How to repair a wall to prepare for stone splashback?

[Joyy]

Hi,

I'm in the middle of a kitchen reno. I have had my tiles removed really roughly leaving craters in my wall, where parts of the render have been gouged out of the wall, revealing exposed brick in some areas. The worst patches are around 2-3 cm deep. There are also still some raised areas where parts of the tiles still are stuck on.

The cabinetry is already been installed due to time constraints. and I am currently waiting on the stone. What would be the steps I need to do to be able to have a flat wall for the stone splashback to be installed?

Thank you for your help!

[EricL]

Hello @Joyy 

Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community. It's sensational to have you join us, and thanks for sharing your question about repairing your wall for a stone splashback.

Because the damage to the wall is quite deep and severe, I can only suggest rendering the surface again in order to get a flat surface. Any remaining tiles must be removed and any high spots chipped down. I propose speaking to your stone mason and delaying the delivery of the stone splashback until the render has properly dried off and cured.

Here is a handy step-by-step guide: How to render    

My best advice is to cover your new kitchen with heavy duty builder's film to protect it from concrete splatter. 

Let me call on our experienced members @Dave-1 and @Nailbag for their recommendations.

If you have any other questions we can help with, please let us know.

Eric

[Dave-1]

Good Morning @Joyy 

Like @EricL has suggested I would