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of Home Improvements

*Cement Board Tile Base*

Cement board makes a very practical tile base. It is much easier to work with than a mud base and just as stable.

On this job we had to remove the old tile floor and the plywood tile base. It is definitely a grunt type of job but if you do it right you will only have to do it once! Make sure to get the subfloor clean. If you can't get it clean you will have to rip it up also and replace it with a new subfloor. This time we were lucky and the subfloor came out clean enough to install the cement board over it.

We laid out the cement board perpendicular to the floor beams and used the largest pieces we could, especially in the high traffic areas of the bathroom.The easiest way to cut cement board is to score the cut and break it just like sheetrock. There are also circular saw blades that will cut cement board but they create a tremendous amount of dust.

With construction adhesive applied to the back of the boards we used screws about every 8 sq inches making sure that we hit all of the floor beams we could.

When installing the cement boards it is critical to keep your work area clean. If dirt and dust gets in between the cement board and the subfloor your tile may not lay flat. Before tiling use a spackle knife and apply thinset to the seams of the boards to finish it off.

If you had to take up the subfloor I would suggest to glue and screw new ¾" plywood to the floor joists. This method gives you a super strong and stable base for laying tile.I can honestly say that I would rather have to remove a mud floor than a floor that is glued and screwed together.

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