Bathroom tiling questions: backerboard or plywood?

[Darryl]

I'm taking the current bathroom floor to the 5/8" (I think) plank subfloor. It was recommended to me at Home Depot that I put down 3/8" plywood and then tile. Should I use backerboard (sp)?

TIA, Darryl.

[G Henslee]

Darryl,

I've found the 1/4" Hardibacker product over an exist> I'm taking the current bathroom floor to the 5/8" (I think) plank

[Darryl]

Thanks for the quick reply. So, I'll strip the floor down to the 5/8" planks, lay 1/4" ply and then 1/4" backer? Or should the plywood be thicker? Also, since I won't be tiling under the tub :-), should I bring the tub flush with the backerboard using plywood?

Thanks again, Darryl.

[G Henslee]

Darryl,

What is it that are you 'stripping' from the existing floor to take it to the planking?

[G Henslee]

Wow. That's quite a few layers. Normally you can install the Hardibacker right over linoleum and particle board underlayment with no problem. Is the existing flooring pretty hard, or is it springy or soft? If it's hard/solid I would install the the Hardibacker over it. I've had good success using mastic and roofing nails for installation. Screws tend to stick up a smidge and are a bother. The Hardibacker is very dense and should provide a good stiff underlayment for your tile, allthough I've never went over that many layers of vinyl or linoleum.

Perhaps you should check their website as to the number of layers you can install their product over. If you need to remove it and need to make up space just use their 1/2" product instead of the 1/4"

[ricodjour]

Absolutely. You can check out the John Bridge Tile forum and the Tile Council of America web sites for tons of great information.

R

[Darryl]

4 layers of vinyl (and older) tiles and 1/4" chip board or whatever it's called.

[the_tool_man]

Hi Darryl:

I just finished ripping out the tile floor in my bathroom because the builder set the tile directly onto plywood underlayment. At every seam between sheets of plywood, the tiles had cracked because of seasonal movement of the underlayment. I replaced the 5/8 plywood with 1/2" Durock and 1/4" Hardibacker (I didn't want the floor height any lower than it was for cosmetic reasons).

Regards, John.