Tiling a Countertop Backsplash

Tiling a counter top back splash is one the easiest projects you can tackle. Until now you always thought that professional would need to be called in, not so. Let's get started. First thing you need to of course is move everything out of the way. Remove all the outlet and switch covers. Wait a minute, go and pick out your tile you're going to install. It's going to be important that the sheet rock is clean of any and all grease. Now you can use what ever size tiles you like but if you go too big it will be harder to go around things like outlets.

Go to small like 1x1 tiles and you'll have a harder time keeping it straight. I like to use 4x4, 6x6 or even 8x8 tiles. 

Now you need to know where to start. Start from a edge, either left or right. The first tile along the edge will be bull nose tile. These tiles will have  rounded edge to give it a nice finish look. So make sure you get these ahead of time. If you have those edges for your project. 

OK, you would hope and think that your counter top is nice and level right ? Not always so make sure you check it before anything.  

Now, you either use a thin set or what I always use is a pre-made mastic. This is more like a glue rather then a mortar.

Now lets go ahead and apply some mastic to a say about a 4 foot section. Only apply what you think you can cover in 10 minutes or less. You don't ever want your mastic or mortar to start drying up on you. Your tile will still hold, but not for long.

Now let's install some tile shall we. Place the tiles right on top of your counter top, or maybe you have a back splash attached to your counter top already. That's fine, go right on top of that then.  Now start placing more tile on top of the first row until you get to the top (bottom) of your cabinets. Now here you will have to start cutting them down. Either you can use a wet saw  or a dry saw. For back splash tiling I always like to use a wet saw. It's make those little cuts so much easier.

Keep those lines straight, always check with a level. All done, now pick out your grout and start grouting. Oh that's the easy part. If you just tiled your whole back splash this is nothing.

Like a over heard say once, when in doubt use grout, yea I just over heard, I don't go by that of course. But you can cover up the not so nice areas very good with grout.

Mix up some grout so it looks like peanut butter. With a grout float push it all over the tile, making sure you get all the caps and cracks. Use a BIG wet sponge and remove the access grout while shaping your grout lines.

You are not going to remove all the grout in one shot, you'll need to go over this few times. Some now, some in about a hour later. Once it had some time to dry up you'll be able to clean the face of the tile a little better.

Now you're the tile pro. Good luck.