I was pretty set on wanting a brick backsplash. Just something about the warmth and coziness of brick. Something I needed in our new life here in Kentucky.

As everyone does, I searched and researched what kind of brick to use and how to adhere the stuff.

This is what I went with. Home Depot’s Old Chicago Brick. It was reasonably priced. I liked that each brick was a little different and looked old and “real”, though it really is brick, just that it’s much thinner.

I used Loctite Power Grab Heavy Duty Construction Adhesive used in a caulking gun. It worked great! I was able to push on the brick for only a few seconds and it held firm every time.

For spacing I used a 1/2” dowel rod. But let me assure you, about 5 rows into it, you end up just using your eye. After all, I wanted it to look like it had been there forever.

Cutting the bricks wasn’t too terribly difficult. If you score then, then snap them, most broke perfectly. There were a couple of tough ones and a little frustration but all in all, it worked. We used a saw to score deeper on some and that worked as well. A tile cutter didn’t work for us on these bricks.

Here’s a picture of the first few rows that i completed.

My only problem with putting the bricks on the wall was completely my fault. I thought I would be so smart to wait until the countertop had been installed before putting the bricks on. Bad idea. Duh, how was I supposed to get the top bricks on??? You can’t stand on marble! The ladder, no matter which one I tried, wouldn’t get me to those upper corners. Holy cow, was it a challenge and one I wish I had a picture of. I used one of those old people (yikes, I AM an old person!_ grab tools. The ones that you can stand and pick something up, say, off the floor. How the hell I managed to get those bricks up still amazes me, but I did it. So my suggestion would be if you have laminate countertops, use those as your way to get any sort of tile beyond your reach with a ladder! I suppose laminate could give way or crack, but I’ve climbed on them many years ago and they were fine.

Next….grouting. I tried three different grouts and mortar. My problem was even using regular mortar with a grout bag, it wasn’t adhering, so the damned stuff was falling off. It was the consistency and look and feel of just wet sand. I struggled a lot. But by the time I thought to myself “gee, Susan, move on to something else”, well, I already had dried mortar. I was stuck. So I continued with the mortar. Don’t! I couldn’t trowel it on because it would have left a finish on the bricks that wasn’t what I desired. I did use something different when I put the brick over existing ugly tiles on our fireplace. But that’s a different post!

Bottom line here. I’m not young and I was able to do the entire kitchen by myself. It took me 9 days to finish it. i love the look and it does give me that cozy, warm feeing every time I walk in to the kitchen.