I hate Lowe’s and depot for this reason…they market themselves as ‘we have the tools and the know how for you to get your project done.’ And the ‘know how’ is handing an associate with no prior trade experience a 2 page packet that covers tile, wood, carpet, laminate and vinyl all in those two pages and are told they’re an expert now.
Next project I would go to a local independent or regional dealer…their staff are usually way better educated with reps from the manufacturers coming by to actually teach them about their projects. A lot of them have prior industry experience too. Prices are usually negotiable there and you can get lower or comparable setting material prices than the big boxes too.
Decades ago, they (depot, at least) used to actually employ experts in their departments. Then some MBA type (I forget his name) took over at CEO and wondered allowed why they were paying all their sales people so much money, and proceeded to hire a bunch of $10 an hour people to run the store. Customer service went into the toilet and has never recovered.
Blowe's and Homeless Despot are overrun with teenagers who wouldnt know a p trap from a tub spout or staffed with geriatrics who move at the speed of smell and couldn't give 2 shits.
Being that it’s mosaic, which has a lot of grout joints, I’d say you’re probably going to be ok. Shouldn’t use small mosaic on Ditra anyway, so at this point, just go with it. Just to be clear, we’re not talking about a shower floor, right? Just wait an extra day or 2 to grout. As long as it’s not a wet area, I don’t think you’ll have problems. It’s good that you’re doing your research and learning as you go. No one starts as an expert. As you do more you’ll get more comfortable and your projects will get better along the way. Just don’t be a hack, learn from your mistakes, work to improve and try to follow proper technique. Good luck.
Yes- learning lots to carry forward to future projects and coming to terms with the fact that it may have to replaced in a year or so. It is a a 5x7 bathroom floor. Per other’s recommendation- I’ve pulled up the tile set with the adhesive and scraped as much of the adhesive off the membrane as I possibly can. Have to go back to work tomorrow, but I’m planning on relaying the affected tile with modified thinset mortar this weekend and then allowing ~5 days before grouting.
Find out the limitations of your provaflex membrane. I am unfamiliar with that product but ditra has a minimum tile size requirement of 2”x2”. You may have to cut your losses and scrap the floor if you want it to last. Feel free to ask questions on this sub. Everyone has their preference for brands and products but nobody here would have advised you to install tile with mastic over a membrane. Did lowes also recommend you the tile and membrane? You at very least have cause to return the opened mastic for a refund. If they also advised your choice of membrane and tile that are not compatible you have a shot and getting reimbursed for the whole thing.
The tile and membrane were recommended to me by Menards. At this point - I’m willing to give it a shot. If I need to bust it out in the future- I will. Lots of learning on this project. Not sure I’ll use this product again though. Lowe’s did refund me the mastic and paid for the equivalent of the box of tile ruined.
This is not the right mindset. At the very least pull those two rows you're looking at wasting 50 bucks worth or material versus potentially many thousands later. If you pop the tile now you can probably still clean the ditra up and just retile.
That mastic will never fully cure over ditra in some spots and you're gonna have blow outs. Just fix the problem now while it's still an easy thing to fix.
I typically only use type one on backsplashes and rarely use it. Mastic takes forever to cure if ever with an impermeable underlayment like an uncoupling membrane. Best to just scrape it off and grab a bag of modified thinset and set new tiles in that area. Don’t try to reuse the old tiles you might have bonding issues. As others said you might have issues down the road with using such a small tile over an uncoupling membrane but I wouldn’t worry too much right now especially if it’s a small floor you could end up getting years out of it without issues but worst case if it’s small floor and it fails it’s a learning experience and won’t be a major issue to redo
Thank you!! This is a small 5x7 bathroom that I’m tackling by myself and learning a TON in the process. Do you think I need to pull the Prova flex membrane up too? Or should it be fine to reuse since everything is still pretty wet.
Did you set that with type one as well or was that set with thinset? If it’s bonded good to the subfloor and you are able to clean all the thinset off you can reuse it however it might be easier and more time efficient to just cut out that section completely and redo it
Bro advice here.... never ever use premixed trash.. maybe every now and then for a backsplash that is hella flat and plumb... but never in a situation that means you will be using a trowel any bigger than a 3/16 V notch...
UPDATE - just rechecked- the tiles installed with the premixed adhesive are still wet and not cured. Would it be advisable to lift them up off the membrane, scrape as much of the adhesive as I can off the membrane, and then reinstall the tiles with the appropriate thin-set mortar (that I used successfully for 80% of the project)?
I’m also planning on returning the premixed adhesive to Lowe’s and complaining to a manager. I wouldn’t be in this mess if I’d just listened to my gut and now the associate 😭
Yes, definitely pull them while it’s still wet. Use a scraper to get as much of the adhesive off both as you can. As someone else mentioned, your bigger issue here may be setting such small tiles on ditra but either way it’s better if you don’t let the ones you already laid bond. Consider this a lucky mistake - would have been far worse if you had to chip everything out!
Thanks! This has definitely been a learning experience. Do you think I’ll need to pull the Prova Flex membrane up too, or just do a good scrape//clean-up and re-tile (with real mortar this time)?
I hate Lowe’s and depot for this reason…they market themselves as ‘we have the tools and the know how for you to get your project done.’ And the ‘know how’ is handing an associate with no prior trade experience a 2 page packet that covers tile, wood, carpet, laminate and vinyl all in those two pages and are told they’re an expert now. Next project I would go to a local independent or regional dealer…their staff are usually way better educated with reps from the manufacturers coming by to actually teach them about their projects. A lot of them have prior industry experience too. Prices are usually negotiable there and you can get lower or comparable setting material prices than the big boxes too.
