When I’m not associated with basement finishing projects or one of my other various pursuits, I’m usually getting together with my children. If yours are (or were) anything like mine, you understand they merely can’t stand the green stuff. It didn’t matter what sort of vegetable it had been if it turned out green you weren’t getting hired in that room.

Well, there’s a few other green stuff you should watch out for; especially when you’re about to find a basement finishing project! Years ago, when the tile was installed in a shower, they’d tile right over the plaster or drywall. It eventually became apparent until this wasn’t a durable solution as water invariably got behind the tile caused the backer to mold and deteriorate.

The next generation of shower wall backer-board was essentially drywall, though a mold and water-resistant paper. This product is still used by many today, but that may be a mistake. The board could be mold-resistant (which is good), in our basement finishing experience, water-resistant is just too strong an announcement. Any shower wall backer board will eventually get wet, along with the material behind the green paper that may deteriorate.

A good wall substrate has … Read the rest