How thin can knee wall between shower and tub be?

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Lucky

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a piece of glass will be resting on top of the knee wall to separate the tub and shower. so i was wondering the thinnest width the knee wall can be. no plumbing will be installed in the knee wall. just tile for the shower on one side and then backspash above the tub on the tub side.

when my contractor was here 2 weeks ago it made all sense what he was gonna do but now that i measured it myself. i don't get it. basically now i have a shower stall next to a tub now and the tub is on the left. from the left side of the tub which is now a finished wall, to the right side of the shower stall, which is down to the studs, its 105 inches. we are swapping tub and shower positions due to width issues. so 42x36 stall on the left and 32x60 new tub on the right.

so for a 60 inch tub on the right and then 42 inch shower on the left that means in the 3.5 inches remaining he has to build a knee wall between the shower and tub, finish the right side of the new tub with drywall and then the build the left side wall of the shower out. reason is currently the tub is 28 inches so you need to build out at least 8 or more inches (i agreed to a 36 deep shower vs the 42 i have now) so the new shower will be 42x36 and that's what's in the contract too. there's cast iron baseboard at the left wall so its a firm fixed thing that cannot be changed. so the 8 plus inches of wall will come out to support the tile on the build out. the front and right side of the shower will be glass.
 

Lucky

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well my guy wrote back. i still don't know how he's gonna do it but he said no additional thickness to my existing left wall. just building it out. in this pic you see the left wall of the tub. its 28 deep. this is the new location of the shower stall. 42 wide x 36 deep. so to get that 36 deep he has to build out the wall into the middle of the room a few inches. apparently he's building the wall over the baseboard somehow and out the inches he needs. then the glass shower door will be built into the stud in the new wall extension. i don't know how he's going to account for possible access to that baseboard in the future but i guess i shouldn't worry about it. he's the pro!

another contractor actually said that 8 inch build out could be glass and the door attached to that piece of glass but this guy said the door really needs to be into studs so of course it's his job so we do it his way.

tub baseboard.jpg
 

Jadnashua

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On a wall that doesn't go floor to ceiling, when tile is involved, you must ensure the pony wall is quite rigid, as flex will radically affect the longevity of the tile and grout.

SO, what is the ultimate thickness of the wall involved?

Drywall might be okay on the tub side since it's not going to be a shower...but, isn't actually all that strong.

You could make the wall out of KerdiBoard, and laminate it up to the desired thickness, and it's stable, won't warp, is waterproof and designed to be tiled. They do make SS u-channel to stiffen it up, but only in three thicknesses. You might be able to use more than one piece to go thicker then laminating the panels, but I'd suggest calling them (Schluter @ 1-888-472-4588 or via email https://www.schluter.com/schluter-us/en_US/contact
Schluter has a bunch of videos showing how to use KerdiBoard here Schluter<sup>®</sup>-KERDI BOARD | schluter.com and the following one may be more pertinent.

 

Lucky

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he said the knee wal coudl be 4 to 6 inches.

the build out from the shower side will hvae to be strong since its taking the hinge of the glass door but he hasnt discussed how thick that is. but since he wants me to shorten my baseboards that addition can be as thick as he needs
 
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