Get a Custom Made Tin Backsplash Installed
Many homeowners looking to redecorate their kitchens find cookie-cutter ceramic back splashes to be passé, and granite—while it is impressive looking—can be cost-prohibitive, and in any case is overdone. A hand-painted steel backsplash is a one-of-a-kind addition that can turn your kitchen into a work of art. Nearly anyone can find a pattern and paint finish that complements their kitchen. For the more adventurous, installing your own backsplash can be a challenging and fulfilling do-it-yourself project which, though it requires careful planning, needs no specialized tools beyond a hammer, tin snips, and Liquid Nails adhesive.
Contents
Steps
Planning your backsplash
- Look at your kitchen as a whole in order to decide on a style that complements your entire kitchen. Look at the period of your home's style, the colors you prefer, etc. Architectural metal pattern are strongly associated with the art movements of the era in which they were popular, and, for example, you don't want to put an Art Deco-style backsplash in a Victorian home. An expert in design should be able to recognize these things and advise you.
- Measure the area you need to cover. Typically pressed metal is sold in 2'x4' sheets, so as long as the height of your cabinets is less than 24" above your countertop, one sheet high will be enough to install. Measure the linear feet you need to cover and divide by 4', rounding up, to calculate the number of sheets you will need.
- Know that most kitchens have only a small area (for example, above the stove top) where the backsplash needs to extend more than 24" high. Measure the linear feet of any areas like this and divide by 4'. Add this number to the number you calculated in the last step. Next, you will need to decide on a pattern and a paint finish style.
Buying professionally painted metal vs. doing it yourself
- Order the metal from your preferred manufacturer. If you are feeling especially adventurous, you may want to order unfinished sheets and try faux finishing them yourself.
- Someone who is experienced at painting pressed metal will start by cleaning the metal with Acrylic-Clean wax and grease remover and a detail cloth to remove any dust or particles. They will prime it with an epoxy-based two part primer and apply a base coat of automotive urethane paint, which usually is not available to the general public. However, you may be able to score some from your local auto body shop. Any shortcuts or failure to do each of these processes to the T will result in paint failure and quite likely rust. Powder-coated metal will not work, despite companies selling it for this purpose — the powder coat will eventually chip, and cannot be repaired.
- Most any color you choose can matched for a custom surcharge. Metal can be faux finished in a number of ways, and some experienced painters can give your backsplash a true metal coating with a real patina for a breathtaking effect. The essence of faux finishing is light brush strokes, usually several different, but similar colors, applied over a base tone. A "golds" finish, for example includes proportions of metallic gold, metallic bronze, and gloss black paints lightly brushed over the base color. Patinas, on the other hand, give a true distressed metal effect by first painting the steel with a primer coat to protect it, then coating it with a metallic paint - usually copper, bronze, or iron. Various acids are then sprayed or brushed onto the paint and allowed to corrode it for a set length of time before a final clear coat is applied to stabilize the piece and prevent the patinas from damaging the integrity of the metal.
Getting it installed (or doing it yourself)
- You can hire a contractor. The problem with this is that there are very few that have ever touched this material, much less used it, and the time and labor it takes for someone to fully understand this product can often times end up being more costly than hiring specialty companies like Custom Tin Works.
- You can do it yourself. Here's what Tom Silva of This Old House said about working with these materials: In my opinion, you look for somebody to do it for you. Or else you look for Band-Aids — tin is very sharp and you're definitely going to get a lot of little cuts. That aside, the hardest part about it is the layout. You've got to be so careful, because if the details of your layout are off, the whole project won't work out right. If, however, you decide to go this route, you will need a high resiliency adhesive, specialty nails, a good set of tin snips, and a drill with a 15/16" bit for metal, in addition to the usual tools: tape measure, hammer, etc. Contact an experienced installer for the details.
Warnings
- Make sure that the metal you are buying is stainless steel, tin or steel - not aluminum, thermoplastic, or some other cheaper knockoff. Aluminum sheets are more liable to chip, bend or dent. The thermoplastic patterns made by Armstrong are too soft to take intricate brush painting well, and more importantly, they are a serious fire hazard - not something you want to install right behind a stove.
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