Showerthought: My kitchen backsplash looked so bad I redid it twice in a month

I tiled my first backsplash last summer and it looked like a drunk did it. Grout lines were all over the place, tiles weren't level. After 3 weeks I ripped it all out and started over with spacers and a level. Second attempt came out clean and straight, took me 4 hours instead of 8 cause I knew what I was doing. Anyone else have a DIY project that took two tries to get right?

3 comments

3 Comments

miller.diana3d agoTop Commenter

oh man, that backsplash story hits close to home. i did the exact same thing with my bathroom floor tiles last spring. first time i just slapped them down without thinking about layout too much and ended up with this weird skinny cut along the wall that made the whole room look crooked. had to live with it for a month before i couldn't take it anymore. pulled it all up one weekend, bought a tile cutter instead of using that cheap snap tool, and actually measured everything twice. second try came out so much better, even my wife said it looked professional. sometimes you just gotta learn the hard way with DIY stuff, you know? the frustration is real but that second attempt feels amazing when it finally clicks.

zara_sanchez3d ago

That part about "learning the hard way with DIY stuff" really rings true. When I did my kitchen backsplash last fall I made a similar mistake with the outlet cutouts. I measured them once, thought I had it right, and ended up with gaps big enough to see the drywall behind the plate covers. It drove me crazy for weeks. Finally I took a different approach and made cardboard templates for each outlet location, then transferred those measurements to the tiles. It took longer but the fit was so clean you can't even tell where the cuts are now.

nancy_king293d ago

Three outlet gaps here too. Pulled my hair out for a month. @miller.diana is right about that cheap snap tool. I switched to a wet saw after ruining five tiles. Cardboard templates changed everything for me. Now I trace each box separate. Takes longer but you sleep better at night.