Save thousands of dollars on brick flooring or brick backsplash by learning how to make your own thin brick tiles out of reclaimed brick.

How To Make Your Own Thin Brick Tiles

Save thousands of dollars on brick flooring or brick backsplash by learning how to make your own thin brick tiles out of reclaimed brick.

Save thousands of dollars on brick flooring or brick backsplash by learning how to make your own thin brick tiles out of reclaimed brick.

Do you dream of installing brick tile backsplash or brick flooring but cringe at the price tag? Come sit by me. I have good news for you. It involves gorgeous, custom, farmhouse-style charm for a fraction of the price.

You are going to learn how to cut your own thin brick tile out of reclaimed bricks and potentially save THOUSANDS of dollars while making your dreams come true.

Save thousands of dollars on brick flooring or brick backsplash by learning how to make your own thin brick tiles out of reclaimed brick.
Old Mill Brick
Castle Gate Thin Brick Singles

You can buy these pre-cut thin brick tiles for $78/box of 50 from Home Depot. That comes down to $1.56/brick tile.

I found 2 skids (approx 550 brick tiles per skid) for $200 each. I paid around $0.36 per BRICK. We cut 2 thin brick tiles off of each brick.

This means we paid approximately $0.18 per thin brick tile.

The average kitchen backsplash is 30 sqft.

Brick backsplash kitchen with pre-cut thin brick tiles – $546

Brick backsplash kitchen with DIY thin brick tiles – $63

Cha-Ching.

For more brick inspiration be sure to read the post below on how to design a mortar washed brick floor.

how to design a mortar washed brick floor

How To Make Thin Brick Tiles

1. Find reclaimed bricks.

The first step to making your own tiles is finding leftover bricks. Maybe you have some lying around. Otherwise, you can take a page out of my book and start with Facebook marketplace. Type “bricks” in the search tab and see what is near you.

Save thousands of dollars on brick flooring or brick backsplash by learning how to make your own thin brick tiles out of reclaimed brick.

We got ours from a local greenhouse. They dropped them off by dumping them into the yard.

Save thousands of dollars on brick flooring or brick backsplash by learning how to make your own thin brick tiles out of reclaimed brick.

Sweat equity at its finest here and we have barely even begun.

Save thousands of dollars on brick flooring or brick backsplash by learning how to make your own thin brick tiles out of reclaimed brick.

2 skids. Almost 1,100 bricks for only $400.

As I am sitting here typing I just searched locally on FB marketplace, and I found 1,500 antique bricks for only $500. Oh my word they are gorgeous. <sigh> Be patient, Ahna.

(For those of you new around here, we are currently renting a house, after renovating and reselling 3 fixer-upper houses, until we find our forever property where we will either build or renovate the house of our dreams.)

The reclaimed bricks are out there. If you want to save some $$ and get long-lasting value and durability, then DIYing your own thin brick is the way to go.

How To Make Thin Brick Tiles

2. Rent a large wet saw to cut the brick into tiles.

Save thousands of dollars on brick flooring or brick backsplash by learning how to make your own thin brick tiles out of reclaimed brick.

You can rent a wet saw at Home Depot or most local hardware stores. To cut bricks en masse you will want to invest in a large wet saw. I don’t recommend buying one of these (they cost around $500) as you will spend significantly more than is worth it.

Watch the video below to learn how to use the wet saw, or even better ask the service counter at the hardware store for a quick tutorial.

YouTube player

That being said, we did buy this portable wet saw to cut tiles. A small tile cutter like this one is great for cutting angles or trimming the brick tiles for the brick backsplash or brick flooring after they have been cut off of the brick.

You can cut two thin brick tiles off of the two long ends on each brick. The thin bricks that are cut off should be about 1/2″ thick.

Save thousands of dollars on brick flooring or brick backsplash by learning how to make your own thin brick tiles out of reclaimed brick.

This will leave you with a remaining brick that can be used for all sorts of delightful farmhouse-style accents around your house (keep reading).

How To Make Thin Brick Tiles

3. Carefully stack the thin brick in layers until ready to use.

This sounds silly but you want to treat these as you would any thin tile. With care. They are only 1/2″ thick, so you want to ensure they will not get dropped or rather, be dropped on, and crack.

Save thousands of dollars on brick flooring or brick backsplash by learning how to make your own thin brick tiles out of reclaimed brick.

See the full before and after kitchen renovation.

We used ours for the kitchen backsplash and this amazing accent wall as well as the antique fireplace surround below. Stay tuned for a DIY tutorial on how to install a thin brick backsplash.

Save thousands of dollars on brick flooring or brick backsplash by learning how to make your own thin brick tiles out of reclaimed brick.

See the before and after renovation of our antique fireplace.

Save thousands of dollars on brick flooring or brick backsplash by learning how to make your own thin brick tiles out of reclaimed brick.

Take a Christmas tour of the French Country Cottage.

How To Make Thin Brick Tiles

4. Repurpose the leftover small brick.

There are many ways to re-purpose that leftover brick. Here are a couple of ideas.

Save thousands of dollars on brick flooring or brick backsplash by learning how to make your own thin brick tiles out of reclaimed brick.

Use the reclaimed brick to edge your landscaping.

Build planters with reclaimed brick.

Build raised garden beds with reclaimed brick.

Save thousands of dollars on brick flooring or brick backsplash by learning how to make your own thin brick tiles out of reclaimed brick.

Cut the leftover reclaimed brick down the center and use the pieces to design a mortar-washed brick floor.

DIY a backyard fire pit.

The possibilities are endless and the potential savings are enormous.

For more DIY inspiration be sure to check out:

Now be sure to read How To Design A Mortar Washed Brick Floor with your “new” thin brick. Custom farmhouse-style charm on a budget. You can do it!

Ahna Fulmer Signature

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2 Comments

  1. I never understood why the shows that show you that they rebuild, would get rid of bricks. I always scream at the TV that I wanted them. They would tear them down and get rid of them.

    Reply

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