Green Board Fails Again
To the Editor:
In your On the House section in the
January 1995 issue, you responded to a
question about vapor barriers and potential
moisture problems. As the past customer
service manager for a major
builder, I had the unfortunate task of
rebuilding approximately 30 ceramic tile
shower enclosures due to problems created
by the presence of a vapor barrier.
The problems occurred because the
exterior walls of the showers had a 6-mil
polyethylene vapor barrier over the
inside face of the insulation. Green
board drywall was used over this, and
then ceramic tile applied with mastic.
Because of the cold winter weather outside
and the high moisture/humidity
inside the shower, the vapor barrier provided
an