How To Install Hardiebacker Board For Ceramic Tile

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.

How to install hardiebacker board for ceramic 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. But that s pretty much where the similarity ends. 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.

Backer board is everything that drywall is not. Troweling a perfectly flat bed required great skill but the reward was a tile job that lasted for decades. That s why it was named the most preferred brand of backer board by tile installers and contractors according to the 2019 tile and stone report conducted by clearseas research in partnership with the national tile contractors association and tile magazine. How to tile a floor tile is a nice addition to any basement.

Hardiebacker moisture and mould sensitive areas like kitchens and bathrooms are particularly prone to the negative influence of water on tile backer boards. It s made primarily with cement and sand and it has no paper that can deteriorate or promote mold growth if it gets wet. Whenever you re laying tile on a wood subfloor you need to first install cement backerboard to prevent leaks and water damage. Unlike wood or drywall sub surfaces cement backerboard will not rot warp or grow mold and mildew when exposed to water.

The various brands of cement board such as hardiebacker durock denshield and wonderboard have become a standard tile backer material for nearly all ceramic porcelain and stone tiles for floor wall and countertop applications. Hardiebacker cement board is made better to install better and perform better. 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. 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.