How To Install Glass Mosaic Tile Backsplash

Greasy splatters and messy spills present no claiming to a backsplash made of tile, ane of the easiest-to-clean materials for the stain-prone spot behind a range or sink. And the subtle colour variations of translucent drinking glass mosaic tile offering a rich look that makes this area a real eye-catcher in your kitchen. Mounted on 12x12 sheets of paper, the three/4-inch tiles are unproblematic to install and will fit around cabinets and counters with few cuts. Even meliorate, grouting the tile with a new urethane-based, nonporous product means you won't need to apply sealant to keep your backsplash looking spiffy. Read on to see how This Old House senior technical editor Mark Powers turned a bland wall into a brand new showpiece.

Tile: 3/4-inch straight-contour mosaic in Clay by Ann Sacks, from $35 per square foot

Grout: TruColor premixed grout in Alabaster by Bostik, well-nigh $76 per 9-pound bucket

Step 1

How-to Install a Drinking glass Mosaic Tile Backsplash

Project Timeline

Friday: Prep the wall, use the thinset, and install the tile.

Sat: Await for the thinset to cure for a total 48 hours. Exercise not bear on or make clean the tiles during this time.

Lord's day: Clean the tile, grout the joints, and caulk the perimeter.

Pace two

Install a Temporary Ledger

Plow off ability to receptacles, and install a temporary ledger. Remove the range. Turn off the power to any electric receptacles on the wall you're tiling; unscrew and pull them out of the boxes and so that you lot'll have room to work around them. Lay scrap cardboard on peak of your counters against the wall to be tiled to deed equally a spacer. Affix a scrap piece of 1x lumber to the wall between the countertops, using drywall screws, to act as a ledger. The elevation of the ledger should be even with the top of the cardboard spacer.

Footstep 3

Prepare the Wall

While a porous surface such every bit new drywall or backer board offers the best bond with thinset, you can tile over a painted wall if you first rough upward the surface using an 80-dust sanding sponge. If your walls are brightly colored and you're installing translucent tile, prime the walls with a sealer-primer, like Kilz, before sanding and then that the colour won't bleed through the thinset.

Stride 4

Marker the Layout's Centerline

Cull an area that's a natural focal indicate, like the spot above a range (which we selected), to showtime your layout. Measure out the horizontal centre of this area, and mark this centerline on the ledger with painter's tape and so that it's visible as you install tile on the wall.

Step v

Lay Out the Sheets for the Starting Area

Create a work surface by placing a scrap lath across the gap where the range was. Beginning at the lesser, lay out a run of sheets horizontally, adjusting them right or left of the centerline to minimize tile cuts at the ends of the starting area. When you're done with the kickoff run, keep laying out rows of sheets to a higher place it, holding sheets up to the wall to measure fit, until yous achieve the top. Leave a 1/8-inch expansion gap at the perimeter, where the tile meets your cabinets. To further minimize tile cuts, slice sheets that will be installed forth the perimeter into strips and "cheat" the strips shut together to make room for full tiles. (You'll have to experiment to get the best fit. And don't worry that the tile joints are tighter in these spots—they'll alloy in once the tile is installed.) Mark the newspaper facing of the sheets and strips so that you lot'll know exactly where to install them later.

Step 6

Lay Out Sheets for the Remaining Areas

Repeat Step 2B for the remainder of the wall, leaving a i/8-inch expansion gap where the tile meets the cabinets, walls, or counters.

Step seven

Coat the Wall with Thinset

Mix thinset in a bucket. Divide your work area into a few sections. Starting in the focal-betoken area, employ the apartment edge of a trowel with a 3/xvi-by- ¼ inch V-notch to comprehend the wall with thinset. Utilise a fanning motion to reach a relatively fifty-fifty thickness of virtually ¼ inch.

Tip: Piece of work in small sections and then that the thinset doesn't begin to cure, or "peel over." If this happens, only scrape it off, discard, and apply a fresh coat.

Step 8

Comb the Thinset

Using the notched edge of the trowel held at a slight angle to the wall, comb the thinset horizontally. As you work, return the excess thinset that accumulates on the trowel to the bucket.

