Backsplash Tile Installation

Replacing the Strip of Stone Behind Your Counter

Walk into almost any Riverside kitchen built in the 2000s and look at the wall between the countertop and the upper cabinets. There is a good chance you will see a four inch strip of the same granite as the counter, and above it, painted drywall. That short splash was the builder’s default. It protects the joint where counter meets wall, and it does very little else.

Replacing it with tile that runs from the counter to the bottom of the upper cabinets is one of the most noticeable changes you can make to a kitchen for the money. It covers the painted wall that picks up grease and splatter, it gives the room a surface with texture and color, and it can make a dated granite top look deliberate rather than leftover.

Taking Off the Old Splash

The four inch splash is usually set with a bead of silicone or construction adhesive along the wall and along the top of the counter. Removing it takes patience rather than force. We cut the caulk joints, work a thin blade behind the stone, and ease it off the wall a little at a time.

The real risk is the countertop, not the splash. If the splash was glued hard to the counter, prying against it can chip the back edge of the top. We look at how it was set before we commit, and on a counter that is fragile or already cracked near the wall, we will talk about leaving the splash in place and tiling above it. That is a compromise, but it is better than damaging a top you meant to keep.

Once the splash is off, the wall behind it is almost never clean. Expect adhesive residue, torn drywall paper and the occasional hole. We scrape, patch and prime the wall so the new tile has a flat, sound surface to bond to.

Preparing the Wall

Tile is only as flat as the wall behind it. Drywall in a tract kitchen is often slightly bowed between studs, and a long run of small tile will show every wave. We check the wall with a straightedge and skim coat where it needs it. Behind the range, where heat and grease are worst, we make sure the surface is solid before any tile goes on.

Outlets need attention too. Tile adds thickness to the wall, so receptacles are brought forward with box extenders to sit flush with the finished surface. Kitchen counter receptacles are required to have GFCI protection, and if yours do not, this is the right moment to correct it. Electrical work beyond extending boxes is done under permit.

Choosing a Tile That Suits Your Counter

The countertop is fixed, so the tile has to work with it. A busy granite with heavy speckle generally wants a quiet tile: a plain subway, a solid color porcelain, or a handmade style tile in a single tone. A calmer quartz or a solid surface top can take more pattern.

Some practical differences between common choices:

• Ceramic subway tile is affordable, easy to clean and easy to replace a piece of later. Glossy glazes bounce light onto a dim counter.
• Porcelain is denser and less absorbent than ceramic, and it comes in large formats that mean fewer grout lines.
• Glass tile looks bright and clean but shows every flaw in the wall behind it, so it needs a very flat substrate.
• Natural stone mosaic such as marble looks soft and warm but is porous, stains from oil and sauce, and needs sealing.
• Handmade or zellige style tile has irregular edges and varied glaze by design. It suits people who like variation and frustrates people who expect perfect lines.

Grout, and Riverside Water

Grout is where a backsplash either stays clean or does not. Narrow joints with a sanded or high performance grout are easier to keep clean than wide ones. Very light grout behind a range will darken. We usually suggest a grout a shade or two darker than the tile for that reason.

Riverside has hard water, and the minerals it leaves behind show up as white film on tile and grout near the sink. Glossy tile wipes clean more easily than matte or textured surfaces, and a sealed grout resists the buildup. It is worth thinking about the wall directly behind the faucet when choosing a finish.

How the Installation Runs

A typical backsplash is a few days of work. Day one is removing the old splash, patching and prepping. Tile is set once the wall is ready, then left to cure before grouting. After grouting there is a final cure, then the joint where tile meets counter is sealed with a flexible caulk matched to the grout, because that joint moves slightly and hard grout there will crack.

During all of this, your sink and stove remain usable. Cover the counters, keep the area clear, and you can cook around us.

What It Costs

Price depends mostly on the square footage of wall, the tile you choose, and how many outlets, windows and corners the tile has to work around. For a typical Riverside tract kitchen, a full height backsplash installed over a prepared wall usually runs between $2,800 and $7,500, with handmade or stone mosaic tile at the upper end. Removing a stuck granite splash and patching a damaged wall adds to that, and we price it after seeing how the splash was set.

If the strip of stone behind your counter is what bothers you most about the kitchen, call (951) 335-7261 and we will take a look at how it comes off.