Flooring Tile - Wonderboard on Shower Walls

I am currently finishing a basement. My intention is to tile the entire shower down there (ceiling included). The guy who provided a quote on laying the tile said that 1/2" wonderboard on the walls should be sufficient and I can attach that directly to the studs (no need for green board or anything behind the wonderboard). It sounded kind of flimsy to only have the cement board with no green board backing but since I have never done this, I can't say for sure....Any advice?

Two other questions:

When laying tile on top of cement, do I need anything between the tile and cement or can I just slap down the mortar and lay the tiles?

Are there any corner pieces that have to be put on wonder board (like with drywall) or is the seam just left open and covered with mastic as you tile?

Thanks,
Jennifer

The guy who quoted you quoted you correctly:

Concrete board goes directly over studs with nothing behind it.

Tile goes directly onto concrete with a thinset mortar only.

Tile goes directly onto concrete with a thinset mortar only.



If there are stress cracks on the concrete floor, you need to apply an anti-fracture membrane.

I agree with both statements.
Perry said if you have stress cracks, I would just add that an antifracture membrane is Always a good idea over concrete wether there are stress cracks or not.a bathroom is a small area and the extra cost for peace of mind is minimal.HD has a very simple paintable membrane called redgaurd. paint it 2 coats letting it dry between coats.after it dries completly tile as normal.(hint, add some fiberglass tape at the wall floor edge and paint up the walls 2 caots about 2" to protect from moisture damage.add baseboard or tile base to hide this waterproofing.
Redgaurd runs around 35 bucks a gallon at HD and this will be plenty for a bathroom floor :)

Before you go sealing that floor up with the redgaurd you may want test for moisture.Take some 6 mil plastic and duct tape,yes duct tape and cut the plastic into a 1 foot by 1 foot square and tape to the floor sealing all the edges and let sit for 24 hours and see if there is any moisture present if not then go ahead but if there is then you want to do a cacium /chloride test to see how much moisture is present then go from there.If you exceed the tolerances of the redgaurd and the tile it will fail you .

Also you want to tape and thinset all the joints in the c.b.u.on the walls.Take nylon mesh tape for durock and the flat side of a trowel and tape all the joints, inside corners as well and let dry then tile :cool:

when installing the wonderboard put the screws every 6" instead of the way you do sheetrock

Hey since I'm doing roughly the same thing what about the shower area? I've had some people say I have to put 6 mil plastic behind the wonderboard for the shower. Is that true, or can I just screw the wonderboard to the studs, thinset, and start tiling?

The reason I'm asking is that I've already hung all of the wonderboard directly onto the studs, and then was pissed at myself after someone told me I had to take it all down where the shower is and put plastic up first....lol. I'd like to avoid redoing this part of the job.

if you dont put the poly behind it so it over laps the shower pan ,you need to install a surface membrane on top of it.The membrane should meet ANSI 118.10 and may be either a sheet like Nobleseal TS or a liquid applied like Red Guard.

I thought about using Red Guard. It looks pretty easy to apply. What about where the wonderboard meets the acrylic shower pan?