what screws to use for cement backer board
How to Install Cement Board for Tile Projects
The best base for ceramic tile is waterproof cement board.
Time
A full day
Complexity
Beginner
Cost
$51–100
Introduction
Installing cement lath correctly is the most critical function of a outset-class tiling projection. Hither'southward how to do it.
Tools Required
Materials Required
- 2 x 4s
- Cement board
- Cement board screws
- Fiberglass mesh tape
- Thin-set mortar
Pace one: Overview
Move over solid mortar bed, and say hello to cement boards. The traditional method of installing ceramic tile chosen for setting it in a solid mortar bed. Troweling a perfectly flat bed required slap-up skill, merely the advantage was a tile job that lasted for decades. Today, well-nigh professional tile setters back their tile with cement lath instead, because it offers almost the same durability with a lot less work. And the best role? Do-information technology-yourselfers can utilise it likewise.
Cement board is a thin layer of mortar sandwiched between sheets of fiberglass mesh cloth. The 1/two-in. thick board is unaffected by water, making information technology a great substitute for a mortar bed.
In this article, we'll testify you lot how to create a strong, durable and waterproof tile base around your bathtub using cement board. Nosotros chose the tub environment because it'southward highly leak-prone, and an platonic spot for cement capitalist board. Although cement board is heavy and a bit awkward to cut, fifty-fifty a novice should exist able to consummate a professional-quality tub surround, set up to tile, in a twenty-four hours. (Allow half a day to tear out the old tile and perhaps several more days to let damp wood dry.) In one case y'all are done installing the cement board, here are some bathroom tile trends you'll desire to explore.
Figure A: Cement Board Installation Details
Add blocking and other framing details before hanging the cement board.
Project step-by-step (xviii)
Step one
Buying materials
Cement board, technically called cementitious backer unit (CBU), is manufactured under different brand names. The standard size canvass is 3 ten 5 ft. and one/2 in. thick, weighs 45 to lx lbs. and is available at almost full-service lumberyards and building supply centers. The 1/2-in. thick cement board spans studs spaced 16 in. on center. Other sizes, like iii x 4 ft., 3 x 6 ft. and iv ten 4 ft., are bachelor, but you may have to contact a tile supplier to find them. Our project, tiling the walls around a standard 5-ft. tub to a acme of 6 ft., requires four 3 x five-ft. sheets.
To adhere the cement board to the studs, you lot'll need special 1-1/4 in. cement lath screws (run into Fig. B). These screws take a coating to resist corrosion, a special broad head with cutting flutes and hullo-depression threads for a strong grip. If you lot can't find them at a dwelling centre, call tile specialty stores. If special screws aren't available, attach the cement board with ane-1/two in. hot-dipped galvanized roofing nails.
You'll also demand a gyre of ii-in. broad fiberglass mesh cement board tape and a 25-lb. bag of thin-set adhesive, both bachelor at home centers. For the fiberglass mesh tape be sure to utilize the special, heavier type sold for use with thin-prepare mortar, as regular drywall mesh tape volition rot. The thin-set up is a cement-based pulverisation that yous mix with water or latex additive to form a thick paste, which is used to seal the seams in the lath and tin as well exist used to set the tile.
Finally, you'll need an 8 x 12-ft. piece of 4-mil plastic sheeting and some straight 2x4s.
Step 2
Check for bowed studs
Protect the bathtub with a dropcloth and seal the edges with tape to keep out droppings. Tear out the old tile and backing to the bare studs. You'll take to remove the faucet handles, tub spout and shower head.
At present's the time to straighten kleptomaniacal studs. This is a critical footstep. Tile is easier to set and looks better on a directly wall. Press a straightedge against the studs. Shim low spots with strips of roofing felt stacked up to the correct tiptop or with thin strips of wood. You can also spiral or boom a straight stud aslope a crooked ane.
Footstep three
Add together blocking
Actress blocking installed now makes it easier to spiral in the edges of the cement lath afterwards. Screw full-length studs to the framing to back up the outside border of the cement board. Add studs to the inside corners if necessary. The goal is to provide at least 1-1/4 in. of bankroll at every edge. Screw in blocking at the top border of the tub to support and strengthen the lower edge of the cement board. Add wood backing where grab bars, shower pall rods or shower doors will exist.
Measure the thickness of the drywall or plaster where the cement board volition meet it. If this dimension is more than 1/2 in., add strips of wood to the studs so the cement board will exist precisely flush with the sometime wall.
Step 4
While your walls are open:
- Add together wood blocking now where you lot will be installing towel bars, grab confined or shower doors; and then you won't have to rely on those frustrating lilliputian plastic anchors to concord up your fixtures.
- Upgrade the insulation on outside walls with new, college R-value fiberglass batts.
- You tin can replace your old tub faucet with a new pressure-balancing shower valve.
Pace five
Waterproof the walls
Add the vapor barrier. Staple iv-mil plastic sheeting to the framing. Mantle the plastic into the tub and cutting information technology off after the cement board is installed. Utilise a single slice to avoid seams. Push the plastic tightly into the corners before stapling to avoid creating a bridge of plastic that will tear when you install the cement board.
