Closing Up The Walls

Now that the plumbing is all in and the electrical is run one last thing is running the vent duct for the vent. This was a simple task but had to be completed before the drywall goes up.

Before putting up the drywall everything needed to be insulated. We started with the ceiling. There was room to put in R21 batting up. Then up went the vapor barrier. The spot where the washer & drier are is just about 4 feet wide, but not quite. This meant measuring, cutting, trimming and fitting a full piece if drywall. Frankly this was the hardest part of the bathroom. The rest of the bathroom wasn’t bad to do but hanging drywall on the ceiling without a lift is tiring.

Now that the ceiling is done we turned our attention to the walls. As all the walls are at least 6″ thick and the outside walls are 12″ thick we used the same R21 batting. Lisa put up all the insulation and was very careful to have no gaps or compressed areas. The outside walls already had 6″ of insulation so this was in addition to that. The room was noticeably cooler as it was summer time.

We sealed up everything with vapor barrier and now it was time to hang drywall.

Turning to the walls these were not bad at all. All of the bathroom is drywalled in moisture resistant drywall as it was cheaper to order a bigger quantity than to order some of one type and some of another type.

In the shower is is completely done in KERDI-BOARD.  It consists of an extruded polystyrene foam panel, with a special reinforcement material on both sides and fleece webbing for effective anchoring in thin-set mortar. It comes in a ½” x 4′ x 8′ sheet and attaches with special round metal fasteners. The bench is also KERDI-BOARD but it is 2″ thick. Everything in the shower is waterproof, but more about this later during shower installation.

After the drywall was installed it was time to tape and mud everything but the shower. When the walls were smooth I shot them out with my texture sprayer and applied a “orange peal” texture.

Next I put down a coat of primer paint and then a coat of final paint.

Not having installed any flooring I was able to be messy and not worry about damaging anything.

Mike OQuin

I'm a computer professional since 1971. Additionally I am an explorer both on the ocean and land. I enjoy both brewing and drinking beer.