Bathroom wall / floor checklist

[bissoejosh]

I previously posted about using a wet room former in our ensuite but have since remembered that my 22mm egger is well and truly glued down to the joists and removal will be a stretch too far. In light of this I'm planning a 1600x800/900mm tray and hope the floor levels with tiling etc result in a fairly flush finish into the tray. Room is 1700mm x 3600mm and 100mm will be boxed out at one end to contain shower valve etc much like @Crofter design. 

 

I've read various threads about what to use under tiles and just want to check I've not missed anything before ordering materials in...

 

Floor build up:

 

22mm P5 glued and screwed on 400mm cc posi joist.

6mm ply  (and under tray?) glued and screwed at 150mm cc's

Electric UFH mat (eBay) covered with self levelling (latex?)

Tiles

 

Walls:

 

Shower area will be water resistant PB or cement board (brand?) ? both to be tanked fully as per @Nickfromwales excellent thread. Then fully tiled.

Rest of walls to be water resistant PB and skim finish.

 

In theory a fully tanked shower area will be fine with the water resistant PB but many seem to use cement board so I need to make a decision here. I can see the logic in cement board but if it's getting wet something else has gone wrong?! 

 

Have I missed anything important?

 

Many thanks

 

[ProDave]

For the wall panels, a lot of us on here recommend Multipanel.  I got mine from Jewsons's, they were a lot cheaper than some of the rip off prices in certain high street bathroom shops.

 

I didn't use PB.  My Multipanel sheets fix straight to the timber frame.  (others may not agree that is good practice)

[bissoejosh]

23 minutes ago, ProDave said:

For the wall panels, a lot of us on here recommend Multipanel.  I got mine from Jewsons's, they were a lot cheaper than some of the rip off prices in certain high street bathroom shops.

 

I didn't use PB.  My Multipanel sheets fix straight to the timber frame.  (others may not agree that is good practice)

 

My partner has requested a specific tile for the ensuite but I'm looking at multi panel for our main bathroom so will certainly check out Jewson's pricing as it does seem to vary a lot for the panels.

[nod]

The gypsum backer board is about the best on the market for tiling onto and performs better the hardy  backer cement boards and is much easier to handle and cut 

While Gysum state they are fine for dot and dab From experience they need mechanically fixing also 

Ditra matting is far better than ply   

[Onoff]

Having no experience of cement type backer boards I used 12.5mm Knauf Aqua Panel. What I found is that you MUST use the proper screws. Other screws just chew it up. Also your battens or studs need to be dead level as it's quite brittle and will (hairline) crack. That being said it's got a reinforcing mesh running throughout so it's not going to fall apart even if cracked and tbh subsequent tanking will fill any cracks. Allegedly you can score and snap these boards. I didnt. Cutting was done with:

 

- Starrett type hole saws of various sizes

- a cheapo, old circular saw pressed into service as suggested by @PeterW

- super cheap, carbide edged jigsaw blades (code 67688 from T'station) as recommended by @Nickfromwales

[nod]

10 hours ago, Onoff said:

Having no experience of cement type backer boards I used 12.5mm Knauf Aqua Panel. What I found is that you MUST use the proper screws. Other screws just chew it up. Also your battens or studs need to be dead level as it's quite brittle and will (hairline) crack. That being said it's got a reinforcing mesh running throughout so it's not going to fall apart even if cracked and tbh subsequent tanking will fill any cracks. Allegedly you can score and snap these boards. I didnt. Cutting was done with:

 

- Starrett type hole saws of various sizes

- a cheapo, old circular saw pressed into service as suggested by @PeterW

- super cheap, carbide edged jigsaw blades (code 67688 from T'station) as recommended by @Nickfromwales

None of that with the gyp backer Drywall screws Cut with a Stanley knife 

Originally I thought 15 quid for a 2.4 board was a bit expensive but I won’t go back to using hardy  

[nod]

Just now, nod said:

None of that with the gyp backer Drywall screws Cut with a Stanley knife 

Originally I thought 15 quid for a 2.4 board was a bit expensive but I won’t go back to using hardy  

Oh 

No need to seal prior to tiling 

[Crofter]

When I asked for cement fibre backer board (and gave a few brand names like Aquapanel, Hardie) the guys at the BMs just looked at me blankly. Eventually the manager was summoned, he scratched his head, and then went and found some in the racking at the back of the shop. So clearly the vast majority of builders aren't using the stuff, and must be using PB instead.

[Ferdinand]

• Use the expensive (eg Sika or Dow Corning or similar) where things get wet eg shower screens, inside shower, bottom of multipanels etc, but you may well be OK with cheaper stuff elsewhere. Personally I would not go below say Everbuild. Multipanel make you use theirs.
• Use one of those gummi-bear kits to make your sealant beads neat - they work. 
• Use chemical reaction grout in bags that you self-mix not the tubs.
• Do not make the shower gap thinner than you will be in 20 years :-).
• For a lot of teh standard stuff ebay is your friend. eg Shower screens under £100. Also ikea can be surprising.

I did a detailed series on my recent shower room, including full costs. Links listed here.

 

F

 

Edited August 18, 2019 by Ferdinand

[Ian]

17 hours ago, Crofter said:

So clearly the vast majority of builders aren't using the stuff, and must be using PB instead.

Yes, I think you’re right. I’ve inspected a couple of commercial jobs where water had got behind the tiles and the underlying gypsum plasterboard had turned to mush.