Placing a 12" high backsplash in the kitchen. The tiles are 3" square on a mesh. The wall is painted. I will clean the wall with TSP and course sand afterwards. I do not want to put a backerboard as it is too thick. Is there anything else I should do in the prep?

Thanks guys.

I put my tiles right on the painted drywall. The mortar mixes they have now work great.

Good luck.

Yes, for small areas of normal tiles in a relatively dry area, like a kitchen backsplash, you can tile directly over the drywall, provided it's smooth and flat.

You'd only need to install cement backer board before tiling if it were a high moisture areas like around a tub in a bathroom, or if you were hanging heavier tiles like a large format tile or a stone veneer which the drywall wouldn't be strong enough to support. (Even then, you wouldn't screw cement board over top of the drywall. You'd cut out that section of drywall and attach cement board to the studs in its place.)

Use a very small V notch trowel. This dumb dumb here tried to use a 1/4 square notch trowel the first time. I had mortar pushing out between the tile sheets. It was a total mess.

Use Ceramic tile adhesive instead of thin-set.

You will be fine. I prefer fortified thinset. Seems to let the tiles stick a little better. Helps with small tiles on mesh where you don't use spacers so they don't slide and mess up your spacing.

You will probably need longer outlet/switch screws if your tiling around them.

I installed over fresh sheetrock using modified thinset and a vnotch trowel. It's held up perfectly since 2010

We've done a few kitchens over the years and on the most recent one we did a backspash with the same material as the counter. (quartz). It has been so much better than tile, especially behind the sink. No grout to get dirty and clean.

When we did that at a rental house, we used adhesive over drywall and it worked great.

Something like this:

Adhesive for tile backsplash

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
When we did that at a rental house, we used adhesive over drywall and it worked great.

Something like this:

Adhesive for tile backsplash

I just learned about this a few days ago while shopping for tile. Considering the two sided tape option for mine, but feel like I can't trust it.

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
When we did that at a rental house, we used adhesive over drywall and it worked great.

Something like this:

Adhesive for tile backsplash

I was very hesitant to use this very thing, BUT, it was so very easy to use, and is absolutely rock solid. We cleaned the wall, and attached the mat. then tiles placed and they have had zero movement for last 6 years.

ONLY downside, you need to be careful placing tiles, because you get basically one shot. once on, its on.

Set tile on lightly to make any small adjustment, I put spacers in as they stuck to mat before placing new tiles. Set tile, and once happy, press firmly... done. spacers remove easily.

Then grout.

Solid.

I will use again.

Interesting.

The reviews on that adhesive mat are hit-or-miss, with a number of folks complaining about their tiles sagging or falling off days/weeks after install. But that may be due to improper prep work, significantly uneven drywall, or trying to hang tiles that were too heavy over too large of an area. There's not telling with DIYers.

Still, I don't know that it would be any cheaper or easier for a novice to use than just using something like a tub of premixed thinset, and thinset is better able to compensate for stuff like an uneven backing. Tiling a kitchen backsplash ain't rocket science...

Our backsplash area was only about 10” x 5’, so it seemed less messy. I’ve been surprised, it has held up great.
Another factor in using it was time. We needed to get the job done quickly so place could be rented.

Perhaps it would be prudent to purchase a scrap piece of drywall, place it vertically out in the garage, and to prototype the proposed tile attachment method?

If you are tiling where electrical outlets are, you must space the boxes out from the drywall.

My contractor put tiles on drywall.