Thinset mortar bed thickness

[jer]

Hi, I'm refacing my brick fireplace with tile and part of the project involves tileing the hearth area in front of ( approx 5' x 2'). The hearth had set on a concrete slab and was raised 3 - 4 inches. We removed the old hearth and are going to tile it at floor level. After removing the old brick and concrete hearth the old concrete slab sits about 3/4 below the hardwood floor. This is all leading up to my question and that is: what is the optimum thickness a thinset mortar bed can be to accommodate 4 x 4 x 1/4 tile? Thanks a lot, Jer

[RicodJour]

It will say right on the bag what size notched trowel to use for a particular size tile. That will determine the amount of thinset that's applied. You can go thicker, or a little bit thinner. You could thinset some 1/4" backerboard to the slab, then thinset on top to set the tile, but a 1/2" bed isn't too extreme so you can go either way.

R