did he say he would use this product in the shower? Ask about this. Also ask about the membrane he figures he will use for your shower.

i found this
http://www.dural.ca/industry/ret_flooring.html
http://www.dural.ca/tds/TF44.pdf
in which it says it's water-based
and it's less and less recommended the larger the tiles.

Being premixed water based, it is not a Portland cement based product.
Many would call it a mastic.

DH tells me (the tile guy said) we just put the pan down and he just motars the tile over that because it has to float. I have to re-read the links you sent because I didn't see where it stated it's not recommended for the larger tiles... but then again it's early and I"m not quite awake! I will post this question over on John Bridge too. Thanks for the links!

remodelfla -- I think Multibond is a latex additive that you add to your thinset to make it more flexible. Did he maybe say Versabond? That's a classic multipurpose thinset you can get at Home Despot and from all I read is perfectly fine to use; it has the polymer additive already in the mix to make it more flexible. You basically just don't want to use anything for floors that's pre-mixed, as David says, like mastics.

(Bill V can give you more authoritative information, of course.)

I love the Daltile Timber Glen tile! Can't wait to see pix.

I don't like shower pans at all. They all end up leaking. It might take 15 or 20 years, but it will leak. I LOVE Kerdi though. It makes a totally waterproof barrier that will ensure years of no-leak showers. Instead of using a shower pan, the floor is built of concrete. And then the Kerdi seals up the floor and walls. I used it myself in my tub surround. Once I got the hang of it, it was really easy to install. John Bridges Forum has tons about using Kerdi membranes.

I don't think it's an additive. Here's the info I found and also posted on John Bridge.
ABC MULTIBOND is a water-based vinyl tile adhesive. ABC MULTIBOND is using advanced polymer technology ensures high bonding strength and ease of application. ABC MULTIBOND can avoid vinyl shrinkage, blistering and curled edges.

properties:

* Waterproof. Will not de-laminate even under prolonged exposure to water
* High adhesive strength. Higher than contact cement or PVAC
* Trowellable consistency
* Easy to apply
* Long open time
* Also applicable in installing wood parquet tiles
* Will avoid vinyl tile shrinkage, blistering and curled edges

That's right combs... Kerdi! I've read alot about that. We're (a.k.a.) DH is going to prep the shower so I'll bring him up to speed on Kerdi.

remodelfla- Did you say your DH removed old tile from your concrete slab? Can you tell me how he did it and how long it took? What condition was the old tile in? We have a large slab and all the tile guys we've talked to want to tile over whats there saying its way too much work to remove it. I'm not convinced and don't want to raise the floor level.

numbers... we have a chipper tool with an attachment that is specifically used to chip tile. Professional tile installers use a VERY heavy duty one. Ours was heavy but not quite as heavy as the biggest pro models. It's a bear of a job. Just dusty, heavy, time consuming, and allow me to say dusty again. You will need two people. One for cleaning up the debris and the one using the tool. It took us several days to do about 1000 sq. ft. In the beginning , DH had to do the work alone because I was at work. THat meant stopping every 15 minutes to clean up the broken tile in the way. You'll also need a way/place/trash to dump the debris and get it taken away. It gets very heavy very fast. The tile we removed was at least 20 years old if not older. They are right... it's a huge amount of work. But it's doable, if you have help and just give yourself the time to do it. We are lucky in that we don't have to live there while the job is being done.

Hmm. I always thought the Timber Glen was a porcelain tile? I'm probably thinking of something else. If it's vinyl, I guess that's the right adhesive; I have no experience laying vinyl tile. Others will know the materials better.

Good luck and have fun!

remodelfla, confirm what the product is if you want this thread to contain meaningful input in each or most of the new posts. Otherwise people will say do you think it might be this or that or what and i didn't see that on the possible site that is possibly the one about your unknown adhesive...

circus... Timeber Glen is rectified through body color porcelain. I posted the wrong information above from a product with a similar name to Multibond. I'm learnign that I think it is an additive. Sometimes I wish we could edit or delete posts

Sometimes it takes a couple of mistakes a.k.a. lack of understanding and learning curve to find the right info. My question was answered on the John Bridge Forum. Here's a link on info about the adhesive in case it's helpful to anyone else.

Here is a link that might be useful: Adhesive info

Tell him you want a latex modified thinset. NO SUBSTITUTES. This stuff is not for ceramic tile. I'd be curious why he wants to use this stuff, rather than what's supposed to be used. Matter of fact, if he wants something made specifically for large format tiles, tell him to look into the Laticrete 4XLT. It just came out, and is actually being introduced at Coverings next month in Orlando. It's a thinset made specifically for supporting and setting large format tile. The link below is a thread in John Bridge's forum about the 4XLT, and the contractors who've tried it. Pay particular attention to a guy by the name of Henry Rothberg-- he's the corp. VP of Laticrete.

And yes, CP, it's a rectified porcelain, made to closely imitate hardwood. In fact, I'm hoping to put it in my own mud room this year.

Here is a link that might be useful: Laticrete 4XLT

Thank goodness you saw this Bill! So you are saying the Multibond is not good for my tile? Geez... DH was there with him, not me. I'm the one who asks a million questions. I wrote to the gentleman from laticrete and asked where I can purchase it in my area. I was getting the info about the adhesive second hand from DH so maybe I've got something backward with it but he clearly said Multibond. When I googled, there was a variety of products so I'm not clear which one. The tile guy told DH that he so much prefers it and has had much better success with it long term then other products. So... now I guess it'll be time to introduce him to something newer and better!! Thanks so much for taking the time to look at this.

To help you be sure he can't pull the wool over your eyes, mention that thinset is the kind of adhesive made by mixing powder with water. Not pre-mixed. Ever. The reason I'm saying this is that anyone can call anything thinset. It happens all the time. It's not a lie, it's just a way of stretching the term to mean more than what most people would call thinset.

Another tip: The powder contains "Portland cement" for the most part, so the product is deemed to be "Portland cement based"

It's not a lie, it's just a way of stretching the term to mean more than what most people would call thinset.

Very true. From a technical standpoint, any adhesive, portland cement based, chemical, or organic, that's used in a thin layer to adhere tile to a substrate is termed thinset. As David said, you want the portland cement based, and I'll take it a step further in saying you also want it latex modified.