Tile Reboot

So... the floor didn't stick. Nothing like that feeling of setting foot for the first time on freshly laid tile and hearing that hollow sound. Ouch! The bright side was that they really didn't stick, so pulling them back up again wasn't too terribly difficult. Only the fancy "J" cut piece broke. Thankfully, there are pictures of this tile before it was destroyed. 

There were a few things that didn't go as well as they could have. Entire floor had to be pulled up. Some of the highlights of the failure... 

All tiles need to be fully back buttered

Mortar needs to be super thick especially for large format tiles. 

Upgraded to a 1/2" trowel. 

More pressure for initial tile setting. No voids!

Mortar selection wasn't correct. Even though it said it was for large format tile, the cheaper stuff still didn't work. Who needs $7 mortar when they sell it for $32!?

Had to get the polymer blended mortar for  stone tile (using a porcelain tile).

The tile guys on the video weren't kidding... it really is best to pull up a wet tile and make sure that 90% coverage is being achieved... 

Not really even counting the Home Depot runs anymore at this point. Bought stock in Home Depot so I could feel like I was investing in my business while working on this project...