Screws hold the cement board down. Galvanized drywall screws 8 in. Laminate should be scuffed with a 50-grit sandpaper first. Edges can be handled a couple of ways. Another approach is to finish the outside edge with a vertical strip of cement board, and then apply a layer of thinset and mesh tape.
Finish edges with thinset.
Fiberglass mesh tape and a thin layer of thinset adhesive finish the edges. This substrate is now ready for tile. 2000 Ontario Tile.