Different depths of drywall

Hi, all,

We're doing a retiling job on a tub surround. I have demoed the old tile and the drywall behind it. I have half-inch hardibacker to replace the old stuff, but it looks maybe an eighth of an inch less deep than the old stuff. I am wondering if that will be a problem where the hardibacker meets the drywall left behind, outside of the tub surround area. If so, what would the solution be to that? Is there an easy way to take care of it with end or bullnose tiles? (We have not selected the tile yet.) Any suggestions? Thanks much.

mntentman said:

Hi, all,

We're doing a retiling job on a tub surround. I have demoed the old tile and the drywall behind it. I have half-inch hardibacker to replace the old stuff, but it looks maybe an eighth of an inch less deep than the old stuff. I am wondering if that will be a problem where the hardibacker meets the drywall left behind, outside of the tub surround area. If so, what would the solution be to that? Is there an easy way to take care of it with end or bullnose tiles? (We have not selected the tile yet.) Any suggestions? Thanks much.

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The old drywall must have been 5/8. A commercial job, like a big apartment building?

Use floor tile on the new cement board then switch to a thinner wall tile at the transition.

Thanks, good adivce. No, not an apartment, a home.

What about using a filler and then, floating it.

Or you could shim out the hardibacker with drywall shims.

While 1/4" hardie is really 1/4", the 1/2" stuff isn't. Normally, that isn't a big deal, since the typical depth of thinset would allow the last tile to bridge that area and if a little bit of the outer edge of the tile doesn't get much thinset, no big deal. In other words, the hardie plus thinset would have the tile even or above the drywall, and it all comes out great. I think they do this because on a floor, it doesn't matter, and on a wall, meeting up with typical 1/2" drywall would have the tile sitting proud of the wall if it was also 1/2" thick.

If your cbu edge won't be covered by tile, then just drywall mud will fill it in and you can paint it.

I usually run the CBU a little past where the tile will end, on purpose. Then tape the seam, and float out over the cbu; get it right, and the tile / wall transition is way nicer than any other option - it's flush.