Over the past few days I've been installing a new glass tile mosaic backsplash in my kitchen. I'm not an expert handyman by any means and it was my fist time ever installing one but I think that it turned out quite nice overall. I also painted our cupboards which is why some of them are missing in the picture.
Kitchen Before Backsplash
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Tools
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The wet saw, tile cutter I used was just a cheap thing that I borrowed from my father in law. It didn't have a guard to block the water that cooled the blade so water shot about five feet in every direction. Needless to say, I had to do all of the cutting in y garage rather than my kitchen.
The blade was a diamond blade specifically meant for cutting glass tiles. Diamond blades cut glass with minimal chipping.
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I used a spatula and 1/8" serrated trowel to spread tile adhesive on the wall. Then I stuck the 12"x 12" sheets of tiles to the adhesive.
I had to cut some of the tiles to fit around the wall outlets.
One challenge that I ran into was that my wall has a 45 degree angle in it and my tile saw had no way of cutting the tiles at that angle. I ended up just butting the tiles up to each other which worked out ok. I also ended up with a small piece of tile ending up at the joint which was a mistake on my part. If I would have measured the space before I began laying tiles, I could have split the difference on both sides and made it more symmetrical. Opps.
Next I cut around cupboards and more outlets. I also used 1/8" spacers where necessary to keep the tiles lined up correctly.
I ended up with a small space above the stove and didn't want to cut the tiles lengthwise to fill the gap so I added a finishing piece near the top of the stove. I'll paint the space to match the kitchen walls once I finish the project.
I also added a finishing piece at the end of the backsplash.
Grouting
I used non-sanded grout which is required for glass tiles. There were several color choices including various shades of white and grey. I went with an off white color.
I mixed the grout powder with water to roughly the consistency of peanut butter. Then I filled in the gaps in the tiles with a plastic spatula and rubber float.
After letting the grout sit for about 20 minutes, I wiped off all of the excess grout with a damp sponge and ran my finger over each seem to make sure everything was smooth and clean. I had to clean the tiles several times in order to wash away all of the film left by the grout. I left a little too much grout on the tiles and it took quite a while to fully clean each of them.
Job Complete
I think the project turned out pretty good in the end. There were a few minor imperfections but both me and my wife were satisfied with overall finished look.
Looking good! When are you going to do our kitchen :-D ? We need a complete new kitchen. Maybe you can do the tiles for us. I like blinging mirror mosaic tiles
:-D
hahaha I'm not an expert by any means - you might be better off hiring a professional. I made a few mistakes in mine. Your kitchen looks quite nice though.
Thanks for the comment :)
We will need to hire a professional then :-). We really need a new kitchen. When we moved in, we had a lot of mice. They hided under the kitchen. So there must be some dead mice and mouse droppings. :-(
well that's no good :(
We have a cat so mice haven't ever been an issue for us but I know they can make things difficult. Good luck with that!
Nice job. Glad to see steps you took, really cool
Thanks. I'm glad you enjoyed the article. Thanks for the comment :)
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