Kitchen · DIY guide
How to install a tiled splashback
A splashback is a good first tiling job: it is small, vertical, at eye height and does not need waterproofing the way a shower does. What it does need is careful setting out, because every mistake is at eye level for the next fifteen years.
Tiling is legal to DIY — the electrical work around it is not
What you need
- Tiles plus 10–15% for cuts and breakages
- Notched trowel, tile adhesive suited to the substrate
- Tile cutter or wet saw, and a hole saw for power points
- Spacers, spirit level, straight batten, pencil
- Grout, float, sponges, silicone for the benchtop junction
Step by step
Set out from the most visible line
Do not start from the benchtop and work up — benchtops are rarely dead level. Find your most visible horizontal (usually the underside of the overhead cabinets), and set out so you get a full tile there and the cut at the bench, hidden behind the silicone line.
Screw a temporary batten as your first course
Level a straight batten across the wall and rest your first row on it. This stops the whole job creeping downhill. Remove it and cut the bottom row in last.
Plan the cuts around power points before you spread any adhesive
Dry-lay the run on the floor and mark where the power points land. Try to avoid a cut that leaves a sliver less than a third of a tile wide — shift your starting point instead.
Spread small sections and comb properly
Cover about half a square metre at a time. Comb the adhesive in one direction with the notched trowel and press each tile in with a slight twist. Check with the level every few tiles.
Cut around the outlets with a hole saw or nibblers
Turn the power off at the switchboard while you work near outlets. Faceplates cover a few millimetres of tolerance so the cut does not need to be perfect, but it does need to clear the mounting block.
Grout and silicone the junction
Grout after the adhesive has cured for at least 24 hours. The joint between the splashback and the benchtop must be silicone, not grout — it is a movement joint.
Common mistakes
- Starting from an unlevel benchtop
- Not dry-laying to plan cuts around power points
- Grouting the benchtop junction instead of siliconing it
- Combing the adhesive in circles instead of one direction
- Tiling right up to a cooktop without checking the required clearance
When to stop and call someone
Moving, adding or re-fitting power points is licensed electrical work in Victoria — no exceptions, and no DIY allowance. If tiling changes the depth around an outlet, the electrician needs to reset it. Behind a gas cooktop there are also clearance requirements to a combustible surface.