Mixing thinset and cleaning the paddle with ease

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JohnfrWhipple

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I have one secret step men when it comes to cleaning your mixing paddle after mixing up some Laticrete 254 thin-set. The trick is to use a bucket of clean drain rock. At the end of this video you can see me spin my paddle in a separate bucket. This saves so much time in the course of a day, a week a month. Does a better job too.

Of course you could always us a cheaper thin-set. Something unmodified for example. That kind of thin-set is not so hard to clean off your tools, your floors, your tile. When you work with premium setting materials they tend to not want to come off. Not your hands, your trowels, your buckets....

Tools Used:
  • Low torque Makita Drill.
  • Ardex T-2 Ring Paddle
  • Laticrete 254 thinset
  • Clean water
  • 3/4" drain rock (found outside the home)
  • 3 gallon buckets from Pacific Rim Flooring
  • My fat ass (to keep the bucket from spinning)

At the end of the day you can also dump this bucket into your old thin-set bucket. Then spin it. This will clean away the excess thin-set from the day's bucket very well. Try it - You'll like it.

And if you notice - the moustache is not a new look but top help spread awareness to men's cancers below the belt. If this tip saves you some time. And you want to help out a good cause, throw a little cash at the Movember Canada Cause.

The more water given thin-set the easier it is to work with. You also make it weaker. But what people do not often think about is that you make it shrink more. Factor in a wavy wall. Factor in down lights near by. You do not want to see lip page stemmed from a loose thin-set mix and uneven thicknesses. So I spin thin-set like this on the stiff side. The drill and thin-set to strong to hold with my feet so I use my weight to pin the bucket.​
MG831_Men's_Health_1_WEB_WIDGET4_323x450.jpg
movember_logo1.jpeg

Another trick about mixing 254 is that after about 3 minutes the thin-set lets loose a little. A super stiff mix becomes a little less stiff. Not sure why but there must be a reason Laticrete wants it mixed for 5-10 minutes.....
 
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ShowerDude

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the double foot method is over the top.

how many times has the bucket caved on you?? LOL

the time lapse is awesome!
 

Jadnashua

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Every thinset product comes with instructions...they tell you how fast your drill motor needs to be and how long you mix your thinset. If you want reliable results, and, to have the thinset with the engineered characteristics you paid for, you should actually MEASURE your water and material. Doing it by eye just doesn't cut it except for maybe an unmodified. The act of mixing does two things: breaks up any larger clumps, mixes the aggregate and cement for an even mixture, and, with a modified, wets and distributes the modifier. Remixing after slaking is also critical, especially with a modified. The rest period allows the water to be more fully absorbed by the dry modifiers so that they become liquefied. Then, that second mixing, after slaking, coats all of the cement and aggregate with those modifiers so that it can do its job properly. Failure to follow instructions means your mortar will NOT have the full properties stated on the spec sheet.

NEVER use more water than the manufacturer calls for. Note, on some products, they give you a range of acceptable water. Then, and only then, is it okay to adjust to meet your specific needs (such as use the max water when trying to embed the fleece of a waterproofing membrane, verses maybe less to set tiles).

I discuss this in my thread in the tutorials section.
 

Eurob

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JW said:
When you work with premium setting materials they tend to not want to come off. Not your hands, your trowels, your buckets....

Couldn't agree more with it , John .
 

JohnfrWhipple

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Boys. Trust me on this tip. Try it - once you do you will never clean your buckets or mixing paddles the same way again....

The electrician came in yesterday and asked if the rocks where being used in the reno. He had a weird expression because the rocks where covered in white foam and dirty water. I showed him the trick and the paddle. His words exactly "I have never seen a cleaner mixing paddle". I had to fess up that the paddle was only two days old.
 

JohnfrWhipple

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It all went so fast I couldn't tell what happened.

I shot this video just for you Vegas. No time lapse. Real time.

In this video I show a simple bucket cleaning. The drain rock taken from outside and washed with a few buckets of clean water. Now I just dump out this water each day and keep the rocks moving.
 
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