Pro Handyman Blog

Cement Board or Green Board for Shower Repairs?

 Email Article  

Tweet  

  

 delicious  

  

For shower wall repairs, it is a pretty common issue to wrestle with: should you use cement board or green board? There are benefits to each, but I am partial to cement board.

I like cement board because it is so durable. The downside is that it is more expensive, it is sold in smaller pieces (3’x5’ sheets that makes it easier to handle), it is slightly more difficult to cut, and the fasteners are more expensive.

Green board on the other hand has just the opposite of the drawbacks listed above. Green board though is often referred to water proof, which it is not. It is water resistant. It has a waxy surface which can resist wetness, but it is definitely not water proof. It is smarter to use green board than ordinary drywall when working near wet locations.

Both cement board and green board are cut using a score and snap method. The edge for the cement board will be much more jagged than the green board, but since it will be covered by the shower wall surface, it shouldn’t make much of a difference. Since the cement board is heavier, you will also use more screws to hold it to the wall studs. These are specialized screws with small burrs under the screw head that dig out some of the cement surface so that the head will not protrude.