3- Beating in. Unfortunately, tile installers tend to use both products in the same way, and the products are not the same. Ready-mixed adhesive is a very wet product. After troweling, it readily accepts placement of the tile. In placement, the tiles are very easily wet-out .
Minimal contact is needed.
This can be readily observed, because if you remove a placed tile, you will notice how the adhesive coats the back of the tile. This is not true of thin-set mortar at all and this is the most important thing that most tile installers forget. The installation instructions as well as all of the published literature supplied by the Tile Council of America specify that all tile must be fully beat into the mortar. Further, beating in assures full contact and coverage of the mortar on the back of the tile. Fully beating in is a requirement of the Tile Council and all mortar manufacturers.