Very thin partition wall in bathroom

[curry-kid]

Hi,

I need to build a very thin partition wall for a shower cubicle.
There is very little room to play with, so I need to save every mm.
The partition will be tiled on both sides.

In my research I have come across laminate or sandwich walls, which are basically 3 layers of plasterboard stuck together and attached with battons to the walls, floor and ceiling.

So I am thinking of doing similar, but using hardie backer board for the outer layers.
For the core there are a few options: hardie backer board again, Cemboard, marine grade ply or moisture resistant mdf.
Which do you think would be the best / strongest ?

I plan to use aluminium U shaped channel instead of wooden battons on the floor, ceiling and wall. The core would slide into the channel and be secured with screws through the aluminium. The hardie board would be stuck to the core using construction adhesive / no-more-nails and screwed to the core, with screws into the aluminium as well.

Any advice or comments are welcome !

Cheers

 

[foxhole]

You could use shower panel which then does not require tiling?

 

[JP_]

You'll need more than one hardiebacker stacked for full height, is that possible without it being wobbly? And, the hardies will need to screw into something solid, but ideally not the other hardie board.

How wide is the shower? I'd be tempted to have one a little thinner and put in a more solid wall. Or just have a glass panel on the side.

 

[catlad]

You can get cement board in 8x4' sheets so 3 of those together, and as Foxall suggested shower panel which will allow for a bit of flexibility on such a slender wall could be an option. brick on edge would be the normal slender wall route.

 

[Keithmac]

I suppose it's got to be strong enough to withstand somebody falling against it. 3 sections of plasterboard would be borderline?.

 

[JP_]

Is a metal stud wall an option? These are thinner, and should provide the support needed for boards and tiles - although a shower panel might be better.

 

[curry-kid]

Thanks for your comments Guys

My good lady wants tiles rather than the shower panels as the rest of the bathroom will be tiled.
I don't want to use glass instead of the wall, because the side of the cupboard will not be attractive.

I am hoping that the wall won't be wobbly!
I've used hardieboard before and it is pretty stiff stuff.

I have looked at metal stud hardware. It is all thicker than I wanted, starting at 50mm width, which after adding the hardieboard would be 74mm width wall.
The steel used in metal studs is only 0.5mm thick.
The metal used in the aluminium channel I'm looking at is 1.5mm thick. So whilst aluminium is softer than steel, the thickness is x3...
So I was thinking of doing a metal stud wall using this aluminium channel.

But then when I came across laminate walls using just plasterboard, I thought it might be stronger as I am using cement board and a solid core.

If I go for the laminate wall and use marine ply as the core, I could use a thicker piece of ply - either 18mm or 25mm. This would give me a wall 47mm or 54mm thick...

Cheers

 

[cdbe]

I'd use 18mm marine ply with 12mm 8x4 cement board glued and screwed. Can you use the framing of the cupboard to provide additional support?

 

[curry-kid]

I hadn't thought of using the cupboard to help support the wall, but yes that would work. Thanks cdbe

The cupboard will actually be a 500mm kitchen dresser unit.
The worktop will extend out further and have a countertop basin on it.
Taps mounted vertically on dresser and mirror on door.
Plenty of storage in the base unit...

Cheers

 

[KenGMac]

paramount Partition?? may work