There was a similar question but I have a follow-up question. Remodeling shower. Shower base is in place(rectangle 58'x 32') Reinstalling long edge outer wall with no glass and no door creating a walk-in. New wall will be floor to ceiling and run approx 34" leaving the rest as the walk-in. Will powershoot to slab at the bottom and secure to furr strip on cinder wall on the one vertical side. Question; since there are no cross joists in the ceiling I am going to attach to the ceiling drywall, is there any special/better/secure way to attach to the ceiling drywall other than just some wide thread screws? Would large toggles be reasonable? Are there any special brackets available that would broaden the pressure points and help the top wall brace secure better to the ceiling drywall? I will be tiling the shower side of the wall with heavy 18"x18" tiles and don't want it to go south after the first year or whenever.. Thanks, Joe
2 Answers
The correct way to do it is to remove some of the drywall from the ceiling, and install cross braces between the joists. You'll then attach the top of the wall to the cross braces. Anything less and you'll have movement in the wall, and you don't want the wall moving (especially if it's tiled).
Sounds like you've got a nice project going. Don't half-ass it, or you'll regret it later when you're redoing it.
This sounds sketchy to me.
The zinc-plated screw-in drywall anchors are actually quite string, and could be used to partially secure a wall in some cases, in my opinion.
However, given that:
- This is a shower
- You are putting tiles on this wall
- The other edge of this wall is secured only to furring strips
Any movement at all is likely to crack the grout and/or tiles and let water in which will rot the wood, and eventually require gutting the whole thing. It may be solid today, but if moisture gets into the ceiling drywall and starts to break it down, it will lose some strength and a hard push against your wall may be enough to shift it loose.
You are already going to be doing some amount of drywall work. It's well worth the tiny amount of extra time it will take to cut out the ceiling, install a good 2x4 or 2x6 cross-brace, and secure the wall to that. It is not that much extra work now and it will potentially save redoing your entire shower in a couple of years.
