We've agreed to disagree about hardibacker on the walls around the shower and bath, but
Shower areas are to be tanked up with Bal WP1, before being tiled with Mapei keraquick (still debating about epoxy grouting).
You can of course tank the Hardibacker if you wish but it’s not really necessary, sealing & taping the joints is sufficient in all but wet room installations. Epoxy grout is a bit of an expensive extravagance here but, again, your choice.
One thing I do need to check is the plywood, but I just don't know how to tell difference between WBP and other plywood. Any suggestions?
Must admit didn’t know the answer to this one so did a search & found this old thread which should help;
//www.diynot.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=352340
If I have missed anything else I'd love to know.
Be cautious with large format tiles, they require a flat base & extra care if they are to look good & using the correct adhesive is essential. Not sure where your fitting the quartz tiles but they will be very slippery when wet! You may need to use a stain inhibitor before tiling & most quartz tile suppliers recommend using a latex based adhesive which is a 2 part adhesive. Check with your supplier that the adhesive is compatible with your quartz tiles! You will need a decent diamond wheel wet cutter for Quartz tiles.
A few other pearls:
• Fill & tape the board joints before tiling; I use tile adhesive not silicone as not much will stick to it; spread too much silicone around & you could have problems, or use the manufacturer’s proprietary expensive sealer.
• Don’t grout down tiled corners or around shower trays, run a bead of silicone but after you’ve done the rest of the grouting.
• Prime the back & edges of ply with SBR sealer before laying; do not prime the tile surface unless your chosen adhesive manufacturer recommends it
• If using cement based adhesive, Gypsum plaster & plasterboard must be primed to avoid a reaction
• Never use PVA to prime a tile base or new plaster