Thinset too old

My Depression Era grandparents always impressed me with their waste not, want not mentality. The sum total of their monthly, yes MONTHLY garbage could be contained in a 20 gallon container. They composted, recycled, fed food scraps to animals, and If it burned, they burned it to heat their house.

I'd always admired their efficient, minimal waste lifestyle, even as I knew I could never emulate it (if for no other reason than that the frequency of King County Burn bans make using their regular source of heat unlikely).

With the old fashioned Thrift and Conservation Values I grew up with, when I went to start my tiling project, I started with the leftover thinset from the kitchen project. Oh sure, I'd heard that thinset has a shelf life, but I don't want to think about my thinset being too old for use....it's a slippery slope really. Today, we realize the thinset has no useful life left, tomorrow, we realize the same thing about ME.

In putting on the first few tiles, I discovered that the mixture Instantly bonded and hardened into its full cement-y goodness, allowing no second chances for tile adjustment. No amount of water seemed to change this instant adhesion between thinset, tile and wall, although lesser amounts of water didn't wait for the wall for bonding.

I strugged through the rest of my batch, then gave in and opened a new bag of thinset.

My grandparents probably would have kept going until they finished the old.