Tiling plan - cement board

[0Floz0]

Hi

I’ve read the basics thread but still have some questions. Wondering if you could help out.

Just about to start putting the cement board on the walls. I’m using sts 10mm cement board for the walls which is a simple studded wall. I’ve put plenty of noggins in so it’s not moving. The floor is ply with a huge amount of screws so that isn’t moving and it’s then having 6mm cement board on top. Tiles will be large format (going 300x600 for walls and 600x600 for the floor. Tiles will be porcelain. I’ll be using a levelling system.

It’s an en suite and will have a quadrant shower unit in there.

Questions are:
Do I need to tank anything or does the cement board mean this isn’t needed? The joints are being sealed with mega adhesive.

How is best to cut the tiles round the quadrant tray?

Do I need to make sure there is a stud behind where the shower enclosure is being fitted?

Do I need to finish each cement board on a stud?

Where do you tend to get your hole saw bits from for cutting pipe holes? The sticky said richontools but that was a while back so im wondering if there is a better source with faster delivery (hoping to start next week). I only really need to do cut outs for 4 15mm pipes. Would you get an 18mm bit for this just for clearance?

Is a tiger trowel still the go to for large format tiles?

Sorry for so many questions!

Cheers

 

[mrrusty]

From an experienced DIY tiler.

For the sake of a £50 tanking kit, I do - belt and braces
For cutting curves I cut narrow slithers down to the line with a wet cutter and then snap the slithers out
better if there is a stud, but the enclosure will fix well enough into tile and cement board
yes, I would finish each board on a stud
yes, 18mm for 15mm pipe is good - buy a reasonably decent cutter for porcelain - these are OK https://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-diamond-tile-drill-bit-18mm-x-80mm/51755 - Start with the heel of the cordless drill on the surface and the bit touching the tile at about 45 degrees - once it digs in you can gradually move to upright. Much easier to control with the heel of the drill held firmly
not sure on tiger trowel - I just use whatever trowel I have to hand

 

[0Floz0]

From an experienced DIY tiler.

For the sake of a £50 tanking kit, I do - belt and braces
For cutting curves I cut narrow slithers down to the line with a wet cutter and then snap the slithers out
better if there is a stud, but the enclosure will fix well enough into tile and cement board
yes, I would finish each board on a stud
yes, 18mm for 15mm pipe is good - buy a reasonably decent cutter for porcelain - these are OK https://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-diamond-tile-drill-bit-18mm-x-80mm/51755 - Start with the heel of the cordless drill on the surface and the bit touching the tile at about 45 degrees - once it digs in you can gradually move to upright. Much easier to control with the heel of the drill held firmly
not sure on tiger trowel - I just use whatever trowel I have to hand

Thanks, thats really helpful.

I know its only £50 but thats a lot to me so I'd only want to do it if really necessary. If I hadn't cement boarded I would have tanked but I thought one of the benefits of cement board was not needing to tank it.

Thanks for the tip on drilling. Good idea to keep it stable.

Don't you have to get the depth of the ridges right depending on size of the tile? I read a tiger trowel is usually decent for large format tiles so i'm leaning that way.

 

[mrrusty]

No it's not necessary, but what it does do is give you a really good seal on the corner, which is always a vulnerable spot. But belt and braces.

I've never used a tiger trowel so no opinion - I just have trowels with big notches and little notches, and I always back-butter large format wall tiles. I don't think it matters on the ridge size - it just depends how much adhesive you want to put on - as long as there's good coverage it's fine.

When tiling with large format, you need to be careful to get them very, very flat. When you fix the first row, use a good straight edge to check that the first row isn't angled off the wall, otherwise the rows above will be trying to come away or go back into the wall. Cement based tile adhesive will allow a little variation in adhesive depth if the wall isn't absolutely perfectly flat. Sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs - but large format are not as easy as little'uns!

 

[0Floz0]

No it's not necessary, but what it does do is give you a really good seal on the corner, which is always a vulnerable spot. But belt and braces.

I've never used a tiger trowel so no opinion - I just have trowels with big notches and little notches, and I always back-butter large format wall tiles. I don't think it matters on the ridge size - it just depends how much adhesive you want to put on - as long as there's good coverage it's fine.

When tiling with large format, you need to be careful to get them very, very flat. When you fix the first row, use a good straight edge to check that the first row isn't angled off the wall, otherwise the rows above will be trying to come away or go back into the wall. Cement based tile adhesive will allow a little variation in adhesive depth if the wall isn't absolutely perfectly flat. Sorry if I'm teaching you to suck eggs - but large format are not as easy as little'uns!

I was hoping they would be easier! The walls should be really flat because of the cement board. But a lot of effort into making sure that’s good. I’m going to use one of those levelling kits to get the edges sorted.

Don’t worry I’m asking for help so appreciate the detail.

 

[mrrusty]

Large format are very unforgiving. With small tiles you can fiddle and fettle at the grout lines to lose small amounts of unflatness without it being obvious. With large format you can end up with large lips where the tiles meet if the wall has any twist or non flatness. With cement based adhesive you can go up to 10mm or so thickness, so you can pinch a bit in the adhesive if you have to.