My neighbor's tile advice actually worked out

I was retiling my backsplash in my kitchen off Central and my neighbor Mike who does tile on the side told me to backbutter every single tile even the small ones. I thought he was being extra and I almost skipped it because it takes forever. But I did it his way and after three days I haven't had a single tile pop loose or feel hollow when I tap it. I used a 1/4 inch notch trowel and some cheap porcelain from Home Depot so the adhesive was the only thing that could go wrong. He also said to use a leveling system with those plastic wedges and I thought it was unnecessary but the grout lines are dead straight now. Has anyone else had a neighbor's tip that turned out better than what they read online?

2 comments

2 Comments

lindaw293d agoMost Upvoted

Backbuttering is the secret nobody tells you about until you're fixing loose tiles later.

lee.cole2d ago

Backbuttering changed everything for me when I did my bathroom floor last summer. My neighbor Dave told me the same thing and I was skeptical because the online tutorials said it wasn't necessary for small subway tiles. He was right though because I had zero lippage and everything feels solid when I walk on it now. The leveling system with the wedges is a must too even though it adds time to the job. I used a cheap thinset from Lowes and it bonded way better than my first attempt where I skipped the backbutter. Sometimes the old school guys just know what works through experience.