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My old tile method left grout cracking in 3 months, now I backbutter everything
I used to just trowel the floor and set tiles, then got a callback on a bathroom in Tucson where 12 tiles popped loose. Switched to backbuttering every piece after that and haven't had a hollow sound since, anyone else notice the difference on large format stuff?
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mark_mitchell13d ago
I watched a YouTube video from a tile installer out of Phoenix last year where he tested this exact thing with 12x24 porcelain. He didn't backbutter half the tiles and used clips on all of them, and the ones without it had little voids in the corners every time he pulled one up. That convinced me honestly. Large format is so stiff that the trowel ridges just don't flatten out the same as smaller tile, so backbuttering fills those gaps before the thinset skins over. I've had way less lippage too since I started doing it, not just hollow spots. Seems like the extra time is worth it once you factor in callbacks.
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