How do I fit a glass or acrylic splashback?

Glass and acrylic splashbacks are simple to fit and unforgiving of measurement. Everything — the panel size, the socket cut-outs, the extractor cut-out — is fixed at the factory in glass, and there is no adjustment on site whatsoever. Acrylic is more forgiving because it can be cut, but the wall preparation is the same.

Safety

What you'll need

• Made-to-measure panel
• Card or thin hardboard for a template
• Splashback silicone or the specified adhesive
• Sealant gun and a scraper
• Spirit level and a straight edge
• Packers or wedges
• Methylated spirit and lint-free cloths

Step by step

1. Wait until everything else is final.Worktop fitted, units hung, sockets in their final positions, extractor in place. A glass panel is measured to what exists, not to what is planned, and a socket moved 30mm afterwards means a new panel.
2. Check the wall is flat and sound.Hold a straight edge against it in several directions. A panel bedded on silicone follows the wall to a degree, but a bow of more than a few millimetres will either leave a visible gap or, in glass, put stress into the panel. Fill hollows and knock off high spots first.
3. Make a physical template rather than a list of dimensions.Card or 3mm hardboard cut to the exact panel shape, offered up and adjusted until it fits. Mark socket and extractor positions on it. Suppliers work far more reliably from a template than from a sketch.
4. Allow a small clearance all round.A panel cut exactly to the opening will not go in. Two or three millimetres of clearance at each side, taken up by the silicone joint, is normal — ask the supplier what they want.
5. Decide the bottom edge detail.The panel sits on the worktop, usually with a 2 to 3mm silicone joint at the bottom rather than in hard contact, so worktop movement does not stress the glass. Set that gap with packers when you fit it.
6. Prepare both surfaces.Wall and the back of the panel wiped with methylated spirit and allowed to dry. Any grease on either face is where the adhesive lets go.
7. Apply the adhesive in vertical beads.Vertical rather than horizontal, so any moisture behind the panel can drain rather than being trapped in a horizontal channel. Use the product the panel maker specifies — some silicones react with the painted back of a coloured glass panel and discolour it.
8. Offer the panel up and support it while it cures.Two people on anything large. Press it evenly rather than at the edges, set the bottom packers, and prop or tape it until the adhesive has gone off. Do not rely on friction.
9. Seal the perimeter last.A neat silicone joint along the bottom against the worktop and at any exposed vertical edge. Mask, run the bead, tool it once, pull the tape immediately.
10. Refit socket faceplates over the panel.Faceplates go on after the panel, over the cut-outs. Sockets on a splashback need slightly longer screws to reach through the extra thickness, and the electrical work behind the faceplate is a separate matter from fitting the panel.

Tips

• Acrylic can be cut on site with a fine-tooth blade and drilled with care, which makes it far more forgiving on an awkward wall. Glass cannot be touched once it is toughened.
• Coloured glass splashbacks are painted on the back face. That paint can be attacked by the wrong silicone, so use the adhesive the supplier names rather than whatever is in the shed.
• If the wall is genuinely poor, a thin backing board fixed to the wall first gives a flat plane to bond to, and is cheaper than a cracked panel.
• Take the template to the supplier rather than posting measurements. Fifteen minutes of card work removes almost all the risk from the job.

Common mistakes

• Measuring before the sockets are final — Holes in toughened glass are cut before toughening. A socket moved after measuring means an entirely new panel, at full price.
• Bedding the panel hard down onto the worktop — The worktop moves with temperature and load and the wall does not. A small silicone joint at the bottom absorbs that; hard contact concentrates it into the glass.
• Using ordinary silicone behind a coloured glass panel — Some silicones attack the paint on the back of the glass and it shows through as a discoloured patch that cannot be fixed without a new panel.

Questions people ask