How To Back Butter Wall Tile

The width of the niches these mosaics were going into was smaller than the size of my trowel which makes it difficult to properly comb thinset on the back of the niche.

How to back butter wall tile.

I use a round notch trowel on floors and areas that are subject to a lot of water this is a solid bed technique. First you have to comb the thinset onto the substrate that means it is spread with the notched side of the trowel leaving little ridges. But before i do i back butter the adhesive side of the piece with my smaller hand trowel which will give full contact of the tile to the wall. I then place the next piece of tile next to the first adding a 1 8 inch tile spacer in between them.

In the case of all these photos i chose to backbutter or more pointedly put the thinset on the back of the tile rather than the substrate. Although not necessary for tile coverage back buttering can be effective by increasing the bond of the mortar to the back of the tile which is an excellent benefit. Backbuttering tile simply means spreading a flat layer of thinset onto the back of the tile before installing it on your wall or floor or whatever. How to back butter like a pro.

Back buttering is giving the tiles a ribbed bed of adhesive back skimming is giving the back of the tile an un ribbed skim of adhesive these methods are to be used with normal spreading of your adhesive ie on your wall floor. As a seasoned tiler who does back butter i have experienced the many difficulties associated with traditional back buttering techniques including arm fatigue and occasionally dropping tiles while trying to back butter. Back buttering tile can be effective. However there is more to this process which we will see in the following paragraphs.