Tanking Aquapanel with wood studs for a walk-in shower

[Pompey Monkey]

Hi,

I'm a DIYer in the process of fitting a walk in shower into my bathroom. I've not attempted any project as big as this before, so please be gentle with me!

I am fitting 2" by 2" wooden studs in a cross-pattern to two walls for my shower area. I an using two layers of studs to conceal some existing pipework. The studwork will have the horizontals attached to the brick work wall on 400mm centres with the verticals screwd to these, again on 400mm centres.

On to of these, I plan to fit the Aquapanel boards, just using the vertical studs with no noggins, as shown in the Knauf installation guide. This will result in each panel being attached by around 20 screws.

Unfortunately, I cannot source the ceramic coated screws recommended by Knauf for attaching the boards to the studs and will be using phosphate coated screws instead.

Because I will not be using the correct screws and to protect the studs from unnecessary exposure to moisture, I intend to tape and tank the boards using something like the Bal WP1 liquid, before tiling.

Now for the questions:
Am I right to be concerned about the studwork and screws being affected by water or is the tanking overkill?
Can I apply the tanking liquid direct to the Aquapanel and tape without priming?
Are the vertical studs sufficient to support the Aquapanel boards and tiles (as shown in the Knauf literature) or should I fit noggins too?

Thanks in advance!

 

[White Room]

If that is what is shown in the Knauf literature then it should fine. no harm in going the extra mile with tanking....

 

[Concrete guy]

It is good practice to tank Aquapanel. The panel itself is completely impervious to water, but it does not create a waterproof barrier, that's the job of the tanking.

It's not overkill, it's a good high specification. The only time this might be a slight issue if if you're fitting a very heavy tile - 15mm to 20mm thick marble and are using Aquapanel for it's increased weight capacity as tanking will reduce the capacity that can be fixed to a vertical surface.

However, if you're fitting any form of normal ceramic, porcelain or stone at 12mm thickness or less, the weight issue simply isn't a consideration.

 

[Pompey Monkey]

Thanks guys!

It's good to know that I'm on the right track.

My tiles weigh in at a tad under 16kg/sm and I've done a sketch that shows each panel will have 30 screws when fixed at the recommended 200mm centres.

Now all I have to do is create a nice flat set of studs to screw the panels to. There's a first time for everything, I suppose!

 

[Andy Allen]

just done the same myself today on a wet room im doing for a client, I primed the walls first before using the bal wp1..

 

[visioneset]

Stainless screws? They're not expensive

 

[Alan.P]

Well I'm gonna stick my oar in ( again ) if your tiles only come in at 16kg m2 why not use plasterboard and tank it, of course if money isn't an issue then yes, belts and braces with the aqua panel, as ATS says, and it's a common misconception, aqua panel isn't water proof, water will pass through it.

 

[Old Mod]

Well I'm gonna stick my oar in ( again ) if your tiles only come in at 16kg m2 why not use plasterboard and tank it, of course if money isn't an issue then yes, belts and braces with the aqua panel, as ATS says, and it's a common misconception, aqua panel isn't water proof, water will pass through it.

I think your oar will have probably missed that boat by now @Alan.P 😉 hehe

 

[Alan.P]

I think your oar will have probably missed that boat by now @Alan.P 😉 hehe

Yeah but, and it is a but, if there are no weight issues I really don't have a problem with it, if water gets through the tiling work and tanking there's something wrong with the install at both stages imho

 

[Old Mod]

Yeah but, and it is a but, if there are no weight issues I really don't have a problem with it, if water gets through the tiling work and tanking there's something wrong with the install at both stages imho

Sorry Alan, I didn't explain myself properly mate,
Check out the date of the post geezer! 😀