# Forum Home Renovation Tiling  Best underlay for wall tiles

## Moondog55

Getting to that stage now.
I have redone our entry way and used 7mm braceply on the walls to make this part of the house structure a little stiffer and stronger. We want tiles part way up the walls in the entry way as this will be used for storage of wet coats firewood etc 
What cement sheet is going to be easiest to use? The area involved is minimal and tiles are only coming 600 or so off the floor. 
Do I use glue screws, nails or a combination to hold the cement sheet to the wall?? 
I know this question has been asked before but is it OK if I do the wall tiles first before laying the floor or do I wait and do the floor first?????

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## Pulse

plasterboard or villaboard would be OK, wet area board will be the same thickness as the rest of your walls, villaboard doesn't really add any more benefits, screws or nails (not adhesive) should be used behind the tiles  
Cheers
Pulse

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## DNL

> plasterboard or villaboard would be OK, wet area board will be the same thickness as the rest of your walls, villaboard doesn't really add any more benefits, screws or nails (not adhesive) should be used behind the tiles  
> Cheers
> Pulse

  Pulse - why not adhesive behind the tiles? When I took my old sheets off the bathroom walls, the sheets had been fixed with nails and adhesive. 
Cheers

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## Moondog55

Same here which is why I had to ask again.
Walls are not dead set flat which is why I need to use a sheet backing, damned if I don't need to buy new levels for a straight edge too.

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## Pulse

Most of the installation manuals say not too, I know the villaboard one does, maybe they think it's not as strong? In practice probably doesn't matter though 
Cheers
Pulse

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## DNL

Cheers Pulse. I know there is a lot of variation in concept depending on manufacturers. I read a hardies wall sheet brochure which had brick pattern the sheets (like the floor) and dont use joint tape of compound if tiling. Well, I'm tiling, using joint tape and compound. I think if I had a run of straight noggings at the join I would not tape. In hindsight, this should have been done as I am thinking of tiling to the ceiling.  
The previous sheets did not have noggings at the join, was tiled quite high up the wall, so I've used adhesive and more nails to hold the sheets on. One thing I forgot to do in my rush was straight edge the studs at pre-sheet....lucky I only have one wall with about a 2mm variation. All corners are ok, ranging from 1 to 5 mm out of square. Which I am quite confident I can live with when tiling.  
Moondog, I've used 6mm villaboard, adhesive at 300 centres, nails at 150 on all edges and also put nails down the studs as well. Slightly embedded (without breaking the sheet) into the sheet, I'll plaster over these heads, do all the joints, wet seal the lot, tile and away we go. What you are doing sounds fine to use both nails and adhesive, just use a small 10 cent piece size dollop which will ample to hold with nails. 
When tiling, my practice is to tile the wall over the floor tile. I achieve this by fixing a staight edge battern to the wall as the same level as the bottom edge of the second wall tile course. Essentially tile your wall without the need to over protect your floor. When you have finished your wall, tile the floor. Once floor is finished, come back and tile the first wall course of tiles. Take it over the floor tiles, grout the lot. I also tend to use a silicon bead on wall/floor joint to allow for movement. Tape up both edges, run silicon in, using a clean cloth damped with spray and wipe, smooth off the silicone and job is done. Silicone wont stick to spray and wipe, so don't clean the area first with anything but water or vacuum and dry wipe. 
Hope this helps 
Cheers Dave

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## Moondog55

Dave that helps a lot, the area involved is very small but being an entry will get a lot of use and therefore abuse.
One question did you silicone the vertical edges on corner joins? or butt the villaboard hard up against each other?

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## DNL

In the corners, I use paper jointing tape and base coat, normally two base coats, one top coat if needed. Paper tape is strong and is best used in corners. Have a look at How to plaster, plastering tips, plastering cracks, holes, by forum member Rod Dyson. Rod's site is brilliant and it is what I used to learn how to plaster. Like everything, it just takes some confidence to have a go. 
Leave a small gap at the corner join- 5mm is fine. Anything bigger just gets filled with plaster first before being taped over.

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