Step ix

Polish the Combed Thinset

Notched lines volition show through translucent tile, so polish the thinset with the apartment of the trowel, using a downward motility. Don't remove thinset from the wall during this process. When you're done, the thinset should exist an even ane/8 inch thick on the wall.

Step 10

Place the First Tile Canvas

Using both hands, printing the first sail of tile into place along the centerline, co-ordinate to the layout you created in Stride 2. Apply even, gentle pressure level to the entire canvass, and set up the tiles in place by holding a cake of woods over the canvas and lightly tapping it with a hammer.

Footstep 11

Install the Field

Continue to add tile sheets to the wall in the focal area, working from the bottom upward. When that spot is complete, fill in the rest of the field, working from the centerline outward, then upward. Line up the joints between sheets closely, a bit tighter than the joints betwixt individual tiles on 1 canvas only not so close that they touch one another. Doing this makes the joints between sheets "disappear" so that the tiles looks continuous on the wall.

Pace 12

Make Certain Tiles are at a Consistent Depth

As yous add sheets of tile that abut others, hold a cake of woods over the joints between sheets and tap lightly with a hammer. Do the aforementioned at all corners where tile sheets see.

Tip: Don't exist tempted to substitute a rubber mallet for the hammer when setting glass tile. Its "bounciness" will cause the tile to shift out of place on the wall.

Step 13

Saturate the Paper

Well-nigh 20 to 30 minutes subsequently you've installed the first sheets, the thinset will brainstorm to cure, but information technology will still be pliable enough to adjust tiles if necessary. This is the right time to remove the paper facing. To loosen the adhesive, moisten a sponge until it's wetter than damp but not sopping (it shouldn't release water when flicked). Blot it onto the facing several times over a flow of 5 to 10 minutes.

Stride 14

Skin Off the Paper

In one case the paper is saturated, slowly peel it off, starting from an upper corner and pulling diagonally. Y'all may notice a few tiles that have shifted out of identify on the wall. Nudge them dorsum into position one at a time, keeping your hands wet so that the adhesive residue on the tiles won't stick to your fingers as you work. Repeat these steps to remove the newspaper at appropriate intervals during installation.

Step 15

Cut Each Tile

Y'all may need to cut a few tiles to fit around electrical receptacles or other obstructions. To do this, soak a sheet of tile in water and remove the paper facing. Cut individual tiles to size using 2-wheeled glass nippers.

Step sixteen

Install Each Tile

Back-butter a tile with a layer of thinset, and press it into identify. Make certain your easily are moisture while you work and so that the adhesive residual on the tile doesn't stick to your fingers. Repeat for all tiles. Allow the thinset cure for 48 hours before moving to the final step.

Step 17

Clean the Tile

To prepare the wall for grouting, remove the adhesive remainder from the face of the tile with a wet sponge. Use a nylon scrub brush to reach the areas between grout lines.

Pace 18

Grout the Joints

Stir the premixed urethane grout gently just thoroughly until its texture is compatible. (We used a drill/driver fitted with a paint-mixing scrap, at a slow speed.) Let it sit for a few minutes, until any air bubbles have dissipated. Working on ane small department at a fourth dimension, wipe the tile with a wet sponge until the surface is slick. Employ grout using an epoxy grout bladder, pulling information technology horizontally and vertically over the tile to work it into the joints. Once the joints are packed, pull the float diagonally beyond the tile to remove excess from the tile faces, so mold the joints to eliminate high points by wiping the tile in a circular movement with a wet sponge. Remove traces of grout from the surface past lightly wiping a clean, damp sponge diagonally beyond the tile. Echo, section by section, for the entire wall.

Step 19

Caulk the Perimeter

Using a caulk gun and the analogous acrylic caulk for your grout, use a bead to the perimeter of the backsplash area, where the tiles meet your walls, cabinets, and counters. Let cure for a couple of hours. Reinstall the electrical receptacles, using longer screws if necessary. Remove the ledger earlier replacing the range.

Source: https://www.thisoldhouse.com/kitchens/21016733/how-to-install-a-glass-mosaic-tile-backsplash

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