What a Naperville backsplash job looks like with our crew
A backsplash is a small surface that gets looked at every day. That is why we settle the layout before we ever mix thinset, measuring the run behind the range, the height under the cabinets, and the drop at each end of the counter, so we know exactly where every cut is going to land. Then we dry lay the tile right on the floor and shuffle it until the pattern works. Most Naperville kitchens have one wall that everybody sees from the family room. We put the full tiles there. The trimmed pieces get pushed toward the ends and into the corners, where the eye skips right over them. It takes an extra hour up front. It saves you from staring at a sliver of tile beside the window for the next ten years.
Prep is where a backsplash lives or dies. Older kitchens near the historic district often have plaster walls that wave in and out by a quarter inch. Newer homes off Route 59 usually have clean drywall, but the counter still may not be level. We check the wall with a long straightedge and we check the counter with a level before anything goes up. If the wall bows, we float it flat. If the counter runs downhill, we set a laser line and start the first course from that line instead of the counter, so the top row stays straight against the cabinets. We also pull the outlet covers, loosen the boxes, and reset them so the plates sit flush on the finished tile.
- We settle the layout first. Full tiles land where you look, and the cut pieces end up at the ends and in the corners.
- Your walls get checked and flattened before the first tile goes up, so the finished surface does not wave under the cabinet lights.
- Outlets and switches get reset. The cover plates then sit flat on the tile instead of floating off the wall on a stack of screws.
- We cut around windows, ledges, and range hoods on site, so the odd walls in older Naperville homes still come out looking square.
- The kitchen gets covered, swept, and wiped down at the end of each day. You can still use the sink and the fridge while we work.
Timing is the question we get most. A standard backsplash behind the counters in an average Naperville kitchen usually runs two days. Day one is prep, layout, cutting, and setting. Day two is grout, a fresh caulk joint at the counter, and cleanup. A larger job with stone, a herringbone pattern, or a full wall behind the range can stretch to three. We tell you which one your kitchen is before we start, not halfway through. If you are working around new counters or new cabinets, we can slot in after the counters are set, since the tile needs a finished counter to sit on.
If you are ready to talk tile, call us. Tell us the size of the kitchen, the tile you are leaning toward, and whether the counters are already in. We will give you a straight timeline and a clear scope, and we will say so if a different layout would look better before you buy the material. We work across Naperville and the nearby towns in DuPage and Will County, so scheduling is usually a matter of days and not months.
