more resilient version of the drywall s gypsum core which allows it to withstand indirect moisture applications such as the humidity in a bathroom or near a laundry room.

In this highly convenient inexpensive and popular application a moisture barrier of 4 or 6 mil thick plastic is installed directly over the wall studs. It was developed to replace lath and plaster construction. Cement board is the most durable trouble free tile backer for tub surrounds showers floors and all other wet areas. This video transition between cement board and drywall joint or how to tap drywall and cement board joint or tapping cement board and sheetrock shows the tra.

I like to use a cement backer only because you re dealing with perhaps some moisture situation that you could be getting and you don t want a lot of water to get kicked up back there to get sucked through the grout and then go right to the drywall. It provides a strong base on which to install tile and stone. At some point along the wall the cement backer board will meet with the drywall used in the rest of the room. This product resists direct moisture making it a top choice for installation in areas of high humidity.

Some people go directly to the drywall. On top of the 2 6 will be 3 4 subfloor thinset cement board redgard thinset tile. It s typically available in 1 2 in. I d like to get as close as possible to matching the height of the existing tile.

Cement board also comes in panels but that s where its similarity to drywall ends. Its made from cement and sand and is reinforced by fiberglass mats on both sides so it s impervious to water. A lot of people do it in different ways. If i thinset the cement board down using a 1 4 x 1 4 trowel and screw it every 8 will the thinset end up being 1 8 thick.