# Thinset mortar choice for marble backsplash tiles?



## Half-fast eddie (Sep 19, 2020)

If it's natural stone, you need to use white thinset. The grey thinset can bleed through and discolor natural stone. Most thinset will work for your application, you should use spacers to support the tiles overnight.


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## ront02769 (Nov 28, 2008)

Spacers for support and blue painters tape to tie the faces of the big squares together. Don’t use TOO much thinset as it is a pita to get out of all of those little spaces!


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

ront02769 said:


> Don’t use TOO much thinset as it is a pita to get out of all of those little spaces!


A couple ways around that:

use a small V notched trowel. This is not a floor, all we're doing is getting the tile to stick to the wall, and that's not very hard. You don't really need a lot of thinset.
use a 1/4" square notched trowel, but flatten it. i.e. spread on the thinset, then carefully using the flat side of the trowel, knock down the ridges so you have a flat thinset surface. Then lightly press the tiles onto the wall using a grout float to get everything flat. You don't have to press so hard that thinset is oozing out.


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## dj3 (Apr 27, 2020)

For marble backsplash use mastic.


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

dj3 said:


> For marble backsplash use mastic.


I would not use the actual old school mastic. And for newer "mastics" (acrylics), you have to be sure there's not going to be any bleedthrough of one of the compounds that will darken the marble, since it's such a porous stone.


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## MTN REMODEL LLC (Sep 11, 2010)

jeffnc said:


> I would not use the actual old school mastic. And for newer "mastics" (acrylics), you have to be sure there's not going to be any bleedthrough of one of the compounds that will darken the marble, since it's such a porous stone.


 Agree ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^But also the good mastics have mucch better "grab" than thinset.


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## jeffnc (Apr 1, 2011)

MTN REMODEL LLC said:


> mastics have mucch better "grab" than thinset.


They do, it would be my first choice for a backsplash, and then I think of any reasons I might not be able to use it.


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