Cement wall board

[J.Esam]

First off I'm no carpenter & know very little about home repair.I'm replacing the floor in my bathroom in an older home that the has rotted out.I'v replaced all the 2x6's and braces with new pressure treated stuff. My bath room is 12ft long x5ft wide.I would like to know now if it is possible to use cemenyt wallboard for the flooring without subflooring under it.Since cement is not flexible would it tend to crack when walked on & does it need special fastners to attach it to the 2x6's also how do you make the openings for the comode,waterlines & etc.If this is possible since the cement panels are 3x5 to what would the spacing on the 2x6's on the the 3ft width need to be ? I hope I.v explained this enough for someone to tell me the best things to do.If this is not enough info I will try to answer any questions I can.All help is GREATLY appreciated

[hallerb]

you must have a solid subfloor. no way around that.

subfloor then cement board then tile

[frank.logullo]

I have no pratical experience but cement while having good compressive strength, has poor tensile and flex strength. This is why they add rebar. I would not use the wall board for flooring which will flex and most likely fail. Frank

[RicodJour]

You must have a subfloor. I'd strongly suggest getting a book, either online or though your local library (they will have this book), by Michael Byrne - Setting Tile. It's a thorough workup, way more information than you'll probably need, but it's well written and a beginner will understand it. Another excellent book is Renovation by Michael Litchfield. You'll save yourself a lot of headaches if you understand the process from start to finish. Tile work and bathrooms pay big dividends for taking care of the the construction details correctly from the start.

R

[J.Esam]