Customer Reviews for James Hardie HardieBacker 0.42 in. x 3 ft. x 5 ft. Cement Backerboard

Perfect for a diy outdoor chalkboard! It already got rained on during Hurricane Hilary and it held up.

As pictures show, this product - at least as far as I am concerned - is NOT a simple score and snap product! Scored very well! but snapped in elsewhere ruining the entire board! The score line did not weaken it one iota! All their directions say is - “snap upward along score line”, so what gives? I guess about the only way to use this stuff is with circular saw and appropriate blade, respirators, and dealing with enormous dust residue - PIA!

I purchased about 300 of these hardie backer boards for a condo in la, sound engineer required me to install double of these, they were great a light enough to carry and move around, easy to cut and place on the floor, I anchored some down with concrete screws and didn't break good material.

Choice of the pros. Easy to score and snap

my favorite cement board. It would be perfect if they add a mark line for each 8" it will make screwing the boards in little faster.

Easier to use than Wonderboard. Goes down faster and easier modify and fit in tight spaces.

the backer board is fine. I used my rotozip to cut it with a diamond blade. easy to cut and handle. I have never had much luck cutting this stuff with a razor knife.

Easy to cut and trim. Textures nicely. Used cement boards instead of sheet rock on walls!

Much stronger than drywall and the 2 different sizes of 1/4" & 1/2" make it easy to fit your shower.

I've used this product in dozens of bathrooms, behind tub and shower walls but this time, I decided to use it on something totally different. I installed below a few bay windows on an old house, where there had previously been some of that old-fashioned criss-cross, wooden lattice. I took the lattice down because the varmints kept crawling behind there to keep warm at night. They also had a habit of tearing it apart as a way of saying "Than you" for the free nights lodging. So, I decided to use concrete backerboard instead and I painted this boards a flat black with BEHR brand exterior paint. This would not only send out a "No Vacancy" message but it would keep the cold off of the floors in the bay windows in the winter months. This was a very simply and inexpensive fix.

Exactly what's needed in wet areas or shower units.

Durable. Gets the job done.

We love this product easy to work with this:

Great product

Easy to cut. I cut the 5 ft board into 4 pieces 3'(not shown), 11" 9" and 5". See picture. All clean cuts just using a blade on both sides and break with a 2x3 underneath. I do not have much strength so I put my foot on each piece and use my weight to break the boards. I use a chisel to break the opening for the shower faucet. No power tool needed.

I love this backer for all my tile needs

the 1/2 inch is tuff stuff to deal with, be prepared to be frustrated. instructions say, score and pull to you to snap. ha! and forget it if its a piece 10inch or less to trim off. I ruined at least four boards or 100 dollars worth trying to score and pull up to snap.i ended up buying a diamond tip grinder to cut them with and a dust mask and fan to blow the dust away from any where I was. if you having trouble counter sinking them, it is most likely your drill ... get a more powerful one, like a hammer drill.

Working on our ceiling and walls of the girls new playroom. The PRO tells us that this is good for keeping out the elements and firms up nicely on the ceiling.

perfect for new shower remodel

I bought this to cut in half for top and bottom shelf for a old aquarium stand, to be used on my deck as a food table, it was perfect for the weather also

I used the hardiebacker on the walls around my parents master bathroom to prepare the was for the 12x24 large format tiles that I was going to install. My parents house was built back in the 80's and the only thing that has been changed in the bathroom since then are the vanity lights and the toilet. So needless to say the bathroom looked atrocious and many things were falling apart. It was time to tear it up and give it an entire new look. This the hardiebacker cement board is just the best for applications that could see moisture. I know kerdi is very popular these days, but cement board is much more economical and when used properly yields results that are just as good. Hardiebacker is a fiber cement board rather than a standard cement board with fiberglass mesh embedded in it and hardiebacker is also a denser material than standard cement boards. So the lack of a fiberglass mesh and being a denser board just makes this stuff easier to cut and leaves cleaner edges when cut with power tools such as a circular saw. Also just about everything and anything adheres to cement board with no fuss. You have to be careful to stay about an inch from the edge of the board with screws though because it will sometimes crack the board if to close to the edge. In my case though I had to get screws with in 1/2 inch the edge to get through to the corner stud. I few cracks is nothing to panic about. I had to tape the joints with mesh and mortar over them anyway. So I simply used that same mesh tape to tape over the few cracks and slapped some mortar on them. No big deal at all I do notice some people complaining about how hard this hardiebacker is to screw into and having to pre-drill holes to make it easier. That is simply just lack of experience. I drill screws through this stuff like Im drilling into drywall. There are a couple simple things you need to keep in mind to make drilling through this stuff much easier. Make sure you use an impact driver to drive the screws. Also use the shortest driver bit you can. The shorter the driver bit the better as the shorter driver bit will allow you to put more leverage behind the drill when driving screws it will also offer much more stability. Do not use one of those bit holders as along with the bit itself it will just be to long. I used a 2in torx bit which is perfect. Also make sure you are using a properly size quality drill bit. I know these things may sound to simple to make any kind of difference, but trust me when I say it makes a world of difference when driving screws through cement board and you wont have to waste time pre-drilling. Hardie as with any cement board warns against power tools to cut this stuff as the silica dust that is produced can cause some serious health issues, but sometimes you just are not going to be able to score and break this stuff and you will have to take a circular saw to it. Even hardie realizes that sometimes the need arises to use power tools to cut this stuff, because though they warn against power tools with this stuff. They partnered with Freud Diablo and produces a great circular saw blade specifically for cutting this stuff. So if you need large pieces then just score and break. If you must use power tools to cut this stuff just take some simple precautions. Make sure you cut it outdoors. Make sure you wear and approved dust mask and eye protection and stand downwind of the cut. This way the wind is blowing the dust away from you instead of in your face.

