How to deal with flange on bathtub and drywall?

[sillycat41]

Recently inherited an unfinished house. My brother insulated and dry-walled behind the bathtub but never finished installing it. I would like to use tileboard wall panels around the bathtub instead of real tile, however I don't know how to deal with the flange area since the wall panels wouldn't cover it. Should I use a 1/4" filler behind the wall panels so that they cover the flange? The photos I've found online all show the bathtub installed on the studs with no dry wall behind it. I hate to make more work by cutting the dry wall out. Any suggestions? Thanks.

 

[hj]

the drywall goes OVER the flange and covers it.

 

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[Jadnashua]

How thick is the flange?

I would consider using something like 1/4" KerdiBoard, butting it up to the flange of the tub, and then using KerdiBand, sealed to the tub flange and thinset to the Kerdiboard to make that joint totally waterproof, then tile it. If you treat the screw holes and seams with Kerdiband, the entire wall would then be totally waterproof verses moisture resistant, and you could tile it.

If you insist on using a tileboard like material, you can get 1/4" drywall to fill in. You'd want to put some moisture barrier like plastic sheet behind the tileboard. Not that familiar with the stuff...real tile is going to last longer and look better. Generally, unless you use an approved, tested sheet membrane on top of drywall in a wet area, it will not meet code. There are only two that I'm aware of Kerdi, and Hydroban Sheet. This assumes you have a tub/shower, and not just a tub.

 

[sillycat41]

Thanks for the information Jim. That's basically what I was looking for. I know that tile would be a better option that tileboard, but it's a vacation house and I'm trying to keep costs down. :-/