first time tiling a tub surround

[foothill]

We're preparing to tile our shower/tub surround. I'll be removing cultured marble wall panels and lathboard/plaster walls to ceiling height. I won’t start the demo until the 15th of this month so I’m still trying to get my plan worked out. I cut out peepholes in the wall behind the long side of the tub and in the plumbed wet wall. On the long tub side wall and on the short side opposite the wet wall, the studs are flush with the tub flange. On the wet wall they are set back 3/4 inch from the flange.

My assumption is that, once I've verified the studs are plumb and level, I can use 1/2 inch Hardibacker cement boards on the 2 walls with flush studs. That leaves the wet wall to be shimmed out. I can think of two ways to accomplish this.

I could screw 1x2's on the face of the wet wall studs, bringing it flush to the tub flange and then screw on my 1/2" Hardibacker, leaving that wall 1/2" proud. I'm thinking when I set the tile I can then trim out the sides with radius bullnose to cover the sides of the elevation.

As an alternative, I could nail or screw 1x3’s or 1x4’s horizontally, say on 16 inch centers and screw up the Hardibacker with screws spaced 8 inches horizontally. To me this seems a better plan.

Anyone have any suggestions or see any pitfalls with this?

Thanks in advance for sharing your know-how.

 

[Jimbo]

Suggest you ask over on the tile forum...www.johnbridge.com

My suggestion is that the cement board, and at a minimum the moisture barrier behind the cement board, must overlap the flange on the tub, down to about 1/4" above the deck.