Shower Stall Issues

I got myself into a project, somewhat on accident. I'll spare the story but here is the situation I am in. I pulled the drywall out of my shower stall last night, the contractor (who is a family member) suggested just taking the drywall out just above the tile. The tile on the shower went up about 6 feet and the shower stall is about 8 feet tall, so the tile does not go to the ceiling. We cut the drywall about half a foot above the tile and pulled it out leaving about a foot of drywall on the walls that went up to the ceiling.

He is suggesting putting purple/greenboard back in and tiling over this. Everything I have seen suggests that this is wrong, I should be using cement board. If I use cement board will is butt up against the existing foot and a half of drywall that is still there?

I'm feeling very overwhelmed with this and I thought I was going to have my family members help but he is avoiding me and acts like he is not going to help, so now here I am doing this myself. Any thoughts? Where should I start?

 

Welcome to the forums!

Let me see if I understand, is this a plastic/fiberglass tub surround that only goes up so far and then the last foot or so is going to be tiled? If so, drywall is ok as that isn't really considered a wet area. But if the entire wall is tile [from the tub to the ceiling] then it should be cement board with a vapor barrier behind the tile.

Sometimes pics are worth a bunch of words http://www.doityourself.com/forum/el...-pictures.html

 

I can include photos later. It's a fully tiled shower stall, it's recessed into the ground about an inch and a half with a drain on the floor, no tub at all. The wall from the floor all the way up to about 6 feet is tiled, the last 2 feet up to the ceiling is untiled. We pulled out the tiled area of the drywall and left the 2 feet of drywall at the top near the ceiling. So should I pull out the last 2 feet of drywall and just cement board the whole shower stall or will the cement board butt up against the existing drywall?

 

Assuming both the drywall and the cement board are 1/2" thickness [which is standard] it should mate together fine.

 

Great, I'll measure the thickness of everything before I purchase. Thanks.

 

Just for the record.......relatives can be more harmful than helpful when it comes to projects, so plan on doing this yourself.....with our help of course!!
Another plan of action that may save you a headache or two, since you are within a foot or so of the ceiling, go ahead and strip it of sheetrock, run your cbu to the ceiling, and tile all the way to the ceiling.