Thinset Between Mosaic Tiles

Thinset or mortar isn t an attractive word or in most people s books the most appealing aspect of mosaics but in this blog post about using thinset for mosaics julie shows us how this most mundane of substances can be used to create stunning effects.

Thinset between mosaic tiles.

It is applied to the substrate with a notched trowel. This page explains how to mix and use thinset mortar for detailed work with glass mosaic tile and other tesserae for outdoor and wet mosaics where pva adhesives such as weldbond should be avoided. Thinset tile mortar has a smooth slippery consistency similar to mud. When used to tile walls it s strength allows you to set tile and if you re good with eyeballing you can set tile without the use of spacers.

Unmodified thinset is composed of portland cement sand and water retention agents. If you attempt to set wall tiles using thinset without spacers you ll end up with a bunch of tiles that have slid into each other before the thinset has had time to set resulting in a giant mess. Thinset is a mortar that is made of portland cement silica sand and moisture retaining agents. Inorganic and composed of materials mined from the earth thinset is inexpensive and can be purchased either in wet pre mixed or dry powdery form.

Thinset tile mortar. Additionally thinset comes in either unmodified or modified versions. Thinset is used for outdoor mosaics or mosaics which may come into contact with water such as in a shower. The installation method for any tile but especially a mosaic is to comb the area in a direction sit the tile on the area then gently press the tile into the thinset perpendicular to the thinset streaks back and forth.

We sell thinset mortar in 2lb containers. If you were to just press straight down hard you would have a lot of thinset in between your tiles and as mentioned before.