Hardiebacker Advice

[Holohana]

evening everyone. whats your thoughts on Hardibacker? Pros & cons against other options such as ply, aquaboard and other alternatives? All feedback would be appreciated.

 

[Grace'sDad]

My thought is it's damn expensive. It seems that the cost price is around £3 a sheet for 6mm, yet we pay over £10!

I tend to use it more as a wall / shower liner now.

 

[grumpygrouter]

I've used it a couple of times - 6mm. Not in the conventional sense either as I was using it to cover some existing tiles on a wall before re-tiling with mosiacs on one occassion and a bit of substrate bridging on another.

I find the 6mm is ok to use but the sheets are definately not flat. If they are to go on a floor, they must be screwed into a wet bed of adhesive.

Prior to that only ever ply'd out a floor once (my own) and only 9mm as floor was rock solid. Did it as a practise piece to be honest.

Would prefer not to use either if I could get away with it, tbh!

 

[GatesheadCol]

Ive used them a cple of times and find them alright to use.

The benefit for me is they are small enough to fit into my little corsa combi van.

Wet adhesive and screwed down and they are strong.

 

[CLAYS TILES]

I have used the thicker boards for doing floors, the only thing i hate is cutting the bugger!:huh2:

 

[Grace'sDad]

How do you guys countersink the holes when screwing?

I've not found screws good enough to pull in tight and I get through a fresh countersink bit every time!

 

[GatesheadCol]

I use the hardibacker screws that are designed for the boards, i find they sink in very nicely, have never had to countersink them myself

 

[Northern Bird]

Come on guys and girls any experience you can help with good or bad wanted

 

[White Room]

Personally never had problem with the 6mm on floor's, When putting adhesive down on floor ready to lay hardie add sbr to the single part flexi.

 

[ross lewiss]

there a video clip on you tube were an american guy uses adhesives to stick it to the floor then bangs nails in as he goes along. if you used screws then do you screw as you go along or wait till the adhesive has dried.

point 2. how do to you attach backerboard to walls. do you use adhesive like the floors??
thanks, ross

 

[tiler burden]

hi

1. screw them as you fit each board as you go along, try to always use screws, nails become lose over the years. just go in a new house and listen to the chip board flooring after 6 months!!!
2. when fitting to walls, screw battons to the wall, then screw the backerboard to the battons remembering to fit cross sections in between were 2 backerboards join!! use coated screws!

 

[Northern Bird]

Ok cheesy american huy is right,

Floor bed of adhesive then board then adhesive then tiles

Wall, studs fixing at 400 or 600 centres, or raw plug into wall.

Mechanical fix always prefered

 

[monty]

The Hardiebacker screws you get from topps are 35mm so didn't bother with them....got 25mm coated screws from b&q that way i no i'm not screwing into pipes..:lol:

 

[Northern Bird]

As long as they are galvanised, stainless steel or brass we dont mind

 

[sWe]

My thoughts on backerboards... Expensive.

Regular backerboards cost £30 each here, they aren't permitted in bathrooms over here. We have to use backerboards with factory applied WPC on both sides. They cost £40 each, at 240x90x12. That's not taking trade discounts into the equation, but still...

 

[karlm98]

the yanks invented hardibacker..you can use thinset under the board but screwing it down and not nailing is always the best option i have also used PL glue(no nails type glue) both the hardi500 and the 1/4 boards are 3ftx5ft and 4ft x 8ft in the USA and bought at home depot it usually ran around $12/13 a sheet, we of course make it smaller and 20% tax..so of course we pay more for less also they tape and bed their joints (sometimes) it is an industry standard as the quality of ply in the USA is terrible, also the hardi screws counter sink themselves and the packs i bought came with a square headed bit to screw them in and trust me screwing hardi is a breeze with their screws.
i use no more ply in the UK with glue and screwed every 30mm the screws that no more ply supply are just self tappers Philips head and a right pain i dont see why we dont just do what the americans do and make em easier to use..lol
if your floor is sound and none or very little deflection then hardi/no more ply is the way to go, you dont need to prime. cement based adhesive sticks to cement boards no problems..
i tiled 2ft x 2ft gauged slate on a kitchen floor (30m2) i glued hardi 500 and screwed every 10inches i used mapei ultra flex 3 grouted and sealed then the architect called me about needing a hole for the electrics in the island i can tell you it was a right pain to get the tile and hardi up from the boards to access the electrics there was no way the tile was coming up from the hardi i had to cut thru to the wood and used a crowbar to lever the stuff up..
by the way ULTRFLEX 3 is fantastic adhesive, not seen it in the UK tho, it was expensive at $32 a bag
i always have a gander at the US sites for Laticrete and mapei to whats up n coming...well worth a look

LATICRETE® International > Architects > Products
Tile & Stone Installation Systems
#10 x 1-1/4 in. Zinc Plated Steel Flat Head Square Cement Board Screws 800 Pack-23405 at The Home Depot

 

[Perfect Tiling]

I always use the 6mm hardi on floors...I never use ply anymore. If its a big floor I stagger the sheets to prevent long joints. Put down on wet addy using a 6mm comb and screw down where it is marked leaving a 2-3mm gap between sheets. If its a dry floor I use my collated screwgun which lets me fire in 30 screws in about 2 minutes...no need to countersink as the screws pull in. As Monty said...don't use screws that are too long unless you know whats under the floor...pipes...ducts...wires...etc. When all down I cover the gaps with mesh tape and skim them with adhesive. When its all set you get a good floor to tile onto or level off with slc. Never used the stuff on walls yet.

 

[davemul]

Had to use 6mm hardibacker when I ran out of marmox. Mainly for fiddly boxing in biits.. Horrible stuff to work with ie cutting it within required tolerances.

Will never use it again if I can help it!

 

[Bathfix Bob]

Yes I always use 6mm on floors and the 12mm in the shower area but I may change to plasterboard and tanking next year.

Trouble is although its 'water resistant' doesn't mean water won't soak into it, its just it won't break down in water.

The water will get through the floor anyway.