DH has done tiling before with ceramic and tumbled marble. He used to be in construction so he's very handy. We want to do our kitchen backsplash some time in the next year or so, so I'm starting to look around and get ideas. So far I'm thinking white glass tiles, with a few grey and beige ones sprinkled in to tie in to the colours of the rest of the house, and maybe a thin horizontal strip of those amazing stainless steel ones.
Anyways we happened to be at the lumberyard together yesterday so I showed DH what I was thinking, and he said he heard that glass tiles were a bugger to work with. Why would that be? I really want something kind of shiny and clean looking. We are in an older home with newish white Ikea cabinets, and I want something to really make it modern and fresh.
TIA for any info. :) (on either the glass or stainless tiles)
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Mosiac is probably easier to use than larger scale (eg subway) tiles. We tried to work with glass subways, but cutting was the issue. Even with a decent wet saw, it was almost impossible not to chip either the front, which casts a shadow, or back, which allows mortar to show. Also, the wet saw tended to leave the edges looking almost sandblasted, which also "showed". Even when we got what looked like a good cut, when you held the tile as it would be on the wall, you got a really ripply shadow line because the cut was not perfect. Most of these things would be much less visible on smaller scale tiles, and also might not bother everyone. In the end, we couldn't get a cut we were happy with so we packed them up, took them back, and went with polished marble instead. If you go ahead, be sure to use white, sag-free mortar, and don't use the ridged side of the mortar trowel.
Wonderful, thanks for all the info, and the great pics! I will take a look for tumbled glass, sounds like a good compromise. I do believe we still have one of those tile nibblers and other various tools around from last time. :)
hey attached is a picture of the tumbled glass backsplash in our kitchen...
I used tumbles glass tiles for our kitchen with our white cabinets. the result was wonderful with a greyish grout. i will post some pics. it was a mosiac tile and it worked out beauitfully. very low maintenance because you didn't have to worry about the adhesive showing through. and the tunbled glass meant that you could justuse a tile nipper and if it got an irregular edge it was just part of the look of the tile. veryeasy to install too!
DBD is right... with larger tiles (like 4x4s or subway styles... or larger) you should use the flat side of the trowl for the adhesive. If you purchase your tile from a tile store, they'll advise you... just remember to ask!
I remember on a Design Inc. episode, she had to have all the tiles in a shower removed and replaced because you could see the adhesive lines because a slotted trowl was used... yikes!!
I have zero experience with glass tiles but have heard that with some (probably the larger ones or ones that are more transparent) you have to be careful to make sure the adhesive is even. With normal tiles you use the teeth of the trowel to spread it which means there are grooves. They won't show with normal tiles if there's a bit of a gap, but apparently can with some glass.
If you wanted to know more you might want to take a look at [url]http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/forumdisplay.php?f=11[/url] which is a forum specifically about tiling. There is lots of info there and you can ask questions which both DIYers and pros answer.
Hi BizzyMamma... it's been a while :)
We've worked with a lot glass tiles - mostly the 1x1s, but also with a 6x1 listello. Overall, we didn't find them difficult to work with. The challenge with glass tiles is cutting them... you need to have a good wet tile saw. Also, the little small ones can be tricky.
Here's the rub...
With a tumbled marble and, in most cases, ceremic tiles, you can take a file to your edge to clean it up. You can't file the glass except to flatten the side out (i.e., you can't smooth out a corner because you'll scratch the top of the tile). So... the trick with tile is to ensure that your cut edges sit into a corner... in other words, don't let a cut edge sit anywhere where they're visable.
In my opinion, these tiles aren't that bad to work with overall... you just need to plan out how you'll lay them.
And the results are wonderful!