How to Replace a Back Splash
- 1). Remove the old backsplash, using a hammer and flat bar to pry off and break out the tiles and mortar. Be careful not to damage the wall. Scrape the wall clean with a razor scraper, removing all residual mortar.
- 2). Mark out the dimensions of your backsplash on the wall, using a pencil, level and square. Make it in a size that will hold all full tiles with no cuts. It needs to be at least as big as the previous backsplash so you don't have to touch up the wall around the new backsplash.
- 3). Spread thin-set mortar over the marked-out area, using a notched trowel.
- 4). Set the bottom row of regular tiles into the thin-set. Put spaces between them as you hang them, as well as spacers below them, to separate them from the countertop.
- 5). Set the second row of regular tiles in place above the first. Repeat, working your way up the marked-out area row by row.
- 6). Spread thin-set onto the back of a bullnose, or trim, tile. Press it against the wall alongside the tiled area, so the finished edge of the bullnose tile faces out from the backsplash and the unfinished edge runs next to the regular tile. Put two tile spacers between the bullnose tile and the regular tile as you hang them.
- 7). Install the remaining bullnose tiles in the same way, going around the entire edge of the backsplash.
- 8). Let the tiles set overnight. Pull out the spacers.
- 9). Use a rubber grout trowel to spread grout over the backsplash, pressing it into the spaces between the tiles. Let the grout set for 24 to 48 hours. Run a bead of caulk where the bottom row of tiles meets the countertop.
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