Corrado said:
So do you have to lay an aquapanel to the floorboards before tiling?
That is what you would do, yes.
1) First of all determine where your floor joists are (look at where the screws are in your floorboards for an indication).
2) Mark where the joists are by putting masking tape on your walls where you believe the joists meet them. This means you can see where they are even after the floorboards are covered.
3) Lay the aquapanels, staggered if it is a large area.
4) Screw the aquapanels to the joists using the recommended screws (
Wickes sell them, ceramic coated). You may get away with greencoated exterior screws. After that, you can tile straight on but I found that a coat of diluted PVA (allowed to dry overnight) allows more working time with the adhesive.
Aquapanel is quite easy to work with. You can cut and snap like plasterboard, but you need a really sharp knife and the edges don't come out very neat. I found that a standard hardpoint woodsaw (your bog standard saw for cutting wood quickly rather than neatly) worked best at cutting the panel neatly. You need to wear a mask as it produces cement dust when you work with it.
If you have any gaps bigger than a milimetre or so between the panels after fitting, before you tile force tile adhesive into the gap (smooth off any excess, don't leave it proud) and allow to dry overnight before tiling the rest of the floor.