Alternative To Backer Board For Floors

Cement board installation on floors.

Alternative to backer board for floors. Floor tiles should be installed over smooth flat surfaces. Some homeowners believe that painting or priming plywood will render it suitable to use as shower tub backer board. To achieve the ideal flat surface most contractors rely on the backer board cement backer board is a thin layer of concrete designed to be setting surface upon which tile can be installed. Find backer board at lowe s today.

This is not true. But with many non organic shower backer boards available as alternatives there is little reason to use greenboard. Today s video tutorials walks you through the kerdi board installation step by step. An alternative to using backer board over subfloors prior to tiling.

It s a sort of gray beige colored board and is available at any hardware box store. When i built the house i wanted all my bathrooms hallways and the kitchen floor to be tiled which was close to about 1500 square feet. Its made from cement and sand and is reinforced by fiberglass mats on both sides so it s impervious to water. Fiberock is another popular product in this category.

Do a dry run and lay the backerboard down to fully cover the area you plan to tile. Tile backer boards like hardibacker board wonderboard permabase and durock cement backer board installs. Hardibacker is the best known fiber cement board fiber cement board. We firmly believe anyone can install kerdi board in one day and be ready to tile the next.

If needed cut the backerboard to fit in small spaces or around obstructions. The backer board comes in different sizes and you will pick the right one depending on the type of floor you are installing. Score the board with a utility knife then cut it using a jig saw with a carbide blade. Cement board is the most durable trouble free tile backer for tub surrounds showers floors and all other wet areas.

Plywood alone cannot be used as a substrate under tile in showers. You ve probably heard of hardiebacker tile backer board. Fiber cement board and cement board are closely related. In less than 12 minutes you ll see why we it s a better option than cement board.