Best boards for tiling

[tommyleestaples]

Hi all,

 

I am looking to board the inside of my ensuite and then tile. 

 

3 of the walls are stud walls at 400mm centres and then one wall is a very flat thermalite wall. What tile boards would people recommend? Looking for something 12mm thick. I was looking at Hardie backer boards but read that they can absorb water if you have a leak where as some of the other back boards are water repellent.

 

Advise would be greatly appreciated. 

[Barnboy]

I'd go Marmox, they do various thickness', are waterproof, pretty strong and have a good key for tiling on to.

[nod]

Don’t overthink The majority of bathrooms that I tile are on moister plasterboard The yellow gypsum Hardy boards are out perform most 

But the reality is that if water is penetrating through the tiles and adhesive They need to come off Regardless of what boards are on 

Don’t overthink 

 

I’m starting to tile a 5 million pound house this week We’ve just used moister plasterboard on all the wet rooms and we will cover this with impi tanking 

In short What ever you put on will be fine 

[Beau]

I'm only a self builder and have done bathrooms a few different ways. Last one I used Jackoboard and by the time I had sealed all the joints and penetrations there wasn't that much left uncovered with the sealant and there was enough in the pack to cover the whole area anyway! Next tiled bathroom I will be using moisture resistant plasterboard and sealant.

[LiamJones]

I’ve looked into this quite a bit and decided to go for premtool 12mm tile backer boards. I worked out the following;

prices inclusive of vat

Plasterboard: £4.5/m2

paintable tanking £10/m2

impey water guard £21/m2

hardie backer: £13/m2

Tile backer: £12.5/m2

 

both the PB and the hardie backer should be tanked, the tile backer is already waterproof and just needs the joints sealing with CT1 or similar.

 

i therefore believe, for a tanked wetroom, tile backer board is the cheapest option.

 

furthermore, plasterboard can only take up to 32kg/m2 (or thereabouts) which is right on the limit for a 10mm marble, the tile backer board is good for 120kg/m2 and the cement board 200kg/m2. 
 

I could have gone cement board (I did at the last place), but they’re heavier, messier, and still need tanking, therefore slower to install and more expensive.

 

modern xps filled tile backer board seemed to me like a no brainer. 
 

I liked the look of the impey waterguard self adhesive waterproof sheet (and decoupling membrane), but so expensive, the only people that use this must be limited by buildup height.

 

Ive gone tile backer wall and floor onto 22mm p5 caberdeck

 

 

[LiamJones]

I should add, the cost of the sealant between the tile backer boards is working out about a tube every 10 boards (7.2m2). £10/7.2m2 =£1.389/m². I’m using board fix by jackoboard.

 

you should also throw in some waterproof corners £5 a pop and a tub of insulation washers £30 for 500 (should do about 50 boards or 36m2)

[jayc89]

MR plasterboard + tanking here - mainly because it's a wet room and I'd need to tank it whatever board I chose, so went for the cheapest and most accessible at my BM. 

[LiamJones]

In progress

 

[LiamJones]

2 minutes ago, jayc89 said:

I'd need to tank it whatever board I chose

I understand you don’t need to further tank the XPS tile backer boards in a wetroom, just the joins, which can be achieved with a bead of CT1 between the boards. At least that’s what I’m planning on doing, so be good to find out if that’s not true. 

[jayc89]

14 hours ago, LiamJones said:

I understand you don’t need to further tank the XPS tile backer boards in a wetroom, just the joins, which can be achieved with a bead of CT1 between the boards. At least that’s what I’m planning on doing, so be good to find out if that’s not true. 

 

AFAIK tape and waterproofer is still recommended, and that's the time consuming part. If you're having to do that, a couple of full coats of the waterproofer across the boards takes no time at all - and per m2 you'll save a fair bit compared to backer-boards. 

 

I used CT1 when fitting the bath and behind the basin and pan, before any decorative silicone, and when butting the shower former up to the wallboard before tanking it, but not heard of using it on backer-board joints instead of tanking. 

[alex6321]

All boards in the bathroom recommended to tape joints and apply tanking. Alternative for hardie boards can be aquaboards moisture resistant boards.

The tiler witch do house 5 million pound with plasterboard I'm not impressed because the house is big and they have to save money. An expensive house doesn't mean they don't want to cut corners.

 

[Nickfromwales]

4 hours ago, alex6321 said:

All boards in the bathroom recommended to tape joints and apply tanking. Alternative for hardie boards can be aquaboards moisture resistant boards.

The tiler witch do house 5 million pound with plasterboard I'm not impressed because the house is big and they have to save money. An expensive house doesn't mean they don't want to cut corners.

 

I’ve used almost nothing but MR plasterboard & tanking for the last 20+ years, and lots have been high end projects (£25k in one bathroom), and I’ve never had a single drip or dribble (and I’ve had the same phone number for 25 years). 
 

Lots of these have been 1st floor installs over timber joists.

 

Tanking is your friend, so why tank over something more expensive than plasterboard?