Ditra vs. hardibacker for tile floor

19 years ago

We recently redid our master bath, and put in a tile floor over hardibacker. I was shopping for kitchen tile and a sales guy at a tile store told me about Schluter Ditra, which I had never heard of. I went to HD, which sells it, and the sales lady said "yeah, it's good," but didn't know too many specifics. I went to Lowe's and the guy, who said he was an installer for years, said "I wouldn't touch the stuff. Tile is meant to be on a very solid base."

I've searched this forum and see a number of people recommend it, but since it's new to me, I'm looking for some "why it's so great" support. It costs about double what hardibacker does, but you don't have to screw it in a thousand places, and the labor savings (We're DIY-ing it) is extremely appealing to me. Is it too good to be true? Only suitable/beneficial for certain subfloors or applications? If it's as great as it seems, why doesn't everyone use it? Any downsides?

We've got a wood subfloor on 2x12" joists, 16" on center, over a crawl space.

Featured Answer

kcmo_ken

19 years ago

You will find that many different trades are wary of change. They used to install tile over mud beds, and if you look in old houses there are still many installations of this nature that still look fantastic. I am sure when they started installing tile using CBU that there were still plenty of tile installers that insisted on mudbed installations only. Niether one was wrong.

And along comes decoupling membranes. Truthfully they are not that much more expensive material-wise than hardie backer and screws. The thinset cost is fixed (you were going to thinset that Hardie backer before screwing it down weren't you), so you compare the Hardie and screws to the decoupling membrane and figure out how much extra it costs you. And then you figure out how much time it saves you, how much is your time worth?

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Comments (7)

oruboris
19 years ago
I loooove it. Really. Costs more, but saves a ton on time and labor. Was actually developed to mimic the ancient technique of laying tile on a bed of packed sand.

Why's it so great?

First, you can carry enough to do a whole room, in a single trip. Under one arm.

Second, no nailing or screwing the hardibacker. No skim coating. No hardibacker joints to contend with.

Third [and best of all], ditra 'decouples' your tile and subfloor. Less worries about the movement of the subfloor cracking the tile.

The guy at Lowe's is way behind the times. In an earlier era he would have complained about people using new fangled chimneys instead of a simple whole in the roof, which was plenty good enough for grampa, by golly...
jerry_t
19 years ago
Ditra is superior in almost every way.... it's the initial cost and a lack of knowledge by people who are supposed to know what they are doing.
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oruboris
19 years ago
Heh... meant to write 'hole' in the roof, not 'whole': dang lack of edit function...
m1shmosh
19 years ago
BTW, you can find it much cheaper online than the price you pay at Home Depot.
weedyacres
Original Author
19 years ago
My time is DEFINITELY worth the extra 60 cents a foot or whatever. That was the initial appeal. Does it work ok attaching radiant heat wiring to it?

And I'll definitely shop online to see what I can find.
joshuaphilyaw_yahoo_com
15 years ago
Ok, great info.: time vs cost vs elbow grease... But what I also want to know is how long does this product last. If I'm going to do a job, I'm going to do it right and it's going to last. I don't care about the time, cost, elbow grease if I know that my finished product will last 5 to 10 years longer. If that is the case, then I will spend more, work longer, and put more elbow grease into the job. Is there an average life expectancy? Any follow up data being accumulated? So that I can add this 4th variable into the mix?
I really like your other information though so don't think that I'm being negative. I've searched the internet to answer my lifespan questions, and have come up empty handed. Ditra/Hardibacker I really don't care.
Warranty's are great, but anyone w/ hands on experience and personal testimonies concerning lifespan?
Thank you
Josh