An notched trowel is a tool that people use for spreading mortar with a goal of allowing the mortar to bond to the tile. The wrong type of notched trowel can lead to hollow tile or cracked tiles. The depth of the notch on the trowel can impact the amount of mortar that bond to the tile.
Using a trowel with too shallow notches will lead to mortar that does not cover the entire backside of the tile and can lead to void within the mortar. Using a trowel with too deep of notches will force mortar within the mortar piles to squeeze into the joint between the tile and mortar, which will lift the tile too high from the ground and create an uneven surface. There are different types of notches along trowels that is used for different types of tiles.
How to Use a Notched Trowel
V-notches along trowels are used for placing tiles into mosaics or for smaller tiles because they will not develop too thick a bed of mortar. Square notches are used for larger tiles that will be placed on the floor. The notches along these trowels has rounded bottoms that allow the mortar to easily distribute along the floor.
They are used for medium sized tiles. Trowels can be used to apply the right percentage of mortar onto the back of the tile. For dry interior rooms, mortar should cover most of the backside of the tile.
For showers or outdoor areas, mortar should cover the entire back of the tile. Applying mortar to the backside of the tile is necessary for areas like showers and outdoor areas because water and temperature fluctuations can enter the air pockets between the tiles and the floor that will cause the tile to detach from the floor. For large format tiles, individuals can use a technique called back-buttering.
Back-buttering is the process of applying mortar to the back of large format tiles before placing them onto the mortar ridge on the floor. This technique is used for large format tiles to avoid creating voids between the floor and the large format tile. Many notched trowels has ergonomic handles because they reduces the strain that individuals place upon their wrist.
Some trowels have soft-grip handles for wet environments. Some trowels use wood handles. Trowels can also be used for other techniques in tiling work.
A margin trowel can be used to clean tight corner. A grout float can be used to fill in the grout lines between the installed tiles. However, never use a notched trowel to mix mortar because it will ruin the tool.
The way that an individual use a notched trowel matters. The trowel should be held at a 45 degree angle to allow the mortar to form evenly high and clean peaks. If the trowel is held too flat, the mortar will form too shallow ridges.
Trowels should be used in small sections of tile placements because mortar will skin over if there is too much mortar spread too quickly. This will result in the bond between mortar and tile become ruined. Additionally, the notches on the trowel need to be kept clean so that mortar does not clog the notch.
This will result in the notches being more smaller than they should of been with time and the trowel will no longer function correct.
