Tiling a Backsplash
Posted by Wayne
I had been looking forward to tiling the backsplash ever since I had installed the under cabinet lighting. I knew it was going to look really good.
Before
My wife had picked out some travertine tile that had just come on the market which she was really excited about. As an interior designer my wife works directly with a tile distributor, and she was able to get this tile which is normally about $45 per sq foot for $12 per square foot. The individual tiles are shaped something like dominoes, and it comes in 12 inch x 12 inch sheets.
My first step was to cover the granite countertops with towels so there would be no scratches. I debated whether or not I should leave room in between the backsplash and the countertop for a line of grout, and eventually decided that I should. I created a space by taping down a cardboard drywall shim around the top of the countertop against the wall. This left a nice little space which I would later fill in with grout once the cardboard was removed.
I used a premixed mortar called Omni-Grip which worked very well. I had used it before on both the fireplace and entryway. A thin layer was applied to the wall with a v notch trowel, and then the tile sheets were ready to be pressed into it. It’s really a very simple process. The sheets weigh about 5 pounds each and you’d think they’d just slide right down the wall once you stick them up there, but the Omni-Grip doesn’t let them move at all.
As there would be some tile cuts I’d need to make around the electrical sockets, I only applied enough mortar for one column of tile at a time so it wouldn’t dry as I was cutting the tile. Despite the picture below, I did in fact mortar all the way to the edges in each direction before applying the tile sheets.
The tile sheets were easily cut with a utility knife. The space between the countertop and cabinets happened to be exactly 1.5 feet high, so I just needed to cut off half of a sheet for the top of every row.
As you can see from the picture above, I used a piece of the drywall shim as a spacer on the first column. They only make ready made spacers in 3/16 inches and 1/8th inch. The 3/16th inch spacers were too big and the 1/8th inch spacers were too small. Why they would have made these tile sheets without considering that is beyond me. In any case, the Omni-Grip worked so well that I actually ended up not needing spacers at all. I could eyeball the spacing between the two sheets and they wouldn’t budge once they were in place. I kept going back over what I had done just to make sure, but they never moved.
Once the first column was done I ran into the first cuts I’d need to make to go around the electrical outlet. Going around the outlet required me to cut individual pieces from the sheet of tiles and cut them individually. The pieces needed to be close enough to the outlet that the outlet cover would cover the edges of the cut tile, but far enough away that I could remove the inner works to extend it to the right depth later. This was easy enough to judge. There was a nice dirt/grease line around all of the outlets where the old outlet cover had covered the wall, and I just didn’t get close enough to prevent myself from removing the inner works later.
The toughest part about this process was cutting the tiles. They are small so they’re kind of scary to cut in the tile saw (you don’t want to get you fingers close to the blade). I got around this for the most part by grabbing the pieces of tile with channel locks and running them through the saw. I also used tile nippers pretty extensively. I cut each piece individually before back buttering it (putting the mortar on the back of the tile rather than the wall) and pressing it into place. Once again, I didn’t need to use spacers and I was able to eyeball their placement just as easily.
Putting the tile up on the wall only took a few hours. After it was completed I needed to wait 24 hours for the mortar to dry before applying the grout. The photo below is pre-grout:
After the mortar had dried, we picked out a grout that matched the color of the tile. The grout came as a powder and needed to be mixed very thoroughly with water before use. The key to mixing the grout is to just add enough water so that it has the consistency of something like toothpaste. You have to add the water a little bit at a time so that you don’t overdo it (or else you’ll be running back to the store to get more grout).
The grout is applied with a tile float (shown above). It’s like a trowel except that it’s made of rubber. This pushes the grout down into the cracks of the tile. Putting on the grout is a pretty messy job and you feel like you’re ruining the tile you just put up. It is easy though. You basically just apply a thick layer with one swipe and then go back over it with a second swipe of the float holding at a 45 degree angle to force the grout into the cracks and remove the bulk of the remaining grout.
Once the grout was all applied, I went back over it all with a wet sponge to wipe off any extra grout. I moved the sponge in a circular motion to avoid removing the grout from the cracks. After the initial wipedown I went back for a second wipedown and made sure all of the grout lines looked good. Every so often I’d find a spot that needed a little extra and I’d just push some grout in with my finger and go back over it with the sponge.
Once I had all of the grout lines perfect I let the grout dry for a couple hours and then went over it several more times with the wet sponge to remove any haziness left on the tiles from the grout.
The finished back splash looks fantastic and it was easy to do. I especially like it a night when the under cabinet lighting is on. The picture below isn’t a great “after” pic as was actually taken while I was installing the microwave, but it’s all I got!
After
Total Cost: $240, Total Time: 5 hours
3 Responses to “Tiling a Backsplash”
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February 26th, 2008 at 8:14 am
Looks GREAT! I can’t wait to get our granite up so we can think about a backsplash, too!
February 26th, 2008 at 9:32 am
Looks great! I just finished grouting my mosaic tile backsplash this weekend and installed under cabinet lights last night. It’s amazing what a difference the lights make.
February 26th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Thanks Corey and Jennifer. Yes, the lights were a huge improvement. Having seen the final result, I can’t believe I was considering not putting in those lights.