Swazzle

The shower is surrounded by three walls with the side walls extending out past the shower pan. I want the tile the shower walls to a height of 72" above the shower pan with the tiles extending slightly out past the shower doors on the side walls.

Should I run the backerboard along the full height of the back wall (covering it completely with backerboard, or only up to the tile line (the 72" mark above the shower pan), or slightly below the tile line? If I go with the second or third option, I'd use greenboard to cover the remaining height, and if I go with the third option, the top row of tiles would cover the seem where the backerboard and the greenboard meet.
And whichever choice I used for the back wall I'd also use for the side walls.

I'd prefer to go with the third option (the top row of tiles covering the seem between the backerboard and the greenboard) because the greenboard comes in 4x8 sheets which would allow me to use single pieces of greenboard for each wall, whereas if I used backerboard, I'd have to use significantly more pieces since the backerboard I bought comes in 3x5 sheets.

Is there a proper way of doing this or can I freely go with any of the three options?

Ron6519

The option that just covers the seams will allow you to paint just the drywall.
Ron

Swazzle

Ron, that's what I was thinking too. I'm just wondering if it's bad practice. I assume it isn't, but I've never done this before.

Ron6519

When I do bathrooms, I just tile the entire shower area right to the ceiling. The tile should be over the shower arm, in my opinion, but tiling the whole wall eliminates having exposed sheetrock. More often then not, I also tile the ceiling.
Ron