Flooring Tile - Securing concrete backer board for tiles

Hoping someone can advise:

I am going to tile my kitchen:

I have half-inch plywood sub-floor
I have half-inch concrete backer board

I want to firmly attach the backer board to the subfloor but am wary to use the standard 1 ¾” Tapcon concrete anchors as I am unsure of where the wires and pipes are below the subfloor. I have a stud detector but the floor is riddled with pipes and the studs are metal (in the walls anyway…). I think I can guess where the beams are by the location of different types of nails used to secure the subfloor to the beams…..

So basically my question is: Can I get away with using 1 inch screws/anchors (which I haven’t been able to find actually: any brand suggestions?) maybe in combination with construction strength liquid nails?

Thanks in advance for any help.

What you can't get away with is that 1/2" plywood subfloor, that'll never work, you need more plywood first. The cement board offers no structural value what-so-ever. Your absolute MINIMUM subfloor thicknes before the tile must be 1-1/8" to 1-1/4".

Why on earth would you want to use Tapcons?

Your backerboard SHOULD NOT be screwed to any structural member, only to the underlying plywood intentionally missing all of the floor joists with the screws. There are cement backerboard screws available everywhere for this purpose.:)

You should seriously rethink what you are doing.

AND NO LIQUID NAILS!:wall:

Thanks. Was considering Tapcons on the advice of Home Depot.....

Regarding the need for increased thickness in the sub-floor: This would make the kitchen higher than the rest of the condo flooring. This floor currently supports parquet with laminate flooring on top. The parquet was removed from the kitchen, and the plan was then to place the backer boards and then tile on top which would make the tile floor about the same level as the laminate.....

Do I need to increase thickness to increase stability for the tiles? FYI: Previously there was simply linoleum tile in the kitchen on a quarter inch plywood board all of which have been torn up.

Sounds like I may be in a pickle...

NEVER ask anyone at Home Depot for any tile installation advice, NEVER DO THAT.

Do I need to increase thickness to increase stability for the tiles?

Absolutely!

All of the previous floor coverings have been flexible, tile is not. You will probably need a transition from the new tile to the old floorings because of the height variation that the tile will cause. Sometimes this is unavoidable.:)