Do it Yourself [DIY] Backsplash Secret Techhniques

A tile backsplash is one of the quickest easiest ways to improve your kitchen without spending an arm and a leg to get it done. There are certain pointers and techniques that I've learned over 30+ years of tile installation that will make the job more manageable.

The first consideration is the tile you pick out;  it makes all the difference in the world. Remember a kitchen backsplash is a "right in your face" kind of tile installation . You will see it many times each day and it's the first thing seen by anyone who ever goes into your kitchen, Make sure you pick out a tile that  compliments your  décor. If you plan on doing the [DIY] tile yourself it's probably a good idea to keep it simple.

There are some extraordinary glass tiles available at Home Depot or Lowes for great prices or online.  Be aware If you shop at a tile store the designers there tend to market/push more intricate tiles and more complicated iinstallation designs. As you add to the intricacy of the design then you also add to the complication of the installation. Subway tile is about the easiest installation out there and some pencil strips of color  all along on top of a  row of tile is a nice simple custom installation yet still uncomplicated. 4 inch by 4 inch tile in squares with some deco tiles added in also is a non complicated colorful installation. Each of these tile installations require no spacers because they are self spacing tile and use unsanded  grout. Glass mosaic tile has some complications in cutting the material and it would be advantageous to pick out a glass tile that will require at least cutting as possible. 1/2 inch squares or 1 inch squares usually fall close enough to corners and under cabinets that little cutting is necessary . When installing a backsplash I would recommend using Thinset concrete and not a adhesive because of clean up and grouting issues. Just remember thin set is concrete and  ALWAYS wash it off your tile before it dries or tomorrow you will need a chisel.

There  is a secret I am about to share with you now about glass tile installation that makes all the difference in the world because of the nature of the material. Some glass tile is transparent and you can see right through it. Other types of glass tile are  very,  very thin and it is impossible to thinset the tile to the wall without getting thinset in all the joints of the

and hampering grout coverage.

The info I am about to give you I have NEVER shared publicly before and Is a method I figured out on my own some years ago.  When installing glass tile I always  use unsanded grout  and I get a shade darker grout than what I want as a finished color. NOW here it is:

Using white thinset mix the grout color into your thinset and color your thinset to your grout color the ratio would be about 2 parts thinset to 1 part grout .

You could also do this with acrylic paint coloring your thinset to the desired grout color. Then your transparent tile shows behind the tile and any thinset bleeding through the joints  with thin tile will cover with grout. I've been installing glass tile in this manner for many years and have had great success as you can see below .

Marble Mosaic Picture Framed Backsplash

6”by 6” Tile Picture Frame | Hand Cut 3” dots

Pencil Trim Marble Picture Around Marble Mosaic

Glass Subway Tile with Diamond Design

Flower Marble Backsplash Behind Stove

Glass and Marble Tile Backsplash

4 by 4 Tile with Glass Tile Mosaic Tile

Custom Glass Tile Countertops with Colored Thinset Rainbow Glass Mosaic Tile

Flower Design Marble Tile Backsplash

3 ft by 6 inch Tile with Design Strip Custom Backsplash

Teardrop Glass Tile  Cut at Every Straight Edge

Glass Tile Fireplace With Colored Thinset Used to Grout this 90 sq ft of Tile Glass Tile Fireplace With Colored Thinset Used to Grout this 90 sq ft of Tile Glass Tile Centered Backsplash with Travertine Border Glass and Travertine with Marble Pencil Border with 45 Degree Angle Cut

Mother of Pearl Glass Backsplash

Rainbow Multi-Color 1” Glass Mosaic Tile

I hope this info on backsplashes has been helpful to you and as always I'm here to field any questions you have to help you out   thanks  Chris

Glass Mosaic Back Splash Installed $300.00 From Tile Excellence

Hey There,

I've written a few times about backsplashes  with examples , pictures and timelines this particular job was in Wakefield mass  last Friday. The customer had gotten several quotes

from $500 to $700 and timeframes from 2 to 3 days. I arrived at 8:30 am and was driving away

by 1 :00 pm  and charged the really happy customer $300. He was so happy  he has since referred

me 2 other jobs over the weekend. I offer this info price and timeline to my readers for education

purposes so will have the info you need to hire the right backsplash installer in your own home!

