barbara_jenkins66•19d agoProlific Poster

Just watched a whole wall of tile come off because my thinset was too old

I was tiling my bathroom in Austin last month and halfway through the job, a whole section just slid down the wall like butter. Turns out that bag of thinset I had sitting in the garage for 8 months had gone bad, even though it was still sealed. I had to rip out 200 dollars worth of tile and start over with fresh mix. Has anyone else had this happen with expired mortar?

3 comments

3 Comments

abby_martinez19d ago

My buddy saved an old bag and his whole shower wall fell off three days later.

torres.blair19d ago

That old bag probably looked fine on the outside but the powder inside was all clumped up and dead. I did the same thing with a partial bag I kept in my truck bed for a few months during a humid summer and it just wouldn't grab. The mortar felt wrong when I was mixing it, kinda sandy and thin, but I kept going anyway. Ended up costing me a whole weekend and a bunch of extra tile just like you. Now I buy fresh bags for every job no matter what, even if I have a half-used one at home. It stings paying for new mortar but it hurts way less than redoing a whole wall.

mark_chen6219d ago

A 50 pound bag of thinset runs me about $18 at the big box store. I've used mortar that sat in my garage for two years past the date and it held up fine on a backsplash last spring. Spending extra money on fresh material every single time sounds like a waste when the old stuff still works.