White thinset and Gray Thinset, does it really make a difference.. - DIY Chatroom

yummy mummy · 10-07-2009, 11:11 PM

I am about to tile my final room.

In my other room I used white thinset (fortified thinset Flexbond), as my tiles are a light colour tile. Near the end I could not find any white thinset anywhere of the same brand that I was using so I bought the dark gray one, and finished the last 10 - 15 tiles using the dark one.

I am still unable to find the white thinset.

Can I use the dark gray one for light tiles? Does it really make a difference?

Thanks

diy'er on LI · 10-08-2009, 05:18 PM

it's just an aethetic thing... technically, any color could be used. However, visually, pronounced grout lines will tend to make a room look smaller, and will definitely make the floor look different than a light grout.

Why not leave the big home improvement shops and call-up a tile shop and ask if they could supply you with white grout? we just bought a ton of tiles from porcelanosa, and they had a huge palatte of grout colors to choose from......

Daniel Holzman · 10-08-2009, 06:55 PM

On rereading the post, it appears to be a question about thinset, not the grout. The post regarding grout is correct, that is aesthetic, however I assume your question is whether the color of the thinset may be visible through the tile. When we put stone tile in, my wife insisted we use white thinset, on the theory that the gray could "show through", based on a comment in a tile book we have. I find it hard to imagine that the color of the thinset could show through a 3/8 inch thick tile, but there must be a reason why there is white and gray thinset sold.

ccarlisle · 10-08-2009, 07:17 PM

It absolutely does make a difference - but only with certain natural stones, not ceramics. Some absorbent stones will telegraph the thinset colour after a while and I know of people who have wanted their floor taken apart rather than live with the grey blotches...

diy'er on LI · 10-08-2009, 07:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Daniel Holzman

On rereading the post, it appears to be a question about thinset, not the grout.

whoops! sorry about that. I misread

yummy mummy · 10-09-2009, 12:31 AM

Thanks all for your help.

Ccarlisle, thanks for the advise, and you didn't even lecture me this time.....

I will try a tile shop and try to find white. I am not adverse to using grey but like ccarlisle said, I would not want any gray blotches in the future on the tiles. They are glazed porcelain ceramic tiles.

Thanks a lot y'all.

JazMan · 10-10-2009, 03:00 PM

There will be no dark blotches in your ceramic or porcelain tiles due to gray thin set.

Jaz

yummy mummy · 10-11-2009, 01:11 AM

Thanks Jazman. I just didn't want gray showing through the tiles in the future.

I will try to find white but if I can't I will use the dark grey.

ccarlisle · 10-11-2009, 09:57 AM

Wanna lecture??? Don't speak too soon, YM, there's still time! I ain't done yet! You were OK there for a while but now's my chance...

YM, I see you have posted over 1300 times on this forum and at first I was amazed since some great posters here have almost that many. Then, rereading this and other threads, I got a better picture of why it is that you have so many...

Here, you asked if grey thinset and white thinset were 'different' for tiling; two of us responded, somewhat similarly and along the same lines saying that it does make a difference if you are tiling say, a marble, but it doesn't if you are doing ceramics...then, at the end of the thread, you're back at square one, trying to find white thinset for your tiles but that you would use grey if you couldn't find white.

So, why did you post? are you a glutton for lectures? Your thought processes must make people around you lecture you too, no? See, you started off with the idea that you use white thinset. You were sure enough at the start so you didn't ask any questions then, but went ahead, I guess, figuring you were right. At some point, you wondered about grey thinset. So you stopped tiling, and got typing...

Two of us responded with what we know - but now you're too far gone to change so you finish off the job - using your original thinking. Fortunately, there's no harm done because you could have used either thinset for your job - but imagine if you had been doing marble tiles with grey thinset and you were now faced with grey shadows on your floor.

In that scenario, some might be tearing their tiles off the floor and starting over, hopefully having learned the lesson that you do the research first, not half way through.

But that's not what happened here.

Nope. Now you feel vindicated because (fortunately) your initial thinking turned out to be harmless so, now reinvigorated, you probably will continue along the same path in future situations (start, stop, research, proceed). All we have done is reinforce a wrong way of proceeding that ultimately leads to more questions, therefore to answers, and in then end you've wasted time because you state that you will continue along your original lines of thinking, instead of just saying "OK, thanks!". Next time a situation arises, you'll do the same thing: make your choice, have doubts, do some free research, go on - maybe changing your thinking for the next time.

Is that how you, I dunno, say, bake a cake? get an idea, start the recipe, turns out wrong, ask for help, muddle on through, move on to something else?

Here's a fact: When you get advice here, you get two things: the advice itself and sometimes - for free - you get the notion that "oops! my original thinking was off course and next time I'll research first, come to a conclusion, then test that conclusion, then apply the best solution". But if the people who give the advice see that they are talking in the dark and that their advice doesn't make a difference - guess what?

More lectures...and no more advice.

yummy mummy · 10-11-2009, 04:28 PM

.............are you married ccarlisle?

.....and curious as to how many times you have been divorced.......