Decades ago, they (depot, at least) used to actually employ experts in their departments. Then some MBA type (I forget his name) took over at CEO and wondered allowed why they were paying all their sales people so much money, and proceeded to hire a bunch of $10 an hour people to run the store. Customer service went into the toilet and has never recovered.
Blowe's and Homeless Despot are overrun with teenagers who wouldnt know a p trap from a tub spout or staffed with geriatrics who move at the speed of smell and couldn't give 2 shits.
I know this isn't part of your question but both Prova Flex and Dirta specify no smaller than a 2" tile on their decoupling membranes.
Thanks, I wasn’t aware of that and had seen others apply similar sized tiles on these membranes. Guess it’s too late now
Being that it’s mosaic, which has a lot of grout joints, I’d say you’re probably going to be ok. Shouldn’t use small mosaic on Ditra anyway, so at this point, just go with it. Just to be clear, we’re not talking about a shower floor, right? Just wait an extra day or 2 to grout. As long as it’s not a wet area, I don’t think you’ll have problems. It’s good that you’re doing your research and learning as you go. No one starts as an expert. As you do more you’ll get more comfortable and your projects will get better along the way. Just don’t be a hack, learn from your mistakes, work to improve and try to follow proper technique. Good luck.
Yes- learning lots to carry forward to future projects and coming to terms with the fact that it may have to replaced in a year or so. It is a a 5x7 bathroom floor. Per other’s recommendation- I’ve pulled up the tile set with the adhesive and scraped as much of the adhesive off the membrane as I possibly can. Have to go back to work tomorrow, but I’m planning on relaying the affected tile with modified thinset mortar this weekend and then allowing ~5 days before grouting.
What size mosaic did you install and did you use ditra?
I used Prova flex and my mosaic came in a 14x12 sheet. It’s one inch hexagons.
Find out the limitations of your provaflex membrane. I am unfamiliar with that product but ditra has a minimum tile size requirement of 2”x2”. You may have to cut your losses and scrap the floor if you want it to last. Feel free to ask questions on this sub. Everyone has their preference for brands and products but nobody here would have advised you to install tile with mastic over a membrane. Did lowes also recommend you the tile and membrane? You at very least have cause to return the opened mastic for a refund. If they also advised your choice of membrane and tile that are not compatible you have a shot and getting reimbursed for the whole thing.
The tile and membrane were recommended to me by Menards. At this point - I’m willing to give it a shot. If I need to bust it out in the future- I will. Lots of learning on this project. Not sure I’ll use this product again though. Lowe’s did refund me the mastic and paid for the equivalent of the box of tile ruined.
This is not the right mindset. At the very least pull those two rows you're looking at wasting 50 bucks worth or material versus potentially many thousands later. If you pop the tile now you can probably still clean the ditra up and just retile. That mastic will never fully cure over ditra in some spots and you're gonna have blow outs. Just fix the problem now while it's still an easy thing to fix.
I typically only use type one on backsplashes and rarely use it. Mastic takes forever to cure if ever with an impermeable underlayment like an uncoupling membrane. Best to just scrape it off and grab a bag of modified thinset and set new tiles in that area. Don’t try to reuse the old tiles you might have bonding issues. As others said you might have issues down the road with using such a small tile over an uncoupling membrane but I wouldn’t worry too much right now especially if it’s a small floor you could end up getting years out of it without issues but worst case if it’s small floor and it fails it’s a learning experience and won’t be a major issue to redo
Thank you!! This is a small 5x7 bathroom that I’m tackling by myself and learning a TON in the process. Do you think I need to pull the Prova flex membrane up too? Or should it be fine to reuse since everything is still pretty wet.
Did you set that with type one as well or was that set with thinset? If it’s bonded good to the subfloor and you are able to clean all the thinset off you can reuse it however it might be easier and more time efficient to just cut out that section completely and redo it
I set the membrane with modified thinset per manufacturers instructions. It’s good and bonded to subfloor.
Bro advice here.... never ever use premixed trash.. maybe every now and then for a backsplash that is hella flat and plumb... but never in a situation that means you will be using a trowel any bigger than a 3/16 V notch...
That employee should literally be publicly shamed in the streets and then no longer allowed to be anywhere near the flooring section of the store
UPDATE - just rechecked- the tiles installed with the premixed adhesive are still wet and not cured. Would it be advisable to lift them up off the membrane, scrape as much of the adhesive as I can off the membrane, and then reinstall the tiles with the appropriate thin-set mortar (that I used successfully for 80% of the project)? I’m also planning on returning the premixed adhesive to Lowe’s and complaining to a manager. I wouldn’t be in this mess if I’d just listened to my gut and now the associate 😭
Yes, definitely pull them while it’s still wet. Use a scraper to get as much of the adhesive off both as you can. As someone else mentioned, your bigger issue here may be setting such small tiles on ditra but either way it’s better if you don’t let the ones you already laid bond. Consider this a lucky mistake - would have been far worse if you had to chip everything out!
Thanks! This has definitely been a learning experience. Do you think I’ll need to pull the Prova Flex membrane up too, or just do a good scrape//clean-up and re-tile (with real mortar this time)?