Attach cement tileboard to concrete wall
I am always winding up with the most unusual instalation situations. This job is a basement bath in a 50’s house, the tile in the old tub surround had seen better days. Upon removing it I came to find that the old tile was on plaster that was just floated on the concrete foundation wall (the long wall of the tub). need less to say the tile and plaster came off with out to much problem.
Leaving me with my problem how to retile it, the tub is right up to the concrete wall no room to fur it out. No I am not going to move the tub. The wall was formed with horiizontal boards 12″ plus wide so each row goes in and out a bit. there is a divit of concrete missing where a soap dish was. I could try to smooth out the wall with thinset but I am not that good at that and the soap dish problem.
My other thought is to skim coat the wall then with a notch trowel apply more thinset. Set two pieces of durrock onto the wall like gaint pieces of tile. The stort walls end with two studs against the concrete so I have a place to set horizontal bracing to hold it inplace overnight till it sets, tile over it the next day.
Some people I talked to said this sounds okay but that I still needed screws. (big box store). But I keep thinking that granite on buildings or interior walls it is not srewed on. When I have seen granite slabs put up in showers there is several globs of thinset or adhesive it is braced overnight thats it. Now Durock (I am thinking Durock because of the rough side which will go against the concrete) has some flex to it but we are talking a short distance 5 feet.
So any thoughts out there on what to do.
thanks Wally
Replies
I think I would have more confidence in glueing the board to the wall with PL Premium than trying to hold it with thinset. Either way, I would probably also use some sort of fastener to hold the sheets. I don't like Tapcons in concrete, they tend to snap. You need something that you can screw in carefully so that you don't suck the board in too far. Probably a flat head sleeve anchor would be quick and easy:
http://www.nutty.com/fltslv.html
carpenter in transition
I had a plaster on brick wall, and we used tapcon screws with a layer of roofing felt behind the Hardiboard. That's after scrubing the mold and mildew off. I think we put a few shims behind the board in a couple of places to keep it flat, but we had a pretty flat face to work with.
The problem with glueing stuff is that the NEXT person who has to make this repair is f****d.
Wally, We just did something similar. I have some pics:
The first shows how we (overkill) scratched the brick with a 4 inch grinder with diamond blade to make sure the thinset "keyed" to the brick. (Brick wall had been painted)
We notch - troweled the thinset to BOTH the wall and rough side of the cement board. We made 2 x 2 x 1/2 plywood "washers" and used Tapcons about 18 inches apart both ways to hold the cement board in place overnight (washers and tapcons not shown)
The next morning we took the tapcons out and taped the joints with fiberglass tape and thinset, followed by skimming with thinset, sanding while fairly green with hand block, then re skimming.
We primed this with USG "First Coat" primer, and followed with Acrylic Latex. It worked good. Good luck with your project.
So the only thing holding all that up is the thin set and it worked? How long ago was this and any problems since? Was the cement board 1/2" or 1/4", I would guess 1/2"? Your blocks and tapcons were only clamps if I got it right, that part I could do with 2x4's laided horizontal like form wales and screwed to the studs till it sets.
By the way from the photos it looks like your job turned out real nice!
Thanks Wally for the compliment. The job does "look" good, they're happy, but no I can't say "10 years and no problems" - it's been under 3 weeks. It is held only by the thinset - however, we went all out coating both surfaces and quickly installing. This house is well built, the wall was sound, the basement is dry - all those factors could contribute. There was no problem with this wall before, so, we'll see. I counseled with "Breaktime" before we did it.By the way, I liked using the Tapcons for clamps. They were fast and quick to install with the impact driver drill and sds hammer drill. We found we were happy to have a quick way to clamp. We had all the plywood "washers" drilled. I think you'll do fine with the wood clamps too. I was surprised how well "USG First Coat" covered the thinset skimmed cement board. (we skimmed with drywall knives and pans)This customer wanted a non - deteriorating yet smooth (no tile) painted wall (splash proof)
"Only" Thinset.
When was the last time you tried to demo something intalled on concrete with thinset?
EricI Love A Hand That Meets My Own,
With A Hold That Causes Some Sensation.
[email protected]
Don't suppose you feel like floating the walls flat with mud, do ya?
Dinosaur
'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?