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After fixing some water damage in our upstairs bathroom I decided to install a stand up shower. I've installed it and now I'm adding in patches of drywall around the shower and I noticed one of the back corners is about a 1/4 inch out from the studs the shower is supposed to be mounted to. The other back corner and the two front walls are attached directly to the stud.

My question: How would I fix this issue so the drywall in that area doesn't look noticeably crooked/there's a little "ledge" between the new drywall patch and the existing drywall?

Pictures to follow.Full Front Face

Full Side Shot

No Gap Picture

Gap Picture

Edit 1: My two leading ideas for repairs are 1) Carve the bottom edge of my drywall patch to fit around this gap or 2) Since this mold resistant drywall it's wrapped on the front, I thought I could cut a gap into the back and use hanging piece of drywall still attached in the front to attach to the shower.

A third idea would be much more intensive but might look the best, would be to put some kind of molding around the shower edges themselves, then drywall directly to the studs on top of that molding.

Any help is appreciated.

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  • You can't cut the paper off the back of drywall and expect it to have any strength. It'll crack like nothing. Also, there's no good way to fasten raw gypsum to another surface.
    – isherwood
    May 30, 2019 at 17:27
  • May be way too late for this, but can you move the enclosure over some so that there is a 1/8" gap on both sides? That could be easier to deal with than one 1/4" gap.
    – JPhi1618
    May 30, 2019 at 19:24
  • I normally shim the walls out to match the surround, before hanging any Sheetrock - but I've seen commercial installations, where they just hang up to the surround, then fill the gap with Durabond and tape the seam, to keep it from cracking.
    – tahwos
    Jun 5, 2019 at 21:52

2 Answers 2

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I would cut out the drywall to the highest open point (left wall in your photo) all the way around (or at least along the back wall). Cut tapered shims for each stud from the necessary thickness at the bottom to zero at the top. Rest them above the shower flange, and cut additional (thinner) shims for behind the flange.

You want the tapered shims flush with the outer face of the flange at the bottom. This will virtually eliminate any visible oddity in the drywall.

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  • I think that's going to be the easiest way to do this even though mudding on ceiling corners is tricky for me. Thanks!
    – Winski Tech
    May 30, 2019 at 20:46
  • I didn't suggest cutting to the ceiling. There should be no corner taping at the ceiling involved.
    – isherwood
    May 31, 2019 at 12:38
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I would simply place a 1/4" shim between the shower and the stud. This will allow you to screw the shower to the stud without cracking the shower. You may need another thinner shim on the stud about halfway up from the shower so your drywall doesn't crack when you screw it down. You should be able to get this area to look good when you mud it.

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  • I did have a shim in there for exactly that purpose. My worry is that the drywall patch, at least at the bottom near the shower will be 1/4 inch further away from the wall than the top of that patch. I'm not the best at mudding so how would I get that to look better? Shave the top edge of it down somehow?
    – Winski Tech
    May 30, 2019 at 16:03

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