I want to put up a tumbled marble backslash in our kitchen and accent areas of it with glass tile. However the glass tile I like is not as thick as the marble tile. We also want to put up a solid sheet of stainless steel (with some pattern on it) behind the cooktop. Again, it isn't as thick as the marble either. How do I account for the difference in depth when installing these items?

Thanks.

How big are the glass tiles? Cant help you on the stainless.

Glass tiles are 2"x2" tiles with a 5/16" depth.I'm also considering us the 12" x 12" sheet of glass tiles, meshed on back, where each sheet contains 1"x1" tiles on it, 5/16" thick.
Also, I asked you on an earlier post if it was okay to put tile up on blue board, since we've got blue board already up for the plastering. You'd indicated we could. However, should we ask the plasterer to not plaster the areas we plan to tile, so that we tile directly onto the blue board, or would plastering, then tiling, be okay? Does it matter? The plaster finish we're getting is skip trowel. Thanks.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: slc2053,

instal your thicker marble tiles 1st, when u get to the point where u want the thiner glass tiles skip them, measure how tall they are and add for yor grout joint on top and bottom, then instal a ledger board that distance above your last row of tiles. continue instaling your thicker tiles up to the upper cabnits. let that dry over night then remove the ledger board.

now u will need a board, a peice of 1/2 inch plywood cut to 2" wide. then cut the legnth to 2" longer then your opening. measure the depth of the marble to your sheetrock, lets say its a half inch, and measure the thickness of your glass tiles, say they are 1/4 inch thick and add an 1/8 inch for thinset so your total will be 3/8 inches thick. so if you set the glass tiles now they will be set in 1/8 of an inch deeper then the marble. so, take the plywood and cut 3/8 inch deep notches on both ends of the plywood on the last inch.

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it should look like that.

use that as a screed board and screed in 1/8 inch of thinset in the opening. when that drys instal the glass tiles and they should be perfectly flush

ok... the picture didnt work?

Leave the plaster off, go right over the bare blueboard. Any seams should be covered with mesh tape and coated with white modified thinset. Use the same thinset to set the tumbled marble and the glass unless the glass manufacturer says differently

As far as tiling directly over the blueboard, will the blueboard suck up the mositure from the thinset, potentially causing tiles to be loose or even fall off? In other words do I need to prime the blueboard first?

We'd much rather plaster first, why is that a bad idea?

If the thinset is properly mixed with the right amount of water then you wont have to worry about over absorption of the moisture into the blue board. The blue board is similar to greenboard which has a thin wax coating on the surface to inhibit moisture absorption so as not to turn the gypsum under the skin to mush. The plaster, if you really mean joint compound, does absorb moisture and can turn soft and peel away from the wall. If the tile and thinset are stuck to the joint compound they will fall off along with the compound. The latex additives in the thinset do the actual bonding to the wall surface. These additives are not present in joint compound which uses a different chemical process to adhese to the wallboard.