How to Calculate the Thinset for Ceramic Tiles
Ceramic tiles appear in the bathroom, in shower enclosures and, occasionally, on floors. The editors of Tile Magazine say that the only way to insure that tiles don't come loose or have problems down the road is to ensure that they have a proper bedding, that is, enough thinset has been applied with the proper size of trowel. This means that you will have to know the size of the area you will be tiling, and you will have to calculate the number of bags of thinset you need for the project. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Measure the area to be tiled with a measuring tape. Take the measurements in inches; the measurement will be converted to square inches, then square feet, to avoid working with fractional feet.
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Use your calculator to multiply the length by the width/height to determine the area in square inches. Use a calculator to divide the result by 144, the number of square inches in 1 square foot. The result will be the number of square feet of thinset required.
If the area is 240" long and 148", high, multiply 240 by 148. Divide the answer, 35,520, by 144. The answer, 246, is the number of square feet of thinset required.
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Divide the number of square feet of thinset required by 75. A 50-pound bag of thinset (except Thinset 740 Fracture Guard) is sufficient to set 75 square feet of tile properly. Thinset 740 Fracture Guard comes in 40 pound sacks and covers 60 square feet. If you are using Thinset 740 Fracture Guard, divide the number of square feet of thinset by 60.
Divide 246 by 75. The answer, 3.28, is the number of 50 pound bags of thinset required for the project.Since thinset is sold in 50 pound bags, you will need four bags because 3.28 is more than 3. If you are using Thinset 740 Fracture Guard, divide by 60. The answer, 4.1, is greater than 4 which means that you will need five bags of thinset.
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Tips & Warnings
The figures given assume you are using the recommended 1/4 inch notch trowel to apply the thinset.
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Comments
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Tile is a noun. This means that you will have to know the size of the area you will be "TILING", and you will have to calculate the number of bags of thinset you need for the project. In this sentence you use the correct verb/noun coupling. A 50-pound bag of thinset (except Thinset 740 Fracture Guard) is sufficient to "SET" 75 square feet of "TILE" properly. Of course this information is moot, because it does not account. for the trowel's notch size. Notch size will determine coverage greatly. Read the thin-set bag.
