Questions & Answers

I have to admit I'm quite frustrated, Coaches I look forward to whatever wisdom you can provide.

The tiles on the back wall will not remain plumb. This tile I spent over an hour working on it. I put it on the back wall and got it close to plumb and the pulled it to check coverage. It was not quite good enough so I notched the wall again and then notched the tile with a bit more thinset (back wall needs about 1/2" of thinset. Struggled to get it plumb after pushing and pounding (hand and rubber mallet) the classic pump action of thinset out the bottom and a void at the top I pulled the tile again and notched and attempted to install the tile again. Got it plumb and moved to the side tile, installed the side tile and noticed the top of the back wall tile was pushed out and the tile was out of plumb again. I literally leaned my body against the tile and tapped it with the rubber mallet, got it plumb again and started cleaning up a bit. I turn around and side tile is pushed forward and the back tile is out of plumb again, rinse, repeat...

Eventually the tile had enough and shattered

Is this a particular trait of the foam boards like Schluter since I'm suspecting the foam is compressing some and then pushing back? The side tiles go on in about 15 minutes but the studs are closer due to the shower hardware, the back tiles are major battles with the more traditional stud spacing for simple walls.

I left the side tile installed, hope I don't regret that since the back tile goes behind it

Also left a layer of thinset on the wall since I know I need buildup.