Hey everybody, welcome back to the Tile Experts YouTube channel. I’m Trevor and I’m here with Ewald. Ewald is one of the owners of the Tile Experts in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. And today we’re going to be discussing backsplashes.
What the process is like when somebody’s getting a backsplash or if they want to remove their old one and get a new one put in. I am actually in the process of getting a new backsplash put downstairs. A lot of these questions are going to be self-serving. I’m going to be asking Ewald all the questions about that.
Ewald, welcome. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your busy schedule installing tile to share some information with the people.
Oh, yeah. I’m happy to be here and share some of the secrets and ways of how to make a backsplash look beautiful.
That’s it. That’s what it’s all about. Making backsplashes beautiful again. Okay, let’s break into it. How long have you been doing tile for?
It’s been about 15, 16 years.
15, 16 years. Okay. So, you’re pretty well experienced in doing tile.
Yeah. I’ve done a little bit of all types of tile for sure. So, flooring, bathrooms, kitchens, and fireplaces.
So, let’s get into backsplashes. What are some of the first steps that you take when someone calls you and says, “Hey, I need my backsplash replaced?” What’s the first step? What’s that process like?
Yeah. So, we usually get these phone calls and we ask what kind of tile you have in your backsplash, what kind of tile you’re looking to get done, around the square footage that you have, and if they can send us some pictures, it’ll be easier for us to give them an estimate.
Then once that’s all done, Judy in the office is pretty quick at having all these numbers together. She usually is super fast at sending back a rough estimate. Then we have Oscar coming to site so that he can confirm everything. Then we have them pick the tile if they haven’t picked. After that, we book the date for me or one of our guys to come in and start with the demo.
The way we usually go with demo is that you have your tile in your kitchen right now and we want to pull it out without creating a bunch of dust in your house and having you be like, “Oh my god, what have you done to my house?”
So we protect the countertops, your sink, because usually if you are looking to get your backsplash done, you want to switch your countertops to something else, too. If you switch your countertops, you’re getting a new sink. We protect everything first, including your floors so that no dust or chunks of tile fall in there and create damage that at the end could come back to us.
One of the ways we could start is to pull out the tile carefully and that could be a way for us not to have to replace the drywall, which is easier. If you pull it all out with a hammer and a chisel, then you can just clean the surface. After that, you put on your new tile. That would be the best way to go about it, and you don’t create much dust.
Compared to the other way, if you come in, cut the top line of the tile against the countertop and then start smashing the tile together with the drywall, that creates a bunch more dust. Then you have to deal with fixing the insulation or poly behind the wall so that there is no cold coming through there.
What about the consultation process with the clients? How much time do you take showing the customers the possible options? Do you show them previous work that you’ve done so they get an idea?
Yeah, we have a lot of work that we’ve put into our website with pictures and different kinds of tile. Then we work with a few different suppliers that we send them to so that they can see all the types of tile they have. Then they can choose the tile together with a grout.
If you want a trim on your site to cover the edge of the tile, there are different colors as well. For example, this week we finished a couple different backsplashes. One was a marble stone and we used a chrome aluminum color on the metal. The other one was a subway style and all the hardware in their cabinets were matte black. They said it would be great if we could use matte black for the edge trim. Now that we see the picture all together, it was the best choice to combine the two and it looks amazing.
How long does it typically take to do a backsplash from demolition to reinstallation and finished product?
Demolition usually takes around four to six hours depending if we do have to fix insulation or if we just come in and take out the tile and the drywall stays in place. Then the installer usually takes about five hours to do the install depending how difficult the tile is to work with.
Sometimes we use a special mortar so that it dries a little quicker. Then we can grout it the same day and silicone the edges that need to be silicone. Honestly, there’s so many clients that are so happy that we’re done so quickly because they want their kitchen back.
Some people have said that in their reviews. They can’t believe we were done so quickly and super clean. It’s the key things that make homeowners happy, taking care of their house like it’s yours. I always ask our installers, and Oscar does as well, “Would you like the tile to look like this if it was your own house?” Make sure you’re doing your best.
What is something else that people should know before engaging someone to do a new tile backsplash for them?
I think the tile that you pick is a pretty important choice to make. There’s so many choices out there. Some people like to pick big format tile, large format tile. We’ve done some 24×48. There is an even bigger tile than that is 4×8, which is the size of a drywall sheet.
There are some people that don’t want any grout joints in their kitchen or shower. Other people like the historic look where subway comes in. Then there are other people that like marble or mosaic tile. That’s the biggest thing to think about when doing your kitchen.
One thing that came up was when clients buy cheaper tile from big box retailers. When people are looking for tile, they want to find the best price tile. They go to the big stores and they find something that looks good.
But when we come in and we see this tile, we have had issues. If it’s a mosaic sheet and it’s a hexagon tile, it has so many joints in it and none of them are properly put in place. These stores may have lower quality tile.
What we recommend is going to the tile suppliers that we deal with. They usually have high quality tile and they warranty their tile.
There’s also irregularities in the size of the tile and the shape of the tile. When the client hires a professional, they expect the work to be done perfectly. When you buy tile that doesn’t have the right size of joints and they don’t match up, there is tile that comes in the same box but ends up different sizes.
The issue is that when you put it all together, your grout joints are not matching and you see size differences. What we do with clients is tell them we can’t warranty our work with these tiles. We recommend better quality tile so the final product installed in your home is something that will amaze you.
When we’re done the job, we tell them this is a job that we care about and we warranty it. Anytime you have any issues, if there is a crack on the grout joints or if a tile cracks when you’re screwing the electrical outlets, we will warranty it and fix whatever issues you have.
If you are somebody who is in the Edmonton region, that can be Edmonton, Sherwood Park, St. Albert, and you’re looking for an expert tile installation company, look no further than The Tile Experts and Ewald, probably one of the guys who comes out to do your job.
They really care about their workmanship and they care about the end user. They care about the homeowner. If that is something that you’re looking for, give them a call, check out the website, the tileexperts.ca, and we’ll catch you guys on the next video. Thanks for coming in.
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