My neighbor told me to stop back-buttering tile and I fought him for a month before I tried it his way

Been doing tile work for about 6 years and always back-buttered every single tile before setting it. My neighbor across the street did tile for 20 years and kept telling me I was wasting time and making a mess. I finally tried not back-buttering on a small backsplash job in my own kitchen last spring. Turns out my thinset mix was always a bit dry because I was compensating for the extra adhesive on the tile. Has anyone else had to unlearn a habit they swore by?

3 comments

3 Comments

fionam1116d agoTop Commenter

I was reading that same thing in an old tile forum actually - some guys swear back-buttering is only for big format tiles or if your thinset has skinned over. Makes sense about the dry mix too because I always added extra water thinking it would help the butter stick better.

singh.harper16d ago

Nah, dry mix is the problem. Just mix it right.

theajohnson16d ago

I've definitely been the one making soup instead of thinset before...