# Forum Home Renovation Bathrooms  Best Board to use for bathroom floor/walls/ceilng?

## aaronjthompson

I am stripping a small bathroom (2m x 2m) back to the wooden frame and soil floor and will have to re-clad the walls, floor and ceiling. What is the best material to do so?  
FLOOR:I am planning to use BGC Compressed Fibre Cement Sheets for the floor which comes in 15mm/18mm/24mm thickness which is fine for the floor to ensure no flex and tile cracking. Will 24mm be too thick - I want to ensure no floor flex/tile cracking? 
If I build the drainage slope into the floor (with a slot drain) can I avoid using a mortar bed/screed and tile directly on top of the compressed fibre sheet or do I need to put 6mm thick fibre cement ceramic tile floor underlay on top of the floor first? 
WALLS: BGC also do Duraliner Cement Fibre Board (internal lining board) in 6mm/9mm/12mm thicknesses for wet areas. What thickness of Duraliner should I be using for the walls with 200 x 200mm tiles? 
CEILING: What can I use for the ceiling - Duraliner? - I do not want to use plasterboard as having handled some it strikes me as rubbish that'll crack at the first opportunity and is not water resistant - is it OK to use cement fibre board and if yes, what thickness? 
Lastly any recommendations on acoustic insulation batts - I'd like to line and insulate the wall cavity of the wall that the bathroom shares with an adjoining bedroom.

----------


## Cecile

> I am stripping a small bathroom (2m x 2m) back to the wooden frame and soil floor and will have to re-clad the walls, floor and ceiling. What is the best material to do so?  
> FLOOR:I am planning to use BGC Compressed Fibre Cement Sheets for the floor which comes in 15mm/18mm/24mm thickness which is fine for the floor to ensure no flex and tile cracking. Will 24mm be too thick - I want to ensure no floor flex/tile cracking? 
> If I build the drainage slope into the floor (with a slot drain) can I avoid using a mortar bed/screed and tile directly on top of the compressed fibre sheet or do I need to put 6mm thick fibre cement ceramic tile floor underlay on top of the floor first? 
> WALLS: BGC also do Duraliner Cement Fibre Board (internal lining board) in 6mm/9mm/12mm thicknesses for wet areas. What thickness of Duraliner should I be using for the walls with 200 x 200mm tiles? 
> CEILING: What can I use for the ceiling - Duraliner? - I do not want to use plasterboard as having handled some it strikes me as rubbish that'll crack at the first opportunity and is not water resistant - is it OK to use cement fibre board and if yes, what thickness? 
> Lastly any recommendations on acoustic insulation batts - I'd like to line and insulate the wall cavity of the wall that the bathroom shares with an adjoining bedroom.

  Soil floor?  I am assuming no joists or bearers underneath.  How will you support the new floor?  You may need to build a sub-floor.  You don't need tile underlay in addition to the compressed cement sheet...unsure about the requirement for screed.  We used 16mm over the floor joists it did not need a screed, and it's not sloping to a floor drain.  You'll get some good answers from others. 
6mm will be fine for the walls assuming the walls are dead flat.  Cement sheet does not like to be flexed too much.  We have used this, with 250x400 tiles although it took the builder nearly a whole day to plane the studs true and straight. 
Normal plasterboard is fine on the ceiling...doesn't even have to be wet area. 
A consideration for fixtures and fittings:  when you put in the exhaust fan, make sure it's vented directly to the outside.

----------


## aaronjthompson

Soil floor after I am finished removing the existing floor - and yes I have a sub floor to put in.  
If I get really civilised there'll be water and electricity as well  :Smilie:  
Can I use Duraliner for the ceiling? I don't want crappy plasterboard after all the trouble that I am going to as plasterboard will crack at the first opportunity and is not moisture resistant.

----------


## Floop

> FLOOR:I am planning to use BGC Compressed Fibre Cement Sheets for the floor which comes in 15mm/18mm/24mm thickness which is fine for the floor to ensure no flex and tile cracking. Will 24mm be too thick - I want to ensure no floor flex/tile cracking? 
> If I build the drainage slope into the floor (with a slot drain) can I avoid using a mortar bed/screed and tile directly on top of the compressed fibre sheet or do I need to put 6mm thick fibre cement ceramic tile floor underlay on top of the floor first?

