Tile or RedGard/Paint on Walls in Bathroom
Hello,
I’m finishing my basement and installing a new bathroom. Would it be negligent to skip tiling the walls, and instead waterproof them with RedGard and some kind of high-gloss paint?
Relevant info: bathroom has a ventilator fan and a window. The shower is in a bathtub with a 360-degree curtain, i.e. there shouldn’t be direct spray from the shower onto the walls, though the occasional splashing or mist is inevitable.
Any help would be appreciated. I’m not absolutely opposed to tiling the walls if necessary, but it’s a tiny room–so even retaining an extra inch of space would be meaningful. Plus I just finished installing ~500 sq. ft. of floor tile and really would like to not have do any more.
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Having used RedGuard on my walls, I can’t imagine them being a finished surface, even with paint. They are super bumpy because of the deckling of the roller. The coat of RG has to be thick (2 coats iirc), so I just don’t know how you’d avoid that. Even if the paint would hold up—and I doubt it would—it’d make cleaning a nightmare.
If there's no frequent direct splashing, you don't really need waterproof walls. Use one of the various mold and water resistant drywall products (Dens-Armor, Tough Rock Mold Guard, Purple board, etc.) and standard, glossy latex paint. Some paints also have mold inhibitors and/or they can be added during mixing. Make sure the fan exhausts outside. I like fan switches with timers built in so you can leave the fan running for 15 minutes or so after a shower and it turns off automatically. This setup lets your wall dry out if they get damp, which in a basement might be even more important than the surface being waterproof.
Hi Peter,
Thanks a lot for the response here. So presumable you would agree with Brian that RedGard is unnecessary/unadvisable for this situation?
Also, do you think I should go full gloss/eggshell on the paint? Or will a semi-gloss/satin finish work? I believe we will be using semi-gloss for the rest of the "living space" in the basement, so it would be very easy to just use that same paint. But also I can get a glossier finish for the bathroom if need be.