White Carrara Mini-Brick Marble Mosaic Back Splash

We did a White Carrara mini brick marble mosaic backsplash installation in Wesley Chapel, Florida and wanted to talk about it. The best way to do that was to write a blog about it on my website. They contacted me asking if I could give them an estimate to install a kitchen backs splash. They just redid their kitchen with new white cabinets and granite counter tops so we talked about what they had in mind. They wanted to go with something white, so I told them about white glass tile or a white 3×6 subway tile. I emailed them some pictures of similar installs we did. They liked the look of them but it wasn’t what they wanted. I then told them about Thassos white and White Carrara aka Bianco Carrara in Hexagon, Rhomboid & Mini Brick marble tile. Right off the bat they really liked the mini brick style and thought it would go great with the new kitchen style.

I sent them to one of the tile showrooms we use and they were able to find a very nice colored White Carrara mini brick they had in stock. While there they also selected a white grout and a penetrating sealer. The tile was in stock so they told me to proceed with the job when I could schedule it. I placed the order for all of the material for their project and picked it up the day I started the project. I had also purchased some Laticrete 4XLT thinset, which is a non-sag mortar and great to put up mosaic sheet like these. When I got to the job the new cabinets were already installed and granite counters were in. We had told them to leave off the 4″ granite splash so we could run the tile down onto the counter, which they did. I went though all of the boxes to make sure the tile was perfect, good sheets, not chipped and consistent in color. I had my helper stack them in piles and then cover the granite counters with our canvas drop clothes prior to working on them.

I then looked at the backsplash and decided what would look best and then planned the layout. I decided that starting the tile from the tall window corners would be best. The tile is mounted on sheets and I could make the corners look good by over lapping the outside edge. This would create a nice looking corner at the large window opening which is a focal point of the kitchen. The sheets fit perfectly into each other as I worked outward from the window setting the tile. The size of the tile was perfect to start with a full tile on the bottom row at the granite and hit with a full tile up under the cabinet. Using the non-sag thinset really helped hold the sheet mosaic up on the walls without having them slide. It took us one long day to install all of the tile on the back splash. We finished setting the tile, checked to make sure the outlet plates covered the tile cuts and allowed the thinset to dry over night. The next morning we got there and the thinset was set up good. We sponged down the tile, cleaned the counters of dust, made sure outlets were covered with tape and prepped to grout.

I bought a few bags of grout since I knew the many amount of joints would eat up a lot of grout. We used and unsanded white grout since the joints were just at 1/8″. The grout went on really easy with the polished Carrara marble. We let the grout sit up for a little bit and started to wash the wall down. The grout came off the smooth tile fairly easy since the tile was polished and the grout was unsanded. We made sure not to use too much water in our wash as to not wash out the grout joints and make them low. After the first wash set a while we went back over the whole backsplash and wiped it again to take off the grout haze. We then screwed back in the outlets and re installed the outlet covers. Once that was done we caulked all the corners with a matching white caulk and gave it one final wash to make perfect. Right as we got done the owners got back and they were so happy with the finished product she started to put things back on the counter and take pictures to show her friends. 🙂

Here are picture of this installation and the last 3 are from the owner.

Also a note from the owner…..

“After several months use, we continue to love our kitchen and have had many compliments about how stylish it looks. we’ll be sure to recommend you.”