Gap between splashback and worktop issue

gingerninja72

Well here's an unusual request, I hope someone can help and also understand my description of the problem. We have a glass splashback to install behind the hob in our kitchen. Now because of the walls not being straight, there is a small gap between the worktop and the back wall (approx 15mm). The splashback is 6mm, so even taking into account the adhesive we're using to fix it on the plasterboard, that will still leave a small gap between the glass and the worktop (which is wooden by the way, iroko). Fortunately, the back of the unit is nearer the wall than the worktop, so we're planning to put a narrow length of ply/offcut down there for the splashback to rest on while the adhesive goes off. But this will still leave a gap approx 600mm x 10mm x 9mm to fill somehow

Question is, what would be best to plug this gap and privide a good finish? We hadn't envisioned this when our kitchen was installed. Taking into account the fact that this is behind the hob, so food/grease is likely to splash in that direction, what can you guys suggest? Clear silicone filler? An offcut from the worktop and then fill round that? Am a bit stumped I must admit

Alan_M_2

The worktop should have been scribed to the wall, if it was professionally fitted, get them to come back and do it correctly.

Alternatively, plaster the wall to bring it out.

Any other solution is a bit of bodge...don't look to try and fill the gap, look to remove the gap by either of the above.

gingerninja72

Hmm, well not sure whether to particularly blame our plasterer or chippy here, they both did good jobs. Maybe I can ask our plasterer to build out by 10mm just behind the hob part. God knows how, another thin layer of plasterboard? Guess I can't imagine how it would hold up a heavy piece of glass.

Will confer with the guy, see what he says

olias

I'm afraid I agree with Alan. 15mm is not a small gap, it is huge! In a newly plastered and fitted kitchen done by proffesionals it is simply unacceptable. For you to say the wall is not straight, and then say the plasterer did a good job, simply can't be true. Any half decent plasterer would have made the wall straight, particularly if he knew there would be kitchen units against it and that it was essential for it to be straight.

Similarly, If it was too late to do anything about the poor plastering, then the chippy should have scribed the worktop to the wall, as Alan states. This should have been relatively easy to do especially with a wooden worktop.

Just think about this for a while. You have paid proffesionals to plaster out and fit your kitchen, and yet you are suggesting that the finish is bad enough for you to have to contemplate shoving bits of ply in gaps and shoving lods of filler in to get a half decent finish. Does that really sound right to you?

I hope you haven't paid in full yet. Hold some cash back until the job is done properly.

Olias

Alan_M_2

If this was professionally plastered then it's shocking, a 15mm bow is just unacceptable.

Easiest way around this now is to replaster the area and bring it out a suitable amount.

The wall won't be taking the weight of the glass, the worktop will actually be supporting it (assuming it can be sat on the worktop.

At this point I'd also now be checking the overhang on the worktop along the front of the units to make sure that doesn't bow also.

gingerninja72

OK, I have described this badly/wrong, and have painted an incorrect picture of our workmen. The wall wasn’t straight, but the plasterer has made it so by plasterboarding on top. The issue with the worktop was due to us, in our inexperience, assuming all worktops are the same width, so it threw out the whole wall. Our chippy had to cut the wood to fit at short notice and within our tiny budget so the end result is not ideal, but is what it is. Unfortunately we have been left with a gap. Upstands are covering this gap around the rest of the kitchen, so it's not an issue elsewhere and is totally unnoticeable

We have had a nightmare with this kitchen, it has been going on for 6 months now (a complete room gut, new floor, ceiling, you name it), so if at the end of this job it means there is a 15mm gap (actually I think it is less than this), then so be it. The queston is how to rectify this

We guessed that building the wall a few mm would hopefully be an option, so thanks for confirming that is a possibility.

andygb

Do you mean that all worktops are not the same width (which they mainly are), or thickness (which they are not)?
If the plasterer had left you with flat walls, then the units would have fitted to the walls without gaps, and therefore the worktops would have fitted without gaps.
Did the "chippy" have any experience fitting worktops, because it is not a simple job, you need the correct tools (router and jig, with new, sharp router bits).

gingerninja72

Actually worktops aren't the same. Ours is 650mm, whereas most measurements are 620mm. A schooboy error on our part, but what's done is done. Yes he has fitted worktops before
Anyway, this is the position we are in, and our plasterer is coming round friday to see how he can build out the wall slightly to offset this. Fingers crossed this will be the best option

andygb

gingerninja72 wrote: »

Actually worktops aren't the same. Ours is 650mm, whereas most measurements are 620mm. A schooboy error on our part, but what's done is done. Yes he has fitted worktops before

I used to work in the trade years ago, and I have helped fit a few kitchens recently, and I know that by far the most common size worktop (particularly on low budget kitchens), is 600mm.

gingerninja72

OK, well in that case, I should have put most worktops I came across were 620mm

Anyway, this is besides the point. What's done is done, and we need to try and rectify the problem, as per my original post. I didn't expect the Spanish Inquisition!

olias

I'm sorry, but I'm still struggling to understand how the problem came about. You say the plasterer overboarded the out of true wall to make it straight, yet you say in your original post that you have a gap as a result of the walls still apparently not being straight!?

Perhaps you could post a pic?

You also state that the worktop is 650mm. If that is the case, then they are well wide enough to take off, re-scribe to the out of true wall and refit, whilst still maintaining an adequate overhang to your base units. This is correct practice by a skilled fitter and is what should have been done.

You have asked for advice, and have been given what I think is really good advice - not 'an inquisition'. Alan M, for example is highly experienced in the field of kitchen worktops and knows what he is on about, as you will see from a quick look through his previous posts. I have renovated several properties, fitted kitchens etc.

The fact is that a newly plastered and fitted kitchen left with a 15mm gap is not good workmanship. To pad out the wall in one small area with more plaster/board, or to go filling a 15mm gap behind an expensive iroko worktop with ply and loads of filler will look like a bodge job. You have asked for advice and been given the best advice possible with the information available.

Olias