Has anyone used a tile setting mat like Bondera?

[kaylie]

I'm going to tackle the backsplash this week and thought this might make my life easier:
www.lowes.com/pd_2754-711-BON-WALL-12_0__?productId=3088393&Ntt=tile+setting+mat&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dtile%2Bsetting%2Bmat&facetInfo=

Anyone have a good experience with it?

[munkii]

@crackhabit has, if I remember correctly.

[TBM]

I used it on one wall of our backsplash installatioN On our house in CA, just because I wanted to see how it would look before I left.

Honestly, I wouldn't use it again. It worked well, but it was not really that easy to work with, and was not much of a timesaver imo. The price is pretty steep for something that doesn't save mucn time, if any.

[treedimensional]

We used it for the kitchen backsplash and it worked GREAT. We'd use it again.

[kaylie]

Alright, so far these reviews are fairly representative of what the rest of the internet is saying. I need to see how level my walls are before deciding. Apparently it is not forgiving at all if the walls are uneven. I have about 30 sq feet of backsplash to do and I was hoping to do it Thursday while H is at work to surprise him when he gets home. Do you think if I start at 8am I can have everything up and grouted by 7pm? Obviously if I use mastic I'll have to wait to grout.

[OG Jo]

We used a Home Depot version of this that came in a box of 8 or so sheets. They were easy to work with. My ONLY complaint is that once the tiles are on, they're on, so there's no shifting the tiles. It was our first tiling project and there are a few areas that I wish were straighter but that was MY fault, not the product's fault! We haven't had any issue with it since we put it up (about 2 years ago).

www.homedepot.com/p/Custom-Building-Products-SimpleMat-Tile-Setting-Mat-SM10R1/202828989#.UZph_0pvugM

[FoxInFiji]

I don't have any experience with the product but from all the tiling we've done I would hate to use a product I couldn't reposition once up. We were always adjusting pieces around or pressing them in to make them level to the other tiles next to them. With a small 1x1 mosaic you can get away with more but for bigger tiles on an uneven surface every little wave will show. It's easy to push a tile in farther to squeeze out more thinset. You can't do that with double sided tape.

Don't use mastic! Use thinset. A much better product and for less money. There aren't a lot of code requirements for a kitchen backsplash so you can get away with more but it's against code to use it in a wet space like a bathroom. It breaks down over time when it gets wet. I don't know a single tiler who uses it.

[kaylie]

May 20, 2013 12:56:15 GMT -5 FoxInFiji said:

I don't have any experience with the product but from all the tiling we've done I would hate to use a product I couldn't reposition once up. We were always adjusting pieces around or pressing them in to make them level to the other tiles next to them. With a small 1x1 mosaic you can get away with more but for bigger tiles on an uneven surface every little wave will show. It's easy to push a tile in farther to squeeze out more thinset. You can't do that with double sided tape.

Don't use mastic! Use thinset. A much better product and for less money. There aren't a lot of code requirements for a kitchen backsplash so you can get away with more but it's against code to use it in a wet space like a bathroom. It breaks down over time when it gets wet. I don't know a single tiler who uses it.

That's an interesting note about thinset. Most of what I'm reading says mastic is much easier for just a backsplash. One of the things I read said that the tiles are more likely to slip down the wall with thinset. Has that been your experience?

I'm using white 3''x6'' subway tiles if it helps to know that.