Kathryn Weber

Installing a New Kitchen Backsplash

Besides adding some personality to your kitchen, adding a new kitchen backsplash is easy on the budget and quick to complete

If you're itching to do a renovation around the house but don't want to blow a month of weekends or thousands of dollars, then a new kitchen backsplash just might be the project for. Besides adding some personality to your kitchen, adding a new backsplash will give you some instant DIY gratification.

It's important to decide on the style and materials you want for your new kitchen backsplash, because that's your starting point for determining how fast and easy the project will be. Before you head out to the home center to look at all the kitchen backsplash options, take some time to do a little web surfing. Perusing decorating websites will help you get a sense of the range of options out there, and give you an idea how much time and expense those options entail. Two sites with helpful pages on backsplash tile are HGTV.com and Better Homes & Gardens (www.bhg.com).

Keep function in mind

Even though adding a kitchen backsplash is a wonderful DIY project, you'll soon be regretting it if you don't pay heed to practical matters such as whether the backsplash can be cleaned easily. Look for surfaces that allow fast and easy cleanup, especially if you're adding a backsplash behind the stove. Grease splatters are next to impossible to remove from porous surfaces such as unpolished marble or tile.

Some of the easiest surfaces to clean are sealed tile, glass tile and stainless steel. Metal ceiling tiles with pressed designs have also gained notice for their ease of installation, low cost and quick cleanup.

Planning is key to smooth kitchen backsplash installation

Once you've decided on a style that you like and that will clean easily, you'll need to get the right tools to make the installation go quickly. For example, if you're installing a bead board paneled backsplash, you'll need a jig saw to cut out the wall outlet openings. In other words, make sure that, in addition to the backsplash materials, your shopping list includes all the special tools you will need.

One of the easiest and fastest kitchen backsplash materials to install is stainless steel, which is cut at the sheet metal shop and installed with construction adhesive. You'll need to make a template first from cardboard or heavy craft paper. Another quick installation that packs a big design punch is mosaic tile. These small tiles come in sheets that can easily be cut with construction scissors. The smaller the tile, the more likely you won't need to make cuts with anything more than a pair of tile nippers. Just bear in mind that if you use glass tile on your backsplash, you'll need to use unsanded grout to keep from scratching the surface of the tiles.

If you're unsure about your abilities at home improvement, that's all the more reason to renovate your kitchen with a new backsplash. Given its relatively light impact on both your time and budget, not to mention that there's no great need for expertise to do the job, it's a good way to get your feet wet.

 

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Installing a New Kitchen Backsplash - DIY Projects

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