How to Hang Drywall Around a Shower Pan

Start at the wall’s bottom and work your way up, so that you can stack the pieces and keep from hurting your lower back. Measure the wall of your shower from corner to corner, inside to inside or inside to outside, and transfer those measurements to your raw drywall stack.

Move a sheet of drywall from your stack into a vertical position, leaning it up against a wall. Place the T-square against the vertically inclined piece as a guide for your utility knife. Press the knife’s blade into the drywall on your measurement scoring the piece along that line.

Snap the piece of drywall in half along the scored mark. Hold once side of the piece firmly in your left hand and then apply pressure with your right hand to the other side of the cut, pushing it backwards along your score mark. Once the piece separates, which is also known as snapping, cut the back side of the piece free with the utility knife.

Install your first piece along the shower wall’s bottom, so that the drywall overlaps the shower pan’s flange, or runs over the top of the waterproofing membrane, depending on what kind of shower pan you have installed. Ensure that there is at least one-eighth inch of space left between the sheet’s bottom and the shower pan for seasonal movement.

Mount the drywall piece onto the wall studs with the drill and drywall screws. Screw the piece every few inches up the wall. Repeat the process with all subsequent pieces. You do not need to provide space between the drywall sheets. Stack them on top of each other up the wall until you are finished.