Is The Drywall In The Bathroom Special?

Q:

Is The Drywall In The Bathroom Special?

A:

In years past the drywall in bathrooms was the same as in every other room of the house, in the shower or bathtub areas plywood was used as a backing for the application of tile. Then contractors started using cement board in the shower and bathtub areas as a tile backer, the difference was that the cement board did not rot if/when water seeped through the tile or grout like what happens to plywood.

As time went by and building science evolved a lot of thought and effort was put into the elimination of moisture, mold and mildue. Installing bathroom fans with the ability to move large volumes of hot moist air out of the room to the outside was the first step.

The problem with bathroom fans was that you had to rely on people to turn them on and leave them on until the room was completely clear of the moist hot air. Another problem was that in oddly shaped or larger bathrooms the fan wouldn’t be large enough to remove the needed air from every section.

Today there is another option for the drywall in your bathroom, it is called mold or mildue resistant drywall. There are many different manufacturers of this kind of product, some are better than others are resisting moisture. They are now widely available in all building centres in North America, like anything it varies in price but they all work toward the same goal; to eliminate the growth of mold and mildue because of hot moist air that is produced in the bathroom.

The next time you are planning to take on a bathroom renovation ask you contractor about mold or mildue resistant drywall.

Rob Abbott
Village Builders Inc.