There are hundreds yea  thousands of readers out here who come to this blog  to see pictures, learn

about tile installations,  but most important  how not to be taken to the cleaners by a" LINED IN

GOLD" tile installers. Most of my Blog readers are not in the Boston area  and I wont get any jobs

from sharing  this inside info. Its just important to make sure hard working consumers can come

here from all over the world and get the info they need to make educated choices when it comes

to tile installations in their home. Below are the pictures of the backsplash installed in Wakefield

A high quality, long lasting ,timely installation at a reasonable price .Thanks for reading Chris



question from blog reader

Hi Chris
I came across your blog doing a search for how to do a shower pan. Im in Lynnfield MA. I have just gutted my small master bath and am going to re-do it little by little to save some cash. I've done a ton of remodeling over the years but that shower pan scares me. It's a 2nd floor bath so I want to get it right. Any interest in just doing to pan prep? I had a tile guy lined up already based on me doing the pan but if you want to quote the tile work too I'd be happy to hear the cost. Let me know what you think. Thanks!

Responce

Sure i do pan prep all the time if you want to give me a call tomarrow we can see if our schedules can fit. I can gladly walk u through your installation if you want to do it yourself as well as quote a installation for you regards chris 978 471 9127

The Ethical revolution of this new economy and why we all have to become patriots

Today here in America things have changed so much in the last to 30 years. Its like a whole new planet from then to now. It used to be banks were servants and protectors of your money,Now they are just thieves and hustlers,with some banks charging hardworking Americans $9 just to cash a check written on that very bank! As well they take your deposited money loan your money at 18% interest and pay you .025% in return.Big taxpayer bailouts on their bad investments just prove our own government is part of the scam in helping them rip off the American people. Those are the banks.

What about the insurance companies? What about the hurricane Katrina disaster, thousands of poor hard working home owners paid big ins co millions and millions  of $ over many years with relatively  few claims. Then when the shit hits the fan very few claims were paid to those folks and the government didn't push the issue because corporate profit was of much more value than the actual people.

Oh and cant forget big oil!! The American economy is systematically being raped economically by huge corporations and I could go on and on with example after example ,We all know the story  we live it every day Ins co run our health system our housing

and banking system man you cant even own a home or a car without paying your tribute to the insurance co!!all dictated to you by state and federal Government!!

Its time for a ethical revolution and a NEW DEAL like after the depression. We have to refuse to do business with any unethical persons or company's and FLEX OUR CONSUMER MUSCLE and refuse to give our hard earned money to those who don't do good things. That's why I started this blog in the first place I wanted hard working people to learn what a ethical caring tile mason really was; So many people in my industry had priced tile and bathroom remodeling right out of the reach of the common man. The general consensus was tile was to expensive for me to afford,Ive heard it hundreds of times.By sharing my 35+ years of knowledge to those who are paying attention Ive shown thousands of people now that they can afford a quality tile job Or i will tell them how to do it themselves!I say we as fed up Americans, Us who are tired of getting ripped off every where we turn  . Have the power to change this course were on  by changing who we give our money to. We have the economic power to force the ethical behavior of those we do business with.Demand fair business practices or take your business elsewhere look for the do gooders people who give back.Help and deal with ONLY THOSE  who help others don't give your money anywhere that doesn't give some percentage of it to a good cause.Help those to help others, most of all we can work together to kill corporate greed companies that Only focus on profits.

Over 10,000 reads on the blog now from over 30 or so countries. Diana and I are proud to focus our web sites and blogs on doing good for others and hoping everyone will pass on the same to all those they encounter.We could all make a big difference together by at least demanding the same from those we give our hard earned money to.Become a ethical patriot and recruit everyone with the heart for the task, LETS CHANGE OUR PATH and bring our country back to the good and demand the same from our government and those we do business with

regards   Chris Lawson

Thanks for coments and questions about custom tile installations from around the world

