Tricky tile challenge--how to do this?

15 years ago

Anyone have ideas on how to tackle a tile challenge?

For various reasons, the wall behind our sink run under our windows is not completely straight horizontally, but unfortunately we didn't notice this back when the walls were being put together. (The windows and the plaster around/above them are original and straight, but we opened up the wall below the windows and put backerboard instead of plaster there, and that's what's sloping.) To address this, our cabinetmaker shimmed out our sink cabinet by 3/8" so that all the doors would be flush, so at one end of the 36" cabinet, it's 24" from the wall, and at the other, it's 24 3/8". (Unfortunately he didn't mention this at the time or we would have just taken the tile backer board down and shimmed *that* out instead, but as it is, the cabinets are in and the backer board drops below them, so removing and shimming it out at this point is pretty much impossible short of taking the cabinets out or somehow cutting through the cementboard, which we don't want to attempt.)

We installed the sink parallel to the cabinet (it was a tight fit to start with), which means the sink also follows that slight slope and isn't quite parallel to the wall. Counter hugs the wall, which means there's a tiny bit more counter behind one end of the sink cabinet than the other. We are putting in a tile backsplash, and I'm wondering if we should try to fix this slope now.

So here's my dilemma as we get ready to do the backsplash:

- Do we just tile the backsplash flush against the wall (the wall is flat, just not straight) and figure the slight inconsistency isn't likely to be noticeable to the eye?

- Or do we try to shim the tile itself out by using thicker mortar somehow on the deeper side (not even sure exactly how we would do this...?) so that we bring the wall out to where it's supposed to be? How easy/difficult would that be to do? Is there such a thing as something we can put between the backer board and the mortar to level it?

Is this worth correcting, and if so, any thoughts on easy ways to do it with the backsplash? Or is this one of those things we won't even notice once everything's finished?

Any ideas would be great---thanks!

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Comments (3)

willtv
15 years ago
I had a similar problem. I also have plaster walls and, when my kitchen was re-done, there was a 1/4" gap at one end in order to keep the cabinet run straight. After the countertop was installed we set the backsplash tiles normally against the wall. Unless you take a tape measure to it you'd never see the error.
John Liu
15 years ago
You can float the uneven part of the wall. Use thinset or maybe there is a better product, ask at a tile store. Apply in thin layers, rather than one 3/8'' thick layer that might slump. Use a straightedge to check that you're making the new surface flat and straight. Doing it purely by eye will be hard.

I would leave a narrow gap between the bottom of the layer where it overhangs the counter top, just so that house settling or a little quake doesn't force the counter up and crack the floated surface. Maybe put a thin wood strip wrapped in plastic there then pull it out when everything is dry? Ask the tile shop about that.

When you have a even surface and it is dry, you proceed to tile as normal.

I am no tile pro, just have done tiling in my own house (shower, floors, counters, etc) so if someone who is a pro has different advice, please listen to him or her.

P.S. I assume the deviation of the wall from a straight line (a line parallel to the countertop front edge) is 3/8'' only at the end, and it shrinks as you move toward the sink, so that most of the deviation is much smaller? Because, if a lot of the wall is a full 3/8'' off, you could use 1/4'' board to build up the wall, then float to blend.
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davidro1
15 years ago
float means you add cementy stuff onto the backerboard and let it harden, so that the surface you will have made is closer to the perfectly square ideal you wish you had to start with.

It's at least one more extra step in the process and makes you work at least one more day on tiling (actually, on preparation).

this is meant to add to johnliu's explanation.