   I used the 15mm BCG CF sheets for my floor, zero flex.  Floor joists at 450 centres.  I don't think you'd need 24mm, if for any other reason they are heavy as all buggery and you'd have a time of it trying to wrangle the 24mm boards into place.  The James Hardie product is lighter from what I remember, but a bit more expensive.   
You don't need the tile underlay with the CF sheets, you can waterproof and tile straight onto it. 
BCG (and possibly JH) say you need a particular adhesive to glue the sheets together, I'm not sure if there is an alternative as I just got what they suggested (Hydrepoxy 501 « Membranes Australia), it wasn't super-cheap but it was easy to mix up and use (and surprisingly doesn't stink as much as I expected, lol).  You'll end up with leftovers but it's a pretty good adhesive so it'll probably come in handy elsewhere.

----------


## Floop

> Can I use Duraliner for the ceiling? I don't want crappy plasterboard after all the trouble that I am going to as plasterboard will crack at the first opportunity and is not moisture resistant.

  If you are painting your ceiling and using an exhaust fan then moisture on the ceiling shouldn't really be an issue.  If you are really concerned then just use the myriad of wet area plasterboard made by CSR/Lafarge/etc, it's designed for exactly that purpose (wet area walls), but normal plasterboard is perfectly fine for the ceiling. 
You'd be waterproofing the bathroom anyway, so to a degree it wouldn't matter if you fibre cement sheeting or wet area plasterboard under your tiles.   

> Lastly any recommendations on acoustic insulation batts - I'd like to  line and insulate the wall cavity of the wall that the bathroom shares  with an adjoining bedroom.

  The sink and toilet back directly onto one of the bedroom walls here, I used R2 Pink Batts and you can't hear a thing through the walls.  I was considering acoustic batts for the same reason as you, but I was surprised how little sound passes through the normal batts.  You can only really hear anything from the bathroom if the doors are open, and even then it's only if you're listening for it.

----------


## METRIX

You will need to put a screed into bring the floor level up to the strip drain height, these are usualy 20-25mm high, and your screed should be around 30mm min

----------


## Benji

> it took the builder nearly a whole day to plane the studs true and straight.

  what?  wouldn't you just use a nail gun to attach new battens to the sides of the studs (inside the wall cavity)?  using a level to make sure it's all flat for the boards (I hope I'm explaining myself properly). 
That's what I did when plastering a wall where the studs weren't straight, took 1 hour maximum.

----------


## Oldsaltoz

> I am stripping a small bathroom (2m x 2m) back to the wooden frame and soil floor and will have to re-clad the walls, floor and ceiling. What is the best material to do so?  
> FLOOR:I am planning to use BGC Compressed Fibre Cement Sheets for the floor which comes in 15mm/18mm/24mm thickness which is fine for the floor to ensure no flex and tile cracking. Will 24mm be too thick - I want to ensure no floor flex/tile cracking?  24 mm sheeting is way over what you need, you will have problems just moving it around. the 15 mm should be fine unless you have a huge heavy bath going in. 
> If I build the drainage slope into the floor (with a slot drain) can I avoid using a mortar bed/screed and tile directly on top of the compressed fibre sheet or do I need to put 6mm thick fibre cement ceramic tile floor underlay on top of the floor first?  Even if you did slope the floor it will only give you a fall in one direction and you will need screed to dain the water across to the drain. Nominal falls are one in 100 for the floor and one in 80 for the shower. 
> WALLS: BGC also do Duraliner Cement Fibre Board (internal lining board) in 6mm/9mm/12mm thicknesses for wet areas. What thickness of Duraliner should I be using for the walls with 200 x 200mm tiles?  You should have no problems with 6 mm Villaboard. 
> CEILING: What can I use for the ceiling - Duraliner? - I do not want to use plasterboard as having handled some it strikes me as rubbish that'll crack at the first opportunity and is not water resistant - is it OK to use cement fibre board and if yes, what thickness? 
> You could use the thinner Villaboard on the ceiling, but it's overkill. 
> Lastly any recommendations on acoustic insulation batts - I'd like to line and insulate the wall cavity of the wall that the bathroom shares with an adjoining bedroom.

  We have standard R-3 insulation bats in the wall, hardly a sound gets through and it allows some air flaw being a fibrous material. 
Good Luck.

----------

