I have the frame of my tub deck built, and the top is plywood. I will have a drop in tub, and will have solid surface quartz material for the tub deck. It will be four pieces, so will have four small seams. My question is, and i have not found an answer on the web, is, do i need to put anything on top of the plywood for a solid surface material? If so, what do i need to do? Everything says use cement board for tile, but i cannot find an answer for solid surface.

 

The plywood looks suitable for mechanical support. I would use a waterproof membrane (kerdi is one brand) on the deck and have it wrap up onto the side walls where it adjoins. What material will be on the short walls? I'd probably wrap the membrane over whatever substrate will be applied there as well.

 

I will be installing tile on the walls, and plan to put cement board on them first. I also was planning on butting the quartz to the studs, and then installing the tile so it overlaps the quartz. I figured this way and water accumulation would run down the tile and onto the quartz, and not past it. Is this the normal way to do it?

 

Thank you for your reply, btw. Another question is... I read a lot about mortaring the joints between the cement boards, but if i install kerdi over them, do i need to do that?

 

Quartz or Granite does not need a cement board, they are held in place by both weight and an adhesive caulk or siliconize caulk. If you are going to mortar them in place, then add cement board. Also I would add them last after the tile is installed flush to what would be the bottom of the quarts. Then the quartz would overhang the tile by about 3/4" exactly as a countertop would overhang a cabinet. Don't measure until for the stone until everything is already installed around it. Does the tub dec sit high enough to accommodate the thickness of the stone? Also, given the addition of both cement board and tile on the front, and wallboard on the wall behind the window, will you have enough deck left after tub to even get a piece of stone in there? My gut says that the deck is too narrow.

 

The tub only overlaps one inch, so there is supposed to be three inches of exposed quartz after tile is installed on walls. Well, at least this is what we instructed the guy who built it to do, but it seems so. I am not tiling down the front of the tub, but doing a wood panel. I am assuming the quartz measurements for proper overhang would be known by the installers... Hope so!

 

Most stone folks come in for a final measurement after you have completed what you have to do. So you should not have precut anything. Call them at the correct time and ask them to make a template of your needs.

You need to have the tub installed before finishing your work so that appropriate hookups can be preformed prior to final tub deck install.