[A Walker]

This is my first time laying tile. I am laying 6x24 porcelain tile in a 5x4 entryway and using TEC Ultimate large tile mortar. I got 4 and a half rows done last night and this morning I noticed a lip on the last two that I laid that I'm not happy with so I decided to take them up and re-lay them. They came up way too easy and there was little to no mortar on the back of them. I decided to take up another tile which looked the same as the first two. It took me 4 hours to lay those 4 1/2 rows (what can i say. I'm a beginner and it was more complicated than I expected it to be.) I'm wondering if my mortar got too dry towards the end and that's why the tiles didn't seem to adhere or if there could be some other problem. I made sure to push them around a little and pushed them down good when installing them . I haven't taken up the rest of them but am prepared to do so If I need to. I want to do it right and I'm just not sure how to proceed from here. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I'll try to attach a couple pictures. Thank you

 

[omgdiddy]

Try using the straight edge of your trowel and skimming a thin coat of mortar on the back of the tile before laying it down. It will fill in the voids and bond with the mortar on the floor when you push it down. Pros call it back buttering or back burning the tile. Good luck with the install.

 

[goobertime]

4 hours is way too long for the thinset to lay around till you put tiles on it..it chemically cures like concrete, so adding water once its wet wont work, mix only what you can get down on the floor and tile on within 1/2 hour...

 

[ryansdiydad]

I set my floor using that some mortar... Back buttered every tile.. You should do the same.. Also.. Yeah the stuff can start to setup and get thick on ya if you work too slow.. At that point you could press as hard as u want and you won't get the tile really covered on back like you need..

You can check as u go. Set a tile.. Press and wiggle it.. Then lift it off and see what kind of coverage u have... Everytime i tried to take a short cut and not back butter I got crap... Long story short... Mix smaller batches matched to ur work pace and back butter..