DIY Backsplash Tips and Tricks

Hey guys! If you are looking to replace the backsplash in your kitchen I recommend starting with Removing Tile and Repairing Drywall to catch up. I did not do sufficient research with that step and created a little more work for myself. If you are one of the lucky ones starting with a blank wall, do a quick happy dance now💃💃💃 .

First of all I have NEVER tiled before in my life. I was a little intimidated for a couple reasons. First, the tile saw has an open blade and I am extremely accident prone. Second, I was worried about moving fast enough before the mortar set. The combination of me trying to move fast with an open blade kept giving me nightmares of missing fingers or crooked tile. Rest assured I have all 10 fingers and my tile is level as can be!

Yet again, I have to thank Ralph at Home Depot for encouraging me. I went into the store with full intentions of buying peal and stick grout. He talked me into the regular mortar and I am really grateful he did. I honestly think it is more forgiving AND is definitely more cost effective!

Lets dig in!

Supplies

• Mortar (Mastic)
• Tile Sponge
• Tile float
• Notch Trowel (use what is recommended for your tile)
• Tile
• Tile saw
• 6″ puddy knife
• 2″ puddy knife
• Utility knife
• Grout spacers
• Painters tape
• Mud pan
• small level

BEFORE Beginning

Finding a tile both my husband and I agreed on was the first challenge. We finally landed on these tile from Lowes. I loved these tile and they were very affordable compared to other options. They came on a mesh sheet which made installation easy.

Before I started I went through all of the boxes and realized many of them were cracked or had variations I didn’t like. I did end up needing to make a second trip to exchange some. I would recommend if you plan to do this purchasing waaaay more than you need, or going through the boxes in store.

Choosing Where to Start

I decided to start in the corner and work my way out. I figured it was the best place to make mistakes since its tucked way back in there. I measured the section of the wall between the corner and the sink. Then I laid out enough tile to cover that section. I played with them until I liked the variation I was seeing. Once I had them the way I wanted I numbered them in the order I would place them with painters tape.

I stacked them up into two piles, one for each row. I didn’t use all of the top sheet, but I kept those tile for above the stove. Like most homes not everything in our house is perfectly level. I held one sheet up along the entire section to see where I would want the top of my tile to land. The edge against the counter is forgiving with caulk so I wanted to ensure enough room all along. Once I had figured the distance out I used a level to create a line of reference to start, you can see this below. I really only used this for my first few tiles. After that I used my small level to continually check my tiles for levelness. Since my tile were linear it made it really easy to check.

Mixing Mortar and Using Mortar

I filled my mud pan about half full. I had premixed mortar, but I had read to add water until it was more of a peanut butter consistency. That did seam to help, and using my mud pan made it easier to work in sections without feeling rushed.

To accommodate the outlet I cut out the section of tile that would be impacted by the outlet. I used a back butter method to put it on the wall. What that basically means is just like buttering a piece of bread I put the mortar on the back of the tile instead of the wall. Then I used my notch trowel to scrape of the excess.

Note: if you back butter a lot, which I did, your mortar may ooze through your grout lines. If you plan to have dark grout you may want tinted mortar or try not to use this method. My grout was white so it matched my mortar when dry.

On the less tricky spots I just spread the mortar right on the wall and used my notched trowel to scrape off the excess. I was really worried about the mortar setting before I could place tiles, but it takes a long to for it to set. Plus if it starts to set you can just scrape it right off and put new on. All the YouTube videos I watched made a big deal out of that, and I am not sure why. 🤷‍♀️

Measuring and Cutting Tile

My very first tile sheet was nestled between that corner and outlet. I ended up cutting the right side first to make it square. You can see in the image below I marked that line with a piece of painters tape.

Then I just flipped it over and cut along the tape with the tile saw. This made my first cut super easy. I learned quickly with the saw to keep the water full and take my time. It really more grinds the tile than cuts it. A few times I forced it and cracked my tile.

So the next part was one of my trickiest cuts. I needed to cut the outlet out of that section, but keep the staggered edges on the left correct for the next matte of tile. This particular tile was tricky that way, because the spacing and size of each tile was not consistent. It did make it advantageous to hide certain areas tho.

You can see from the image below how I needed to fill around the outlet. At this point I found it helpful to put the next sheet of tile up, and then fill in around the outlet.

I popped the individual Tiles off of the mesh to make these cuts. That was something I learned somewhat on accident, because the tile got wet using the tile saw. Once that backing is wet you can easily pull tile off if needed for cuts. A couple times something was wrong with one tile, then I would just pop that one out and replace it with one that was the same size.

As I was going a long I learned a few tricks getting around the outlets that made it much easier. You can see in the images below I would trace the outlet on the back of the tile.

Then I used my utility knife to cut them apart to allow for cuts on the saw. I was really fortunate the top and bottom of my outlets landed on a grout line. This way I only need to make two vertical cuts on the tiles, then slice with my utility knife to remove that section.

In the individual sections I did the bottom row first consistently checking for levelness. Occasionally some of them would slide down, but I was surprised at how easily I could push them back in place for quite some time.

That is actually why I am so happy I did traditional mortar verses the sheets. Once you push tile onto the sheets you can’t move them around. When you are working in such close quarters your perspective gets skewed. I would take a step back every couple of sections. There were a few times something had gone really wonky. I was grateful I could nudge them back in place. A few of them were really stubborn, especially if I removed them from the mat to cut them. I used painters tape to keep those ones in place.

Here is a sneak peak of the finished Kitchen. The next post in the series will be all about Spraying these cabinets.