Tiling to wood/ply substrates

[Russell brown]

Used about 3/4 a bag. Still not impressed but I'll give it another go. Still think far eastern ply is better, wbp and marine ply are crap!.

 

[p4ulo]

Ouch!! I only ever bought proper hardie-backer screws once, very expensive!!
Cheap as chips box of 1000 black plasterboard screws do the job just as well.....I tend to use a big HSS drill bit to create a "countersink" for the head to sit neatly into, but no need to pilot-hole drill the hardie-backer.
Keep trying, its great stuff for stabilising an old floorboard floor of the "usual" upstairs bathroom!!

 

[Russell brown]

The bathroom I'm doing has 22mm t&g chipboard flooring but I thought I'd see what all the fuss was about. I won't give up on it as it could be down to me but I think it seems a lot of effort and a lot of expense. Do you mix your addy up wetter when sticking the boards down as I mixed up as normal.

 

[Stef]

The bathroom I'm doing has 22mm t&g chipboard flooring but I thought I'd see what all the fuss was about. I won't give up on it as it could be down to me but I think it seems a lot of effort and a lot of expense. Do you mix your addy up wetter when sticking the boards down as I mixed up as normal.

Yeah mix your addy up wetter than normal, it's only meant to act as a filler for the voids but once set that Hardie isn't moving, even if you take the screws out.
I always use a flexi addy & I prime the boards as well.

 

[Ian]

What was it you didn't like about Hardibacker in particular?

 

[Russell brown]

The sub floor is flat as anything, I took time to clean, Hoover and prime the t&g. Took time to ensure addy was spread evenly yet the hardi backer isn't flat. It's not massive dips about 2/4mm in the centre of a 2m level but I know the original floor was flat. Maybe if I mixed the addy up wetter it wouldn't of been as bad?.

 

[p4ulo]

I can only guess that's what it could be Russell?
I always screw in the fixings from one edge working towards the other, to ensure adhesive is nicely moved around and evenly distributed underneath....and I also mix it slightly wetter to allow it to "move" more.

 

[Stef]

The sub floor is flat as anything, I took time to clean, Hoover and prime the t&g. Took time to ensure addy was spread evenly yet the hardi backer isn't flat. It's not massive dips about 2/4mm in the centre of a 2m level but I know the original floor was flat. Maybe if I mixed the addy up wetter it wouldn't of been as bad?.

The Hardie should have been flat if the floor was flat.
I lay the Hardie then walk all over the board to squash it right into the adhesive & I have never had a problem.

 

[steve-tiler]

I have to admit I wasn't sure about backer boards when I first used them after always tiling onto ply. But I now always use backerboards and try not to tile to ply unless its been done by customer with correct wood and i am happy its well fixed down.