HI ,THIS IS MY FIRST TILE PROJECT. I AM INSTALLING A BACKSPLASH ON SHEETROCK USING 4.5X4.5 PORCELAIN TILES. USING OMNIGRIP MASTIC APPLIED WITH A 1/4 X 3/16 V-NOTCH TROWEL. THE TILES HAVE A WAFFLE BACK. MY CONCERN IS DO I HAVE TO FILL IN THE WAFFLE DEPRESSIONS,WHICH SEEM TO BE 1/16 DEEP,BY BACK BUTTERING PRIOR TO APPLYING TILE TO COMBED MASTIC. ALSO, IS THE TROWEL SIZE CORRECT?P.S. WHY DO SOME TILES HAVE A WAFFLED BACK AND SOME A PRACTICALLY FLAT BACK? THANKS!
you must change your space for your kitchen space first
Yes the trowel you have is the correct one for a mastic. And you have 2 options, spread some mastic and set a tile to see how the coverage is after you remove the tile. Set in place and give a gentle twisting motion, remove tile and if you have 80% coverage or better you good to go.If not you ll have to back butter the tile .. I can t tell you any other way because I don t know just how deep the pattern is.. As to why they have the waffle pattern, it foe a couple reasons.. One is for body strength after a glue or thin set fills this void. The other is an identifying type mark .. I can tell different tiles by their pattern at times.. Any other questions you can e mail me through my avatar and check my qualifications there.. GL
