Vapor Barrier Shower Wall Tile

Water vapor that gets behind walls or travels up through light fixtures or hvac grilles into an attic will turn back into water when it cools off.

Vapor barrier shower wall tile.

The benefit of this is that this closed cell insulation is 100 waterproof but it also provides a vapor stop to keep water vapor from entering the wall cavity. If you have a steam shower with a steam generator then a vapor retarder is required. You have several options to choose from when choosing a vapor barrier and each affects your waterproofing strategy. This will be thick enough to hold the moisture effectively.

It s usually a thin layer of plastic that sits between the drywall and the studs. Tile is laid onto the cement board with thinset mortar or mastic. Steam stays in a gas form until it cools down or hits a barrier such as a shower door tile ceiling or a mirror. In a shower situation you recognize it as steam.

But they do generate enough water to need moisture management. This can take the form of a sheet membrane or a paint on liquid. Failure to do that will mean that moisture will soak the greenboard and it will gradually crumble as will your shower wall. Either a vapor type barrier behind the board or a waterproofing membrane on the front.

If you re using greenboard or drywall for the walls of the shower you ll need to put the vapor barrier between the greenboard and the water. A seam in an acrylic shower or a cracked grout joint or some missing caulk in a tile shower are all that is needed to let moisture get behind your shower enclosure. Water vapor is water in a gas form. This is especially important in a shower located on an outside wall but also helps even if the shower is on an inside wall.

Then the cement board is installed on top of the plastic sheeting. 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. Screws secure the cement board to the wall studs. A good vapor barrier should be 10 to 15 millimeter polyethylene.

In a shower you can t have the vapor barrier on top of the greenboard. But most residential showers don t generate enough water vapor to be problematic. Moisture barriers stop that. A vapor or moisture barrier is a layer of protection that is designed to act as a waterproof shield helping to keep condensation away from wood insulation and other mold prone materials that are located behind the drywall.