Troubling choice in Land O Lakes FL Shower rebuild.

[Steve in Land O Lakes]

Thanks for the input Nelson.
Got to get the Mrs. to pick so I can move forward.

The redgard does smell like the "Hair Stuff"

When setting the sliced pebbles Stones (piece by piece) how deep should the thinset be troweled out to? What size notch (if not a thin flat troweling)? I am imagining I don't want the thinset to come up more than half the thickness of the stones; which is just about 3/8"?

[Houston Remodeler]

We use our Ditra trowel to get good coverage.

To avoid sheet marks, you might wanna pull those tiles off the sheets and lay them one at a time

[Steve in Land O Lakes]

Yes, I plan on installing piece by piece.
I have a 1/4 by 1/4 trowel.
I was looking at a video the other day where a guy was installing something like my pebbles. He also had pulled them off the backing sheets and laid them piece by piece.
He set them into the thinset by pressing them down wit a wood float. Looking like it would get a dozen or so stones with each press. Left him with a nice uniform floor.

What do you think Paul1 ?

[Houston Remodeler]

After using the 1/4 trowel, flatten the ridges, then set the stones. Use any flat bottomed trowel to tamp them as a group.

[Steve in Land O Lakes]

Am I trying to tamp them all the way down or just get them set into the thinset? Even if they are just set in lightly I'm sure the thinset will gush up around them (because they are small; when do you clean the thinset out from between the individual stones?

[jadnashua]

You can get a good idea if you try it, then pull up one of them to see what the coverage is like. You want the full bottom of the pebble to be coated with thinset with no trowel marks left. You can knock the trowel marks down with the flat side of the trowel if you want, but because the pebbles are fairly small, it's usually not that hard to push them down and get the coverage you want. An alternative would be to buy a slant-notch trowel. The tall, narrow notches fall over onto themselves when you're done combing them out, so you've already got a flat surface without the visible notches you get with any other type of trowel.

[mark999]

If that is your second coat of red guard in pic of post 76 your need more. You should not hardly be able to see the writing.

[Steve in Land O Lakes]

The photo was coat 2, I did a third coat.

Jim, I don't think I've ever seen a trowel like that. I will probably try my 1/4x1/4 square notch to lay in the thinset, then use the flat edge to knock down the ridges. I check and see how the coverage looks doing that...

[nelsonkoehn]

I used a 1/4 x 1/8 on the last pebble job.

It was almost too much.

Just saying.

You really, really don't want to clean mortar out later.

[Davy]

Steve, since you'll be setting them individually, you only want to spread about one sq ft at a time. If the thinset wants to set up too much before getting it covered, then go to a half sq ft at a time. It's going to be a slow process but it'll be worth it so take your time. Have the stones pulled off and ready to go before you spread any thinset.

[Steve in Land O Lakes]

Nelson then you think the 1/4 x 1/4 trowel is certainly too big.
Will big box stores have 3/16 x 3/16 Never mind on this nelson, just checked, "Floor and Decor" by me has 3/16 x 3/16...
And you are correct I certainly don't want to have to clean around every pebble to remove the mortar...

Davy I will have them off the mesh and ready to be set. that said if I only spread a foot at a time how much thinset should mix at a time (enough for three or four square feet, more)?

[Houston Remodeler]

How fast do you work? Got a helper to hand you stones? What is the pot life of the thinset you are using?

Normally we make one batch of thinset right before setting (after everything else is lined up and ready to go) which lasts the whole floor

[Steve in Land O Lakes]

I saw decent working time (say 40 minutes) the last time I mixed up some of the thinset. Meaning no change is the consistency and still sticky as all get out...

I guess it depends how the edges look and the area around the drain. If I don't need to cut for around the drain or the edges it will be a big difference in the time needed. But if I do have to cut. I will need to cut a bunch of half pieces, keep them separate and place the ones that look the best for the space.

[reefone]

get yourself a cheap 1$ paint brush from hd and you can use it to clean any thinset that oozes out the grout joints.

[Steve in Land O Lakes]

Ten minutes of extra attention, save me three hours of chipping away dried mortar; a good trade