Thinset (also called thinset mortar, thinset cement, dryset mortar, or drybond mortar) is an

adhesive Adhesive, also known as glue, cement, mucilage, or paste, is any non-metallic substance applied to one or both surfaces of two separate items that binds them together and resists their separation. The use of adhesives offers certain advant ...

mortar made of

cement A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel ( aggregate) together. Cement mix ...

, fine

sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural class of s ...

and a water-retaining agent such as an

alkyl In organic chemistry, an alkyl group is an alkane missing one hydrogen. The term ''alkyl'' is intentionally unspecific to include many possible substitutions. An acyclic alkyl has the general formula of . A cycloalkyl is derived from a cycloalk ...

derivative of

cellulose Cellulose is an organic compound with the formula , a polysaccharide consisting of a linear chain of several hundred to many thousands of β(1→4) linked D-glucose units. Cellulose is an important structural component of the primary cell wall ...

. It is usually used to attach

tile Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or o ...

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

to surfaces such as cement or

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

. It is particularly popular among mosaicists for outdoor applications Thinset is generally available in two types: unmodified and modified (polymer-modified). Modified thinset has been developed to enhance the strength of the bond in addition to improving working conditions of the material (i.e. working time, working temperature range, etc.). It is usually more expensive than standard, unmodified thinset.

References

External links

How to Spread Thinset for Ceramic Tile
Accessed 14 June 2014.
C-Cure ThinSet 911 Dry-Set Portland Cement Mortar
Accessed 14 June 2014. Soil-based building materials Cement Masonry {{civil-engineering-stub