Shower Tile Thinset Or Mastic

Shower floors thinset.

Shower tile thinset or mastic.

When moisture is present it will not return to a liquefied state as mastic would. Although thin set is not waterproof it is isn t water soluble. 99 of tile setters will most likely refuse to use a mastic in a shower situation. When you thinset the seams typically there is a slight hump so the skim coat evens the surface out and makes it flatter.

To demonstrate the difference between mastic and powdered thinset i set up two pieces of hardiebacker. Now on with the battle of mastic vs. Traditionally mastic was an organic plant based resin from the pistacia lentiscus shrub and its term is related to the word masticate due to its sticky gummy consistency. Thinset is a mortar that is made of portland cement silica sand and moisture retaining agents.

Powdered thinset is by far a 10x better product. This skim coat has to dry properly. Thinset mortar is your default tile mortar for most indoor and outdoor applications. Thinset tile mortar has a smooth slippery consistency similar to mud.

Thinset tile mortar. Mastic is a vague term that generally refers to fast grab glues for tile. Mastic is great for dry locations its a terrible idea for a shower. He then set the tile with latex mastic.

Shower walls thinset. The reason tile pros use thinset in showers is that mastic will release if it contacts water and because it is organic if just a little water gets behind it it literally becomes food for mold. After tile board he would thinset the seams with fiberglass tape and then skim coat the entire board with modified thin set.