Removing Backsplash and Repairing Drywall

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I am so excited to finally share this series on our Kitchen Remodel. For the most part I did all of it myself, start to finish it took about a month. Below is a recent picture of the finished project. I just adore how bright and airy the room feels now!

When we walked through our home for the first time I fell in love with the bones of the Kitchen. There is an abundance of cabinet space as well as room for our whole family. It is nestled perfectly between the formal and Casual sides of our home. However it was drowning in yellowed maple cabinets with ornate grape vine detail AND the infamous 3D grapevine tile. Taking Center stage was this large medallion above the stove. I lovingly named him George, and fantasized about the day I would rip him out. It was beautiful space, but it just wasn’t our style.

I knew rather quickly what I wanted to do with the space. I procrastinated for awhile, because I knew how much work it was going to be. I was also a little intimidated by tiling as I had never done it before. I have found with any big projects, the best thing I can do is just START!

To kick the series of I must start with the least glamorous part removing the backsplash and patching the drywall. I learned a lot along the way so I have compiled some of my tips here and in the “Removing Tile & Patching Drywall” highlight on my Instagram.

Part 1 Removing Backsplash

Supplies:

1. Hammer
2. Sharp pry bar
3. Multi-tool
4. Scrap plywood
5. Safety Goggles
6. Thick work gloves

In preparation I spent more time researching tiling than removing old tile. I learned the hard way how easy it is to damage the drywall behind.

Our Tiles were pretty thick and attached to a thin cardboard sheet. The KEY is NOT using the wall for leverage. Once you have, it damages the drywall behind. I found once I damaged the dry wall it was really difficult to get more tile off without damaging more dry wall.

I found it best to get the sharp edge of the pry bar nestled between that cardboard (or wall) and the tile. Then give it a hard tap on the back side of the pry bar. It is important to keep the pry bar perpendicular to the wall, and making sure the force is towards to tile. If done correctly the tiles will pop off without damaging the wall. This step took some patience and A LOT of muscle.

Side note: I actually vigorously hammered so much that I created a “mass” which resulted in my first mammogram and a few ultrasounds. Clearly I don’t work out my upper body very frequently. I was grateful we had already met our deductible for the year. 🤦‍♀️

Tip: I did use my dremel tool a couple times sharpen the edge of my pry bar. It really took a beating.

It may leave some remnants behind, but those are easy to scrape off using a multi-tool. You can see where I damaged the dry wall in some of the areas.

It is really important to use safety goggles and good work gloves. The tiles really fly if you are doing it right, and they get really sharp. I also had a piece of scrap ply wood where I was working. It helped protect the counters and appliances. I had a spare garbage handy so I could easily slide a lot of the rubble right from the ply wood into the garbage.

Part 2 Repairing Drywall

Supplies

1. 2′ x 2′ Drywall sheets (1/2″ , 5/8″ )
2. Utility Knife
3. Metal Ruler
4. Drill
5. Dry Wall Screws
6. Measuring Tape
7. Multi-tool
8. Dry Wall Knife
9. Mud
10. 12 ” Hawk (Long flat dry wall tool)
11. Sanding Square
12. Dry wall tape
13. Firing strips
14. Poster Board (Optional)
15. Pen
16. Tape drape
17. Joint Knife
18. Mask

Patching Dry wall

Once the backsplash was removed, I had several areas of dry wall to repair. At one point I questioned whether I should have just removed the dry wall with the tile.

I was pretty intimidated by dry wall repairs. Fortunately, I found Ralph at Home Depot to guide me. They keep all of the supplies in one section so it made it easy to gather everything I needed.

I started in one corner and just worked my way out. I used 2’x2′ drywall sections for a couple of reasons. They are lighter and easier for me to handle by myself. They also made it easy to chunk the sections out. I have a ton of outlets in the kitchen so I didn’t have to do as much measuring this way. Make sure you measure the thickness of your existing dry wall so you get the correct size.

Taking one section at a time I would identify any areas that had obvious holes or were weak. It is important to have a solid surface for the tile, otherwise it can crack! I used my metal ruler and a sharpie to mark those areas. If there was no stud behind I used the drywall knife to cut out damaged sections.

If cuts were on a stud I used the utility knife to score the top paper of the dry wall. Then I used the hammer and multi-tool to chiseled down to the stud. I followed that with the utility knife again to make a nice clean edge.

If there was a smaller hole with no stud behind it I used a piece of firing strip to provide support. I wiggled it into the hole, then just put a screw through a good section above and below the hole. Then I could just put my patch right over that.

I actually had some left over poster board on hand from another project, but I found it especially handy. The kitchen is full of outlets. I made a template that measured exactly from the counter top up to the outlet and around.

Once I cut my section of dry wall to size I measured the distance from one side to the edge of the outlet. I used that measurement and my template to trace where the outlet hole needed to be.

I used the metal ruler and Utility knife to score around the entire hole. Then I used a drywall knife to cut three sides. Once the three sides were cut I would punch the dry wall and it would flop out. I took some screen shots from my IG stories, but there are a lot of these tips in action on there.

A little tip, once you cut one side of the paper you can just hit the drywall and it will split. Then you can bend up that piece and use a utility knife to separate the pieces like the image below.

I repeated this process around the entire room until I had all the sections patched. I used my multi-tool to scrape of all of the excess mortar, cardboard from the previous tile, and stray dry wall paper pieces. I wanted it to be as clean and smooth as possible, before I skim coated. Boy was it ugly at this step.

Part 3 Mudding Joints and Skim Coat

Once it was all cleaned up I put my drape tape all around to protect the counters. You can see it was a little bit of absolute chaos.

I cleaned up daily so we could still use our kitchen. Removing the tile and patching the backsplash was by far the messiest part of the kitchen renovation. That dry wall creates a lot of dust!

It is really important to tape all of the seams. If you skip this step your tile may crack!

Once taped seems cover them with a thin coat of mud. I was very careful to keep the tape in place. I tried to keep the mud as smooth as I could. It doesn’t have to be perfect though, because you will sand later.

Once that layer of mud was dry, I used my sanding block to smooth any bumps or ledges. Then I did an entire skim coat over everything. This part was actually really fun, and reminded me of frosting a cake.

Then I used my sanding block to smooth. I did at least 2 coats, and in some places 3 to ensure I would have a nice smooth surface to apply the backsplash. I waited a day between each coat of mud to ensure it was completely dry, then sanded smooth. I waited a few days before actually applying backsplash to ensure it was dry.

Like I said this wasn’t the most glamorous part of the project. Like most projects I made more of a mess before it started looking pretty again.

Up next in the series I will walk through how I tiled the backsplash. I learned a ton of great tips during this process!