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.

Reply to
Nehmo Sergheyev
Loading thread data ...

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.

Reply to
roy

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.

Reply to
Norminn

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. Outwater 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
Reply to
RicodJour

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.