How To Install Hardiebacker Board For Ceramic Tile

It s made primarily with cement and sand and it has no paper that can deteriorate or promote mold growth if it gets wet.

How to install hardiebacker board for ceramic tile.

Backer board is everything that drywall is not. If you re preparing to do a ceramic floor or wall installation it s recommended that you install hardiebacker cement board on your subfloor or wall before you begin to lay the tile. Installing snap together tile flooring is a project easily accomplished by diyers creating a floor that resembles a much more difficult and expensive ceramic tile installation. These convenient panels of cementitious board provide an instant flat hard surface that bonds with the thin set adhesives or mortars used to install tile.

The traditional method of installing ceramic tile called for setting it in a solid mortar bed. But that s pretty much where the similarity ends. Never install new tiles over existing tiles or onto an unprotected wood or plywood floor. Unlike wood or drywall sub surfaces cement backerboard will not rot warp or grow mold and mildew when exposed to water.

Today most professional tile setters back their tile with cement board instead because it offers almost the same durability with a lot less work. Hardiebacker moisture and mould sensitive areas like kitchens and bathrooms are particularly prone to the negative influence of water on tile backer boards. Ceramic tile backer board also called cement board or tile backer is a rigid panel material that installs over wood framing much like drywall. Hardiebacker is available in both 1 4 inch and 42 inch thick hardiebacker 500 versions and is designed to add mold and moisture resistance to tile installations.

Cement board commonly sold under trade names such as durock hardiebacker and wonderboard is now the standard underlayment used for ceramic porcelain or stone tile laid with thinset mortar adhesive cement board is used for most floor tile and has all but replaced plywood and drywall backer materials for wall tile applications in wet areas like showers and tub surrounds. Whenever you re laying tile on a wood subfloor you need to first install cement backerboard to prevent leaks and water damage. Hardiebacker cement board is made better to install better and perform better. Troweling a perfectly flat bed required great skill but the reward was a tile job that lasted for decades.