HardieBacker used for tiling in shower and changing facilities at Shifnal Golf Club

(16/07/2008)

When Ace Kind Ltd was asked to refurbish and retile the shower and changing facilities at the prestigious Shifnal Golf Club, in Shropshire, they were expecting a fairly straightforward job. However, Adrian Holt, a director of the Staffordshire based building contractors, had no idea that the original plasterboard had started to disintegrate behind the tiles.

"We only realised that there was a serious problem when we started work. Over time water had seeped through to the supporting plasterboard, which had started to decay. There was no way we would have been able to mount new tiles on the original plasterboard, even if we had wanted to," said Adrian.

When Ace Kind highlighted the problem to the Golf Club management they gave them the go ahead to replace the plasterboard, but rather than repeat the mistakes of the past Adrian proposed the use of James Hardie's HardieBacker™ cement board. Hardiebacker™ cement board is a unique, cement based, water resistant substrate for tiling.

"A lot of our business comes through word of mouth and we would hate to be associated with a shoddy job, particularly given the golf club's influential clientele. That is why we proposed replacing the decayed plasterboard with HardieBacker™ as we knew that, unlike plasterboard, it has been specifically designed for tiling in wet areas."

Adrian, recalls, "I first saw HardieBacker™ on display in Carvers Builder's Merchants in Wolverhampton several years ago. One thing I noticed was that they had a glass display that featured a small sample of HardieBacker™ submerged in water. Whenever I visited the store I used to check out the display and in all that time the HardieBacker™ sample never showed any signs of breaking down. That really brought it home to me that the product was perfect for tiling in wet areas."

While HardieBacker™ cement board is slightly more expensive than more traditional options Ace Kind Ltd were determined to do a first rate job. "We really didn't want to have to go back in a few years time to make repairs which would damage our bottom line and reputation. In that respect HardieBacker™ is really good value as it's the only backing product which could give us the reassurance that we were looking for."

As this was the first time that Ace Kind Ltd had worked with HardieBacker™cement board they were initially concerned about how it would be to use but they were pleasantly surprised.

Nick Symons of Ace Kind Ltd commented, "HardieBacker™ was easy to cut and the tiles went on really easily and stuck fast. The installation process was exactly the same as ordinary plasterboard so there were no problems there. In fact we used a specialist tiling contractor and he liked it so much that he is now specifying it on his own jobs."

Adrian concluded, "I am really pleased that we decided to use Hardiebacker™ on this job. When the benefits were explained the client was more than happy to pay the extra cost because they knew it guaranteed a quality finish. Similarly, we have the peace of mind that those tiles are mounted on a backerboard which has been specifically designed for wet areas and that it will not decay even if water does eventually seep through."

Hardiebacker™ cement board has a 10-year limited guarantee.

Related categories:  Commercial and offices applications   Consumables 

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