The plastic serves as a vapor barrier for the insulated wall and as a last defense force against any water that may sneak through the tile and cement board.
Stride half-dozen
Advice about gaps in cement boards
Hanging cement board is i job where gaps are desirable. Infinite the bottom sheets 1/4 in. in a higher place the tub lip to allow for movement of the tub and floor. Use nails or screws as temporary spacers to create a 1/8-in. gap between sheets of cement board. When you squeeze the thin-set mortar into this gap, information technology volition lock the two sheets together and strengthen the seam. Finally, get out extra clearance effectually each piece by deducting about 1/iv in. from your measurements before you mark the cement board for cutting. Believe me, you want to avoid the knuckle-skinning task of trimming a little off. Any gaps will be covered with mesh tape and sparse-set.
Footstep 7
Hang the cement boards
When the prep work is done, get-go the rewarding chore of hanging the cement board. All your hard work will showtime to pay off as the start canvas goes up.
Screw a total-size 3 ten 5-ft. cement board to the dorsum wall. Identify special i-1/4 in. cement board screws every 8 in. along each stud simply 1 in. abroad from edges to avoid breakage. Agree the sheet above the tub shoulder with 1/iv-in. spacers. Bulldoze screws affluent with the surface of the board, being careful not to interruption through mesh. Avoid driving them at an angle.
Step eight
Screw the board in place
Keep screws 1 in. away from the edges.
Cement board has a smoothen side and a rough side. Face the rough side out if you will exist using thin-prepare mortar adhesive to install the tile but the smooth side out if you volition exist using latex mastic.
Step nine
How to cut cement board: Score
Marking the next canvass for cut. Clench a straightedge along the cutting line, and use it as a guide to score the cement lath with a utility knife. Score the total length of the sail nearly five or six times using firm downwardly pressure.
You'll ruin a couple of knife blades while cutting, so go along some extras handy.
Step 10
Snap
Snap the lath along the scored line by laying it over the edge of your piece of work surface and pressing down. Agree the broken-off piece while y'all cut through the fiberglass mat on the back.
Step xi
Remove
Remove bumps and rough edges with a utility pocketknife or a wood rasp with a replaceable blade.
Step 12
Employ a jigsaw to cut shapes
Saw the two sides of the window notch using a jigsaw. Then score and break out the remainder using the procedures we showed in pace 9.
Use carbide grit jigsaw blades to cutting cement board. Yous can besides use regular blades, though they'll vesture out after a few cuts.
Pace 13
Find centers for fitting
Measure out from the back wall and upward from the tub shoulder (plus the 1/four-in. spacer) to detect the centers of the valve, spout and shower head. Make a sketch of the wall showing the dimensions and hole sizes. Add together one/2 in. to the pigsty diameters for an easier fit.
Step 14
Drill small holes
Mark the hole centers on the cement board. Drill holes smaller than 1-1/2 in. with an old spade bit or a carbide-dust hole saw.
Step fifteen
Punch out big holes
Construct a homemade circle cutter for larger holes. Drill a small hole in one end of a flake of wood, attach information technology to the cement board at the eye of the circle, screwing through the cement board into the work surface below. Then screw in a "cutter" screw where you lot want the circle to exist scored, for example, 2 in. from the center for a 4-in. hole. Let the point to stick out the bottom. Spin the cutter while applying pressure to score a perfect circle. Repeat the process on the other side. As shown in the inset photo, pound out the circle with your hammer. Be careful not to harm the edge of the pigsty.
Footstep 16
Finishing up: Prepare the sheet on spacers
Prepare the completed sheet in place, spacing it to a higher place the tub shoulder with one/4-in. shims, and screw information technology in. Consummate the opposite wall and the minor pieces adjacent to the tub.
Step 17
Use special mesh tape on seams
Complete the task by piecing in whatsoever missing drywall and taping the seams. Cut drywall to fill in betwixt the existing wall or ceiling and the cement board. Screw the drywall to the studs. Cover all of the corners, joints and seams, including the articulation where drywall and cement board run into, with the fiberglass mesh tape.
Step 18
Record the seams with mortar
Following the manufacturer's recommendations, mix the thin-gear up mortar agglutinative with enough h2o to form a thick paste. Habiliment a NIOSH-approved dust mask when mixing the powder. Spread the sparse-set over the tape.
Embrace the tape with a skim coat of thin-set mortar, squeezing it through the tape to fill up voids and cracks. Remove any excess material before it hardens.
When y'all're washed covering the tape with sparse-set, you're ready to tile. You don't even have to let the sparse-set up dry. Don't worry if the tile doesn't encompass the joint between the cement lath and the drywall. Only finish it with a setting-type joint compound, which comes in 25-lb. bags of powder that you mix with water. (Information technology's available at abode centers.) Setting-type compound is stronger and more h2o-resistant than the blazon that hardens by drying. Here are 13 tips to keep in mind when choosing bathroom tile.
Originally Published: June 27, 2019
Source: https://www.familyhandyman.com/project/cement-board-ceramic-tile/
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