If subway tiles are cool, then glass mini-bricks are super-cool! Today, I was installing them on a backsplash in an older home in Eastwood Neighbors.
After prepping the drywall a little, I marked my layout. I was trying to stretch the tile as far as possible, because the homeowner only had a limited amount and we weren’t sure where to get more to match. That’s fine, I had just enough to do it all.
Prepwork is very important to laying tile. For a backspash, drywall is typically a suitable surface because of the limited exposure to water, unlike a shower surround where you’d want some kind of cement board under the tile because it’s less affected by the moisture.
Working with the glass tiles is not that different from other smaller mosaics. A wet saw works well, just cut slowly to try not to chip the tiles and leave a straight edge. My trick for cutting a sheet of tiles worked with glass too. (Read this post for that technique.)
The countertops haven’t been installed yet, so I marked a level line on the wall where the tile should start. I attached a support along this line to hold the first rows of tile, a ripped 2×4 worked great. This ensures that I start off level as well, very important if I want this to look good!
I removed the tiles from the sheet where outlets would interfere and then put cut pieces in afterward. I like to hold them in place with blue painters tape as you see in the pictures.
The effect of having several sheets of these small 1″ x 2″ tiles is stunning. I might have to find some of these for my kitchen…
-Peter
