Help -- tile edging question

14 years ago

Backsplash tiling is scheduled for Thursday. (yay!) BUT there is a problem. I planned to use chair rail cap at the top where the tile will stick out beyond the cabinets; this is about 6-8" on each side of the upper cabinets. These top edge pieces will butt up against windowsills or door frames, not stop in the middle of the wall. However, I just checked and the chair rail cap protrudes out farther from the wall than the window trim, so the unfinished edges will be exposed. A miter and return wouldn't work because it's butting up against a flat surface and the chair rail profile is not flat.

So is there some way to make this work, or do I just have to use bullnose instead? I'm using plain white 4x4 (I truly do like it better than anything else I've looked at plus it fits the house) and I was hoping to dress it up just a little. The flattish bullnose is not my favorite look; I am afraid it'll make the white 4x4 look cheap. There are so many things going in the backsplash already that there isn't really a logical place for a decorative horizontal liner, so I was going to let the top edge be the extra oomph even though there will be only a little bit of it showing. (The things going on are lots of electrical outlets, light switches at a different level than the outlets, two windowsills 5" above the counter, and cabinet bottoms at varying heights. Not to mention the freestanding range with the tall back panel.)

This is a blurry image from the Internet. I'd love to make this work... or maybe I'm overthinking (yet again) since after all we are talking about whopping 8" runs of tile.

Thank you!

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Comments (5)

badgergal
14 years ago
I used a chair rail on the top and bottom of some glass accent tile in my bathroom and ran into the same problem with the unfinished edge. In my bathroom, the unfinished edge was white while my tile was a brown/tan color. I was not happy to see that. The tile manufacturer did not provide any finished end pieces but some tiles do have finished end pieces so be sure to check with whoever makes that chair rail. So that the unfinished white part would not show my tile guy put a little bit of grout over the edge and that actually finished it off nicely. It still sticks out from the rest of the tile much like yours will stick out from your door casing but there is not much you can do about it. I am assuming your unfinished edge is white so you might not need to color it with grout like I did but if you want it to have some sheen to it like the tile glaze maybe you could just put some clear gloss or semi gloss polyurethane on that unfinished edge. Here is a picture of my chair rail/ tile edge.
{{!gwi}}
northcarolina
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks, badgergal! Yours looks great, very natural that way. I think mine sticks out a little bit further than yours. With the thinset behind it pushing it out still more, the gap behind the curve might even show. The unglazed part of my tile is light tan, so there is a color difference. I'll hang onto the cap molding and see what the tile guy says when he comes; if he can fill up the gap with grout and make it look like yours, it'll be worth doing. But I think I will also have some bullnose on hand just in case. :)
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angie_diy
14 years ago
I would probably try to cut the corner off the end of the chair rail. I'd cut it at 45 deg (or so) to make the thickness of the end match the thickness of the casing. That would expose some more of the tan body, of course, so I would find some way to make it white. There is no law that says you cannot paint the exposed bits. I doubt anyone would notice!
northcarolina
Original Author
14 years ago
Ooh, cool idea, Angie. I'll have a look; it's possible that the gap on the back (under the curve) would be exposed if we trimmed off the side at an angle like that. It would help it die into the trim, though.
angie_diy
14 years ago
Oh, I kinda assumed it was solid, i.e., flat on the back.

Well, you could fill the gap so exposed with grout without a problem.