 I want to take this opportunity to thank all of you out there for your questions and coments making what I do that much more enjoyable and challenging
Its a honor to answer questions and help those out there make educated and well informed
choices when it comes to renovating and improving thier homes. And I want to send out a huge THANKs to our international readers,My web master informs me we have a huge international following from all over the world. Russia,Australia.France,Germany, Brazil, just to name a few.
This blog Is being translated into many languages and we are recieving lots of international readers.
So keep the questions and coments comming  And THANKS SO MUCH I will do all I can to continue to produce quality custom work here in Boston as well as answer any questions for our followers here on the blog.And as always I am always available for inquiries about do it yourself installations . regards   chris lawson

ceramic tile repairs floor tile replacment and shower regrouts

Tile repairs are a very specialized service and its hard to get tile contractors interested in small sometimes difficult detailed repairs.The trick to these repairs are to remove and replace the cracked or broken materials without it being obvious its been repaired.To complete these repairs and it not look like a after thought is  a very
tricky undertaking.The first step is to remove the grout around the targeted tile so as not to disturb the tiles around it that will not be removed.Grout binds together tiles and gives it solidity and if not removed then action against one tile can effect others if the grout is not removed first.Alot of times it takes a hammer and a chisel to remove tiles and if the grout is not removed first then the impact can break surrounding tiles around the tile being removed.
   After the grout is removed  then the tile to be replaced can be broken from the middle out in pieces and removed carefully using the hammer and chisel a little at a time or all at once if the tile is not bonded very well. If it is bonded strongly  then a little at a time is the only way to remove it.After the tile is removed  then the task of chipping of the thin set or adhesive is the next step and can be very difficult and time consuming as well as very messy and create alot of dust.Again the hammer and chisel will be your best bet unless you have a electric alternative such as a way to sand or chip away at the concrete left stuck under the tile on the wall or floor.Once you've removed all the adhesive,you can re adhere your replacement tile back in place of the one you've removed, wait some time for it to dry and then re grout the repaired area with the same color grout as the rest of the area around the repair.
   Shower re grouts are in some ways much easier because you don't have to worry about breaking tiles from removal. But scraping and cleaning of the grout and old caulk can be very patients testing. Any loose grout or caulk has to be removed completely before  the new can be applied.The trick to these repairs is getting the new grout to adhere to the old grout.This is generally accomplished by removing enough grout from the area so the new grout has room to stay.Generally you need a 1/8 of a inch of new grout on top of old for it to adhere and not flake out later.Repairs are in some ways much harder than standard installations and in many cases you should get a professional to come out and implement the repair if possible.If you cant seem to gather any interest from any tile guys to do your repair  I will be glad to assist you in any way I can  just give me a call and Ill gladly walk you  through it right over the phone Chris Lawson owner operator tile excellence inc   978-471-9127

Tile Installation- Time Vs. Price

Hello,

First of all, let me apologize. I'm new to all this technology stuff, but I guess my "Welcome to Our Blog" post was supposed to come before I shared stories. However, I thought the following information might be helpful, and save some people some money, so it took priority. I'll try and post the first entry, but we'll see. Hang in there with me folks!

So, onto the information I wanted to share. I wanted to share some insight with people out there that need tile work done. Unfortunately, many people within the industry are out to get as much as they can for installation jobs. One of the most common ways to increase the charges for the installation is to drag the job out. Here's a good example I recently came across.

I recently installed a kitchen backsplash where the customer had gotten several estimates and done his research. Quotes were anywhere from $500-$750.00. Time frames varied from 2-4 days. As soon as I talked to him on the phone, I knew this was an installation that would take me a matter of hours. So, I priced the installation accordingly, which happened to be considerably lower than the above mentioned estimates because I knew through my 30+ years experience, that the job would take only half a day-and it would be flawless.

After our phone conversation, the potential customer checked out pictures of my work and references on my website, http://www.tileexcellence.com/  and quickly  scheduled the job. The bottom line here is, there are installers out there who will drag out the job to justify the price or are too inexperienced to do the job in a reasonable time frame, thus charging more. To save yourself from this situation, be sure to get three or more quotes for any installation and get references.  Check out their work if you can.

Tile Excellence, Inc. did the job in about 1/2 a day, and it costs the customer only $350.00 in labor. To see this project, before and after, and/or to see what Scott from Wakefield had to say about his new backsplash and the quality of the work, click here to visit our customer testimonial page.

Next blog post, I'll talk about hardyboard vs. durock. Stay tuned, and send me your questions or share your experience. Thanks.

-Chris
Owner, Operator
Tile Excellence, Inc.
Gloucester, MA
http://www.tileexcellence.com/
tile_excellence@yahoo.com
(978) 471-9127