How to affix hardibacker board to concrete?

[Whoopbass]

I recently bought an old house and would like to put down ceramic tile in the kitchen and dining area. The problem is that half the floor is the original 90 year old hardwood floor and the other half is concrete that I think used to be the back porch but was built into the house at one point.
I need to put hardibacker board down because of the hardwood floors. The wood section is not a problem since I can easily screw the hardibacker down in that section but I was wondering what's the easiest way to affix the hardibacker to the concrete section? I need to put it down in the concrete section because I don't want a 1/2" lip in the middle of the floor.
I was thinking about gluing it down but I don't know how long that would hold up and I would also have to hold down each backer board down with sand bags or something until the glue sets up because of the slight unevenness of the floor. Screwing the backer board to concrete would be a chore.
Any ideas or should I go with some other type of flooring material?

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: How to affix hardibacker board to concrete?

A buddy of mine is a tile man by trade and he runs into this every once in a while, I have seem him use leveling compound on the cement area and then he drills holes in the cement board, then spreads mortar on the concrete portion of the floor and beds the cement board in the mortar, just like putting the tile down. He drills the holes so the mortar will squish into the cement board and locks it to the concrete, he does the cement portion of the floor first so he can adjust over the wood section to level everything up.

Other than that, you could also ram set the cement board down to the cement floor, not the preferred way to do it, but I have seen it done this way.

Your going to want to make sure the concrete section is as level as possible, if you have any high or low spots, it will allow the underlayment flex which will pop or crack the tiles you put down.

Dave

 

[Bifflefan]

Re: How to affix hardibacker board to concrete?

Screwing the backer board to concrete would be a chore.

Its a big job, buck up.
Use Tapcons. They are the blue concrete screws. They take time, but its time well spent.
You can also use thinset. Same thing you set the tiles with.

 

[Wills03]

Re: How to affix hardibacker board to concrete?

Lay the backerboard in thinset mortar combed with a 1/4" square notch trowel.

Also unless you are married to the Hardi consider cement board instead. I had Hardi de-laminate on a tile job causing a complete re-install at my expense.

Wills

 

[MTboatguy]

Re: How to affix hardibacker board to concrete?

With the problems I have had with hardibacker, I won't use it again, I am currently redoing my master bath and am using durock cement board

 

[Moody Blue]

Re: How to affix hardibacker board to concrete?

Agree with the above comments. Use cement board, especially on the floor and use thinset cement to bond the board to the floor. Read the instructions on the thinset for the proper comb size trowel to use.

 

[Whoopbass]

Re: How to affix hardibacker board to concrete?

I like the thinset cement board and tack it down with screws idea.

I did run across a product called Ardent liquid backerboard. It would solve the wood/concrete issue as well as leveling out the floor (mainly the sloped porch).
I can't find much info on it or even a price for that matter.
I will probably give them an e-mail and see what its about before I invest in cement board.

http://www.ardex.com/productDetail....tParentID=2&ProductCategoryID=0&ProductID=155