Cutting Hardibacker (Small Distance)

[buckeye95]

All,

How do you go about cutting small distances (i.e. 1/2 - 1") off the edge of hardibacker board ? My 5' piece is a little too long (by 1/2" ) to fit in my tub wall. I know large areas can be scored and snapped, but something tells me that won't work to well for such small distances. My only other thought is my angle grinder and carbide blade (the latter of which I do not have yet).

Any thoughts ?

Regards,

Buckeye95
Pete

[frumper64]

You could probably trim it off with a circular saw, but it will kill the blade, so use a cheapie or one you don't care about. Hardy makes a special blade to cut their stuff, but it's high $. Take care with the dust that cutting it will create though.

[shmish]

yeah, a circular saw will work. I did a lot of cutting using one of those power snapper shears.

[crokett]

When I had to make that cut for my kitchen counters I used a masonry blade in my angle grinder. Very dusty so wear a mask and do it outdoors.

[doogus]

Cutting Hardibacker

I have used a jig saw blade to cut small circles and small cutouts. Buy the really cheap ones as the board will dull it fast. A circular saw blade would work but again use the cheapest you can buy. Protect yourself from the cloud of dust.

[Stytooner]

The diamond dust blades they have now do a fine job with this. HF has these to fit anything from a 4" grinder to a 7 1/4" circular saw. Very cheap for diamonds. They will cut and score brick, block, concrete, granite, tile and hardiboard. Dusty like crazy, but for limited use, a paper mask with the wind blowing in the right direction will work.

[atgcpaul]

I just use a cheap circular saw blade. Do it outside--lots of dust!!!

[ExYankee]

I sheathed my shop in Hardipanel and did the subfloor of my tiled sun porch with Hardibacker and cut it all with a circular saw. Hearing that it would chew thru blades I bought a special hardicutting blade on Ebay, I think it was a 4 tooth diamond, and then I (or my helper) proceeded to loose the blade. So I put on a cheapo carbide blade and cut away and away and way. I don’t think I would do any fine work with that blade but it keep cutting. What atcgpaul said up dust and doing it outside is WAY correct. What I did was to set a box fan on the sheet blasting toward me and the cut so it would be blow the dust away, but I still wore a dust mask.

[buckeye95]

Thanks for the advice everyone.

I would consider using a CS if I had a low end one, but am concerned with what all the dust and grit might do to my Porter Cable 743.

I did check out the HF option, and noted that they have a set of three diamond 4" cutoff wheels on sale for $9.99 (HF item # 46152). With the 25% off coupon, this bring me down to $8 out the door. I'm planning on getting this set and just using my angle grinder (also HF). Based on the suggestions, I will also plan on making the cuts outside .

Regards,

Pete
Buckeye95

[HarmsWay]

I did a bunch work with Hardi planks last summer and bought the cheaper Bosch version of the skilsaw blade. Nasty stuff that concrete dust. Very bad for your lungs and very bad for your tools. Avoid this if possible. I used a jigsaw for short awkward cuts, but as someone else mentioned - blade life is dismal. I think I got about 10 inches of decent cutting per blade. If at all possible, try to use the score and snap method. If you have a lot to do, try to rent the shears designed for this purpose. They were not available in Victoria, though so YMMV.

[mineengineer]

I had to cut off small amounts on my last bathroom remodel and I used a utility knife and scored the board many(like ten times really hard)times and then used vice grips along with c-clamps and two boards to get the leverage needed to snap the board. I still had to used a brick to smooth the edges that refused to break in the right spot. Went pretty fast that way and a lot less silica dust to deal with. The edges dont have to be perfect since you will probably be filling the joints with thinset and mesh tape.

[scorrpio]

How about wet-cutting it? Set it up so a stream of water washes over the cutting area. Should eliminate most of the dust and cool the blade letting it stay sharp longer...

[JimD]

You should have this done by now but I will comment on this plus the tile I am presuming you will be installing. I make cuts in concrete backer board which I presume is pretty similar to what you're cutting with a cheap right angle grinder and a cheap abrassive blade sold to cut masonary. I have tried a diamond blade but I like the cheaper abrassive blade better, seems to cut smoother and I use the edge to finish the cut edge of tile. Which brings me to my other point. The two tools I cut tile with are what I call a cracker for straight cuts - it scores the line and then cracks the tile along the line - and the right angle grinder. all the complicated L shaped or U shaped or circular cuts are made with the grinder. It is an outside thing but wet cutting is messy in a different way too and best done outside so the dirty water does not go all over. I once cut effectively a picture frame out of a wall tile - not very sturdy - to mount a soap dish. I broke one but got it right on the second one. You can do a lot with a right angle grinder. I bought mine to be a throw away after tiling a couple bathrooms but it keeps right on working. I think it was $20 at Northern Hydraulic. With a different abrassive blade it also cuts metal well - I cut a piece of 3/4 threaded rod with mine earlier this week.

Jim

[buckeye95]

Thanks for all the comments.

I ended up getting the diamond blades at HF ($20 in store, but they matched the $9.99 price form the internet and also let me use the 25% off coupon). I used the "dry" blade that contained the slits for cooling, and the Hardibacker cut very well.

Thanks again,

Pete