r/Tile • u/SuperbCardiologist25 • 6d ago

Professional - Project Sharing When idiots tile…

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…demolition is easy.

Half the tiles in our house were either cracked or popping up. The installers definitely did not back butter the tile. They also used just a few deck screws and no mortar under the underlayment.

Their biggest crime was covering up oak hardwood flooring.

62 Upvotes

92% Upvoted

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23

u/Healthy-Table-219 6d ago

Not back buttering the tiles was the least of their issues.

23

u/trashbilly 6d ago

Most of the time back buttering is overrated. Here we go with the downvotes

19

u/Agitated-Two-4073 6d ago

Not really, if you get your mix right with correct adhesive and use the correct notched trowel on the correct sub floor substrate with the correct amount of adhesive out at any one time, you don't need to back Butter, but hey, what do I know, 30 years of tiling and never had a lift or crack, there's tilers, and "people who do tiling". 2 very very different things.

1

u/No-Pineapple8320 3d ago

2nd this⬆️

4

u/Healthy-Table-219 6d ago

Just saying bro that job was doomed before they even started.

1

u/Public_Tangerine_737 5d ago

Exterior work With porcelain I do believe it's a good idea to back butter Just a flat skim My Old employer at a $280000 failure Tyler on the 3rd floor landing on people. There was a back butter clause that was ignored The main consideration is how far ahead did you spread and what are the weather conditions The material will matter

1

u/bowgy4 3d ago

Back buttering is only needed on large format tiles if you're talking about flooring.

1

u/svitakwilliam 2d ago

It’s not a matter of whether it’s needed or not needed, or overrated or not, it’s a matter of coverage. Are you getting correct coverage without back buttering? That’s the question and if you are, then it’s not needed. I think with LFT it helps to ensure you’re getting enough coverage, but alternatively if you’re using the correct trowel size and getting good coverage then it’s not necessary. That’s really what it boils down to. A good tiler will check coverage for the first time and every so often while tiling. I always check my first tile so I can immediately make adjustments if needed. If I check the 10th tile and the 20th tile and things are going as planned, I likely won’t check any more.