jeffreydesign wrote:
It IS all *that* bad... just ask anyone who got it from 'casual
contact' with silica dust and now needs oxygen to survive. Better safe
than sorry, I'd say!

How to cut a circle or hole in hardibacker? It's EASY. Scribe the
circle or shape you want to punch out of the hardibacker and then
scribe an "X" in the middle. Use a hammer to lightly punch out the
center (X marks the spot) then break out the rest by hand - see it's
EASY and you won't die from the dust.

Jeff


What Jeff is saying is equally true for BOTH HB and cement board. Both
contain cement. Cement dust is HAZARDOUS. Even if you are only EVER
going to use HB/Cementboard in this SOLE project and NEVER again in
your life, and you intend to saw it, then use a carbide tipped blade,
do it outdoors, stand upwind of the dust ejected from the saw, wear
goggles, and wear a dust mask too.

Scoring and hammering will NOT work with the other famous Hardie
products, HardiPanel, HardiPlank and HardiTrim. I watched the pros do
this on my house, and they were very cautious. Everyone was very careful
to stand upwind, everyone had protective eyewear on and anyone near the
saw had on a respirator