I am putting up a ceramic tile kitchen backsplash in my son’s

kitchen. His wall is currently painted sheet-rock; with part of the counter-top

coming up the wall, and the tile backsplash will end under a window-frame.

It is an exterior wall. I need to build a small wooden frame, primarily to take up space; there will be a half-round tile sticking out on the top of the counter top vertical with the wood frame, then a grout line, then one 4” square tile, then some grout, then the wooden frame, and finally the window frame……I was wondering about the following:

1. Should I use:

A. Thin-set?

B. Wall-grade mastic?

C. Adhesive caulking – what kind?

D. Glue—what kind?

E. Or what else?

The half-round only has a small surface area which will be in contact with the wall, and I was wondering if there was some space-age material which would stick the tile to the painted sheetrock and would dry quickly….which material should I use?

2. For the “grout”, should I use a:

A. Sand grout?

B. Sandless grout?

C. Silicone caulking?

I need the spacing to be ¼” and was going to use those little spacers to do so; since it is an exterior wall, I was thinking, why not use silicone caulking instead of either type of grout? If is a bit flexible, is washable, easy to use….

3. The bottom half-round tiles; is it possible to glue them end to end together in a long row? If so, which adhesive would I use?

A. Duco cement?

B. Clear silicone caulking?

C. What?

4. The frame will be made from curly maple which has been lightly stained to pop the curl, then coated with many coats of poly for protection.

Any help would be great! Please email, PM, or post…

Thanks,

Phil