Shower – How to prevent water pooling on a windowsill from getting behind wall tiles in a shower

Green board is basically sheetrock with a waxy paper face. It's not as stiff as cement board, nor as waterproof, both of which are nice to have when applying tile.

CAN you use it? Sure. It's been done before. Is it to code? Not sure. You'd have to check with your local authorities.

If you decide to use it, see if you can find a product called 'redgard'. It's a paint-on waterproofer that should help keep the green board dry.

When I used to do a lot of these for a building/renovation company, the approach our foreman recommended was to assume the drywall will need replacing anyway and just rip it out. That would let you remove that entire panel in 45 minutes, and then you can just pop a new piece of drywall in, which is another 15 minutes.

As you can see from your 45 minutes, the drywall is going to be ruined, so just bite the bullet - get in behind it and pull it all off. The use of a crow bar and hammer may help here.

If you are wanting to keep the tiles on the adjacent wall, make sure you have cut a gap in at the corner so you don't rip it out as well.

Also, make sure you have something over the drain, to avoid it becoming clogged (I know - sounds obvious, but people do forget)

Updated to incorporate comments

• Cement board and a vapour barrier are the only suitable backing for your tiles here. Drywall shouldn't have been in there to begin with.
• Watch out when hammering around plumbing, to avoid water leaks adding to your worries!