Hardiback Breaker
Last night I finished laying down the backer board for my bathroom. It was pretty fun. Except for the mixing part. I ran into a few snags there.
First of all, I started with mixing half a bag but ended up needing more so I had to mix the rest later. I tried using a paddle mixer to mix the thin set adhesive but it was too thick and even my cordless 18v DeWalt drill couldn't keep up. I ended up mixing it my hand. Literally. I stuck my hand into it and felt around crushing up dry clumps of the mortar. Like playing in the mud. My hand got incredibly tired trying to move through the mortar tho. On the upside, my hands are silky soft today.
What I should have done it started out with a bucket of water and added the mix as I mixed with a paddle mixer. I also should have used a corded 1/2" drill. My cordless batteries kept getting drained trying to mix it. Also, I should have started mixing at the top. I was worried I was going to add a lot of bubble mixing it if the paddle wasn't deep in the mortar, but it's way too thick for that. You learn something new every day. I'll try my new techniques out when I have to lay the tile with the same stuff later.
I used the Hardibacker 500 that's 1/2" thick. I wanted to use the 1/4" stuff at first but I was afraid the screws would go through the bottom of the floor boards. Also, I wanted a little extra weight because I was worried the floor wasn't flat enough. Looking back, I bet I could have gotten away with the 1/4". Although I bet it would have been easier to just use regular cement board instead.
I messed up a couple cuts on the Hardibacker board before I got the hang of that. Not as easy as they make it seem. They say it's just like cutting drywall but really it's no where near as easy. You have to really score it deep and on both sides to split it. Also, there are warnings on it about not dry sweeping the dust because it contains silica dust that is known in California to cause cancer. Great. One day this stuff could be ranked up there with asbestos and someone will be cursing me when they have to tackle Hardibacker abatement in this house.