tileboard?

tom_matthews · #1 (**permalink**) 10-16-2006, 03:44 PM

I saw this product advertised in a magazine but have never seen it up close. It appears to be panels of "tile" (which I assume isn't real mortared tile). I was wondering if anybody has any experience using this stuff, and if I should bother seeking it out (neither my local Home Depot nor Lowe's carries it). I was thinking of using it as a backsplash.

How does it look? What's it made of? Is it easy to work with?

tom_matthews · #2 (**permalink**) 11-15-2006, 09:49 AM

found this stuff on a return trip to Lowe's, stacked with the paneling beneath the trim boards (in case anyone was searching in the kitchen/bath areas like me). Basically, it's fake plastic tile on some sort of fiberboard backing. cheap stuff, about $16 per 4x8' panel. Wouldn't use in a shower, as I can forsee a lot of water penetration around the seams that would cause problems with the backing board. But my purposes were for a kitchen backsplash, and I figure that as long as I caulk the seams well at the bottom (I'm also using a thin PVC trim strip at the bottom of the splash), then the tileboard should be an inexpensive, functional backsplash material to go in this inexpensive yet functional house.

If this idea sounds like a bad one to anyone, please pipe up and let me know why before I go through with it.

thanx

tom_matthews · #3 (**permalink**) 12-19-2006, 11:47 AM

okay, I feel like I'm dating myself on this thread because nobody's responding, but here's the latest. I used the tileboard. This was soooo very inexpensive. A 4x8 sheet of this stuff runs less than $20. The sheet is completely covered in a plastic laminate material that is designed to look like white porcelain tiles, complete with white (the whole sheet is monochrome) "grout lines." The faux tiles are roughly 4-1/2" square. I cut the sheet on a table saw along the "grout" lines, effectively giving me 8-foot-long 4.5"-high strips of "tile." I installed the strips with construction adhesive to the sheet rock, right along the rear of the countertop. It made a nice, neat, clean-looking backsplash throughout the kitchen. Where the backsplash meets the countertop I glued down a thin strip of PVC molding (smaller than quarter-round and with a small deco profile). Overall I'm very pleased with it, and would recommend it for anyone wanting to create a similar backsplash for cheap. The single sheet provided enough material to backsplash the entire kitchen, and I still had plenty left over. The white tile backsplash tied in well with our white cabinets, white/brown floor and white trim carpentry. I'll post pics of it soon.