Warning: My bathroom tile job turned into a wet floor for a week

So I decided to redo my bathroom floor last month, thinking it would be a weekend project. I pulled up the old vinyl and started laying down those sticky mesh sheets of mosaic tile. I got about halfway done before I realized I had mixed the thin-set mortar way too wet, like pancake batter. It squished up through all the grout lines and I spent hours trying to clean it off with a sponge, which just made it worse. The real kicker was that I couldn't walk on it to fix it, so my bathroom was out of action for seven whole days while it cured. I had to use my neighbor's shower every morning, which was super awkward. Has anyone else messed up mortar mix this bad and found a good way to clean it up before it sets?

2 comments

2 Comments

nina_butler15h ago

Yeah, that pancake batter consistency is a killer. I did the same thing on a kitchen backsplash once. The trick is to keep a bucket of clean water and a bunch of rags you don't mind ruining. As you lay each sheet, wipe the grout lines immediately with a damp rag, not a sponge. A sponge just pushes it around. You have to sort of drag the rag along the line to pull the mortar out. It's a huge pain and you go through a lot of rags, but it beats chipping set mortar out of a thousand tiny spaces.

jana_price11h ago

Ugh, the wet mortar nightmare. @nina_butler is totally right about the rag trick. A sponge is useless. My own disaster was on a shower floor. I mixed a batch that was basically soup, and it flooded all the tiny spaces between the pebbles. I had to use a toothpick and a shop vac on low suction to try and pull it out before it hardened, and my knees were killing me. That week of curing time feels like forever when you can't use the room. Now I always do a test mix on a scrap piece of board first to check the thickness.