Plastic Laminate Backsplash Meets Ceramic Tile Wall with Calk
 

Let's say in a kitchen you have a Formica counter and backsplash, and
the backsplash meets a ceramic tile wall. At the line where the
backsplash meets the wall there's an unsightly bead of calk. How do you
tile people deal with this situation? Is there some product like a
moulding or something that can cover the calk line? I don't like the
idea of just replacing the old calk with new. Eventually, the soft calk
will look bad again, and a calk line looks unfinished to begin with.

--
*********************
* Nehmo Sergheyev *
*********************

If the gap between tile and laminate is minimal, clear silicon can be
used with good results. Or pick a caulking color that is similar to the
countertop & tile.


In article , nehmo54
@hotmail.com says...
Let's say in a kitchen you have a Formica counter and backsplash, and
the backsplash meets a ceramic tile wall. At the line where the
backsplash meets the wall there's an unsightly bead of calk. How do you
tile people deal with this situation? Is there some product like a
moulding or something that can cover the calk line? I don't like the
idea of just replacing the old calk with new. Eventually, the soft calk
will look bad again, and a calk line looks unfinished to begin with.

Nehmo Sergheyev wrote:
Let's say in a kitchen you have a Formica counter and backsplash, and
the backsplash meets a ceramic tile wall. At the line where the
backsplash meets the wall there's an unsightly bead of calk. How do you
tile people deal with this situation? Is there some product like a
moulding or something that can cover the calk line? I don't like the
idea of just replacing the old calk with new. Eventually, the soft calk
will look bad again, and a calk line looks unfinished to begin with.


A razor blade scraper will take out most of the old caulk. Use a steel
ruler to score down the middle first, to make each side of the strip
easier to cut loose. Then use the razor - carefully, with fresh blade -
and you will get it out. Clean it up and use painters tape when you
recaulk to get a nice, straight, even bead. Be sure to push the tape
into grout lines so caulk doesn't ooze under the tape into the grout
line. Take up tape right away, after you have smoothed the caulk.

Nehmo Sergheyev wrote:
Let's say in a kitchen you have a Formica counter and backsplash, and
the backsplash meets a ceramic tile wall. At the line where the
backsplash meets the wall there's an unsightly bead of calk. How do
you
tile people deal with this situation? Is there some product like a
moulding or something that can cover the calk line? I don't like the
idea of just replacing the old calk with new. Eventually, the soft
calk
will look bad again, and a calk line looks unfinished to begin with.

--
*********************
* Nehmo Sergheyev *
*********************

No. We don't approve of tag lines with a plethora of asterisks.

Sorry - couldn't resist.

If your caulk looks bad after a while it's due to one of three things.
Slovenliness, which is not your problem, unless it's your sloven.
Otherwise it's either your choice of caulk or your caulking technique.
If the gap varies and is largish, caulk probably isn't the way to go.

Optimally the tile above the splash should have been placed after the
countertop and splash were installed. Then you wouldn't have much of a
need for caulk at all - a little dab would do ya. If the splash went
in on top of the tile and the tile wall isn't perfectly straight you'll
have some gaps that are tough to fill nicely. Some people have the top
piece of laminate on the splash left long and that is belt sanded to a
scribed line to conform to the wall. If you can locate a piece of
matching laminate you could remove the old top piece and glue on a
scribed-to-fit piece. You could glue on a new piece on top of the old,
but that might be more objectionable than the caulk.

There are tons of plastic extrusions on the market in all sorts of
profiles. Ou****er Plastic would be a good place to start your search.
But if the gap is big and varies in size, having a uniform molding
meandering along immediately adjacent to a dead straight splash corner
might look even worse.

R