Is this Villaboard installation going to be waterproof?

[jasonlam_syd]

Hi,

Hoping you can all assist with this and I am just overreacting.

I've had to rip out the bathroom and renovate after discovering it was completely incorrectly waterproofed by the previous owner and was causing massive waterproof problems and causing rotting timber under the house.

I've got 6mm villaboard installed in the bathroom, but my Plasterer had insisted to use screws. Following the James Hardie Installation guide, I requested he stopped and use 30mm galvanised nails for fibre cement instead (we have timber studs and will be installing 300x75 subway wall tiles so it will be noticeable with less glue than large format tiles).

At the moment he's closing up, but I am a little shocked that he's used so many small off-cut, pieces of villaboard for this shower area, and used too many nails/screws. The holes around the taps/sink also look quite large.

1) Is this normal? Can I expect waterproofing and tiling to cover most of this up and give me the piece of mind?

2) Should there be larger, single piece boards especially in the shower area? or is this ok?

3) He's taken out the screws and had planned to plaster over it to cover up the screw holes. Is this villaboard going to offer the protection with all these holes?

My alternate option is to rip up the boards near the shower area and install single large villaboards myself and leave the rest being less water prone. Will this work?

The right hand side is the shower area with the niche.

The boards arent butting up against one another (roughly cut) and there's this big gap right in the shower corner (see photo with red broom).

Appreciate any help!

Thanks,

Jason

[MitchellMc · Accepted solution]

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @jasonlam_syd. It's wonderful to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about installing Villaboard.

It's great that you've read through the James Hardie Villaboard installation guide. As you've picked up on, galvanised FC nails are the appropriate fixture for a timber frame.

I note that: "Tiled walls Where Villaboard™ lining is to be finished with tiles, the sheets must be fixed with fasteners only as shown in Figure 10." Figure 10 illustrates that for a tiled wall, the spacing of fixings can be no more than 200mm apart. Also, the sheets must be fixed to the top and bottom plates at 200mm spacing. The spacings of the fixings appear to be far wider than 200mm, and the bottom of the sheets do not appear to be fixed to the bottom plates at all.

If the fixings are installed appropriately and the joints set correctly, then there is little concern about the number of pieces used in the shower area. It's always best to use the least number of pieces possible, but often, there is not a divisible space that fits perfectly with full sheets.

Once the sheets have the fixing spacing corrected, joints set, and a waterproofer applied, I don't believe there is anything to be concerned about. Most people wouldn't even pick up on the smaller pieces being used; it's just that you've not had a great experience in the past, and you are diligently watching the installation.

That hole in the corner is a little bit of a worry. It would not be possible to waterproof that area correctly, and I'd suggest replacing the sheet.

The James Hardie technical team are fantastic and extremely helpful. I'd encourage you to give them a call if you have any specific questions or concerns on the installation.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Mitchell
 

[jasonlam_syd]

Thanks @MitchellMc 

As painful as it is to rip out, I will rip the whole thing out and start new with proper nails, spacing and no dodgy screw holes that have been patched after.

It'll save me in the long term doing it now than ripping it all out again.

At a minimum, I think the shower is the area of concern. Toilet, Vanity and towel rack area are less concerning.

[MitchellMc]

That is an approach @jasonlam_syd. However, many of those boards are fine and just need additional fixings installed between the existing ones. I would try and avoid pulling off as many sheets as possible.

Mitchell

[jasonlam_syd]

Thanks @MitchellMc - perhaps my initial approach was too drastic?

Would this approach work?

1. Remove and replace the board with the damaged corner (per your suggestion) and any other boards where the corner has lost structural integrity.

2. Ensure every board has galvanised nails every 200mm or less (as the room will be tiled floor to ceiling). 

3. Potentially replace any smaller boards that sit in that high, wet zone (i.e. shower) with larger single pieces to reduce weak points.

4. Fill up any major gaps between boards, exposed screw holes and nails with this https://www.bunnings.com.au/james-hardie-compound-top-coat-3kg-tub_p0710193

5. Check the wall is flush for tiling.

Have I missed anything? I did notice he didn't install a metal corners per the Bunnings installation video to reinforce the corners.

Also, are these gaps quite significant around the in-wall taps? or fine to leave?

 

cheers,

Jason

[EricL]

Hello @jasonlam_syd 

That sounds like a good plan. You'll notice that in page 14 of the installation guide that the steel corner angle is only necessary for untiled applications.

In regards to the in-wall taps, the trades person doing the water proofing will be covering that gap with the appropriate cover. The only things that should be visible are the tap attachment points all the holes in the wall should be covered with water proofing.

If you need further assistance, please let us know.

Eric