Does what it's intended to do

GREAT PRODUCT........EASY INSTALLATION.......

Used this in my walk in shower re-model . .It was very easy to use. I used a power saw to cut it, as was tough on the hands with a blade. I went with the smaller size option, as I am female, and needed to be able to handle it on my own. It came highly recommended, and I would use it again and again.

Great product! Very solid!

Used this product on a bathroom remodel job where I was installing a 30x60 shower base and ceramic tile. This board is almost impossible to cut with a utility knife as suggested. If you need to cut anything less than 6/7/8" off forget it. It just will not cut properly. I ended up scoring about 10 times and then breaking off with a pair of pliers. To drive the screws through the product is extremely difficult. Predrilling is probably a good idea. Some reviews talk about cutting with power saws grinders etc. the manufacturer strongly discourages cutting this way as the silica powder can cause disease that can be fatal. I would never use this product again unless I did not have to cut. They also claim it's lightweight, not a chance. The Hardie screws are poor quality and the heads strip easily.

I have been using hardibacker since it came out . Hands down the best on the market. I have had 0 warranty issues in 20 years. If your not dumb use a grinder with a diamond blade to cut it or even better the Dewalt shears. Its true its not really a score and snap product like that garbage durock or wonderboard I dont even install it to manufacturer specs. I never put thinset under it and I use 7/16 crown staples . It is also true the 1/2 inch is not a true half inch but if you are setting tile with a 3/8!trowel it makes upnthe difference. Good luck kids

I used this Hardie Backer .42" today and cut it with a cement board circular blade, CMT 7-1/4" Fiber Cement Blade, Model Number: 236-004-07, $44.99 using a dust mask outdoors and it cut like a dream. I have tried cutting other brands with scoring with a knife and had the same results as most people. This product did not crack and chip like Durrock. I found the exact Hardie recommended screws at HD with the self counter-sinking heads and I hope and suspect they will do better then the generic screws I have used in the past. Do not like the idea of roofing nails since they have no holding power whats so ever. I suggest using a impact driver and hardbacker screws.

So I ripped out the old tile in my bathroom...which the previous contractor (who messed up my tile btw) used Durarock cement boards to only find myself cleaning up a crumbled mess. I read review after review and heard from several contractors to use Hardie board for this project and i'm glad that i did. Now im a diy'er...so my first thought was how in the bleep are we going to cut through this stuff. Well..Thats why there's that good ole trial and error...(we first used a circular saw to no avail) but once I googled and found a demonstrarion on how to cut it...it was smooth sailing after that. Now if little old me could use a blade to penentrate this board and then kick to snap and get a clean break...anyone can (I wouldnt recommend this method and i only did that once. The real person doing the work just scoured and snapped it. I also used the same waterproofing method as everyone else on the seams. Although frustration started off pretty high with the board... once we googled it and watched the video...it was a breeze to work with. Would definitely use for future tiling projects.

This is a triple-first for me: first time using Hardiebacker myself; first time using my circular saw; and first time scoring and snapping cement board. The .5" 3'x5' sheets weigh 47# so a friend laid them out on the porch for me where I could clamp a sheet to the adjacent top step and use the porch floor for a workbench while standing where I wouldn't need to bend over. I stood below on a cement platform and the porch deck was the perfect height for the project. I had taped together from cardboard a pattern for the hearth I would tile, cutting out the section for the chimney stack. I laid the pattern on the first sheet of Hardiebacker, drew around it with a pencil and made the first cut. It was easy. I turned the sheet a quarter turn by sliding it, using my Doc Marten clad feet because my arms gave out and I felt a pinch in my back when I tried turning it by hand. I reclamped the piece and made the second cut, stopping when the new cut line met the perpendicular line of the first cut. The cutout corner came off with just a little pressure, nice and clean - except for a 5/8" bit on the reverse side on both sides of the corner. That came off with several slices from my utility knife. That cut was all that was needed for the first sheet, but I had a dilemma - the first sheet needed to be moved indoors next to the hearth spot, and I couldn't carry or slide it. I couldn't lift it up to slide it on a side or end either. I decided to cut it in half, but didn't want to stir up a cloud of silica dust, so I decided to use my heavy duty utility knife to score it. As a visual artist and custom framer I am familiar with scoring glass and thin plexi and then snapping it over a pencil or table edge. A video demonstrated a similar procedure with Hardiebacker so that's what I did. I used a T-square to ensure a good solid straight cut, clamping it on that same step I had used to clamp the Hardiebacker. I made at least 5 passes with the blade and it was ready to snap. Again I was faced with a problem of how to leverage the board up on its side so I could break it against my knee. The way I solved the problem was to pull the board until half of it (at the scored line) was over thin air, aligning the line with the edge of the porch (no handrails to get in the way). Then I snapped it down and it divided cleanly in two pieces, just as I had hoped it would. A 24# half-board was light enough to lift and carry inside, but when my back winged again I just stood it up the long way so I didn't need to bend over so far to hold it, and I walked it back-and-forth on end the 15' into position next to the hearth bed. Ditto for the second half-piece. That left one more 5'x3' sheet to cut from the other half of the pattern. It's a sure thing that if a novice like me can manipulate this cement board a regular handygal or handyman can do likewise. The photos show the small cut (about 6"x9" - remember I worked from a pattern, not from measurements) done with the circular saw, and the clean horizontal lines of the half-boards resulting from scoring and snapping them.