Leveling Shower Ceiling

[NEPA Remodeling]

I'm doing a 36x52 Kerdi shower with ceramic tile on the ceiling. The ceiling line along the 52" wall is about 1/2" out of level. This will result in an unappealing taper on the final course of 1" subway tile on the wall.

There is already Sheetrock on the ceiling in this area. Can float/level the ceiling either before or after the Kerdi membrane, or must I pull the ceiling, shim it, and replace it?

How have you folks handled this?

[Kman]

Use self-leveling compound.

Is the shower completely enclosed, or are one or two sides open to the rest of the ceiling in the bathroom?

[PetrH]

I would absolutely open it up. Takes about 10 minutes to unscrew the sheetrock, 15 minutes to screw on some shims or sister joists. Let's say 1hr max start to finish. Way less hassle than trying to float it somehow and spend an extra day for things to dry.

[bc brick john]

lucky you

have a buddy whos old timer is way way out of wack

in fact going to take some pics and post in a new thread ......

going to make you smile

[ded dux]

I second the pull it comment. Less time to do it right, and you'll sleep better.

[Carter907]

If it's not enclosed, I would pull it and redo it. If it is enclosed then the slope is necessary and should maybe be more than 1/2". If it must be flat, floating it would be about a complete nightmare!

[NEPA Remodeling]

I didn't hang the rock, The drywall is fully finished/painted and was glued

The ceiling opens up to one side of the room.

It's primarily 1 corner of the ceiling that is up above the rest. That's why floating out came to mind. Pulling down the ceiling would probably be an equal/bigger pita.


I've floated ceilings with joint compound many times, to get a better crown moulding install, wasn't that bad.

[Kman]

The reason I asked if it was enclosed was to see if you could pull and replace it without affecting the ceiling in the rest of the room. Can you do so and still maintain a flat ceiling throughout, or is going to require pulling some of the ceiling into the rest of the bathroom?

[Carter907]

I guess I'm just lazy, I hate floating anything but the floor!i had to triple float a shower a couple weeks ago. I didn't do the rock, the guys who built the wall and rocked it didn't have a clue. I couldn't talk the people into a full redo, so I had to float out 3 walls. One spot was about a 7/8" dip in 2 feet. And I still managed to get it flat enough , as long as you don't look at it...

[NEPA Remodeling]

This ceiling had a few high joist above the cabinets, we just make the ceiling work with the crown. The framing flaws disappeared.

Cutting out part of the ceiling to flatten it will likely create a ridge at the seam, which would also need floated. Drywall is flexible to a point, but not so much over a short span. I figured I can taper mud just as easily as trying to align two pieces of rock.

If you were to float it, would you do it under or over the Kerdi? Not so much worried about time for curing. There's other areas I can work while it cures.

[PetrH]

If I were to float it, I'd likely screw on a strip of 1/2" CBu in the offending corner, some scraps of 1/4" further out to mostly fill the hollow and then float with thinset. I don't worry about perfection, if you get back to it the next morning it's still easy to shape with a scraper or even a straight edge.