Hit 500 square feet of tile in one day and my back is filing a complaint

I laid 520 square feet of porcelain tile in my basement last Saturday. I prepped the floor with Ditra, mixed thinset in 50-pound batches, and used a 3/8 notch trowel for every row. Got to 500 feet by 6 PM and my knees were screaming. Has anyone else pushed a big single-day tile job and regretted it the next morning?

4 comments

4 Comments

grant1551d ago

Tried 600 feet of 12x24 slate once. Next morning my back was talking to me in tongues.

colethomas1d ago

...yeah I did a similar thing last fall with 12x24 porcelain and man... @grant155 is right about the next morning being rough. But I gotta say, 3/8 notch trowel might be a little small for that size tile unless you backbuttered every piece too. I usually use a 1/2 inch notch for anything over 12 inches... helps with coverage and keeps the floor from having hollow spots later.

stella_scott961d ago

@colethomas probably just had better floor prep, that matters more than trowel size.

paul_ramirez1d ago

Used the same 1/2 inch notch on my last 12x24 porcelain job and it was a game changer. Backbuttered every piece too, even though it took forever. @stella_scott96 is right about floor prep though, I spent a whole day just leveling the slab before I even started laying tile. Still woke up the next morning feeling like I'd been hit by a truck, but at least I wasn't worried about lippage or hollow spots. Definitely sticking with the bigger trowel from now on for anything over 12 inches.