Ron's first HouseCall took him to San Antonio Texas, America's tenth largest city and home of the historic Alamo. Local residents Paul and Kimberley Gryting were looking for a quick face-lift to their kitchen. They wanted to start by installing a tile backsplash behind their range and then add a new exhaust hood. Ron was happy to stop by and lend a hand.
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this project.
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1. Remove old range and hood:
- Before Ron's arrival, the Grytings had purchased a new white range and range hood to match. Behind the new range was the wall where they wanted to install the tile. Before they could do anything else, they needed to remove the old stove. While Paul and Ron took the old stove out of the kitchen, Kimberley turned off the power to the range hood at the main breaker.
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- Ron asked Kimberley to remove the wires going to the old range hood. To do this, she first removed the screw that held the cover plate in position. Kimberley then removed the plastic wire nuts and untwisted the wires that provided power to the exhaust fan and range light.
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- Once the wires were disconnected, Paul used a cordless driver to remove the four screws that held the hood to the bottom of the cabinet.
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- They gently pulled the hood down and away from the wall and the wires came free from the old hood.
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2. Install new hood:
- They would install the new exhaust hood basically the same way the old one came out, but first they would do the tile work. Paul and Kimberley held the hood in place while Ron drew a line on the back wall across the bottom edge to mark the upper border for the tile they were about to install.
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Prepare for tiling:
- Since they would be working on a vertical surface, Ron recommended installing a strip of wood or cleat that would sit just below the bottom row of tiles. This would provide a ledge that would help prevent the tiles from sliding downward while the mortar was setting up.
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- They applied masking tape around the edges of the tiling area to keep the mortar from getting onto the surrounding wall.
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- They mixed up a batch of thin set mortar and Kimberley applied it carefully to the wall with a wide putty knife.
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- Ron followed behind Kimberley with a notched trowel, which he used to create uniform ridges in the mortar. These ridges would guarantee that the mortar would be evenly distributed on the backside of each tile.
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4. Install tile:
- Ron gave Kimberley and Paul each a stack of tiles and then demonstrated how to attach the first tile. Starting at the bottom where they had installed the ledger, Ron placed the first tile firmly into the thin set and then gave it a slight back and forth wiggle to secure it in place.
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- As Paul and Kimberley laid the first row, they inserted temporary vinyl spacers between each tile. These spacers created an even gap that would be filled with the grout later on. Once the mortar set up, the spacers would be removed.
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- To dress the backsplash up a bit, Kimberley had selected a tile rope trim and decorative accent tiles with an herb motif.
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- They alternated the decorative tiles with plain ones to create an attractive pattern in the backsplash.
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5. Cut tile:
- The top row of tiles needed to be cut a bit to fit up underneath the exhaust fan. To do this they used a simple tool called a scoring cutter.
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- Ron showed Kimberley and Paul how to align the small wheel of the cutter with the mark that he had drawn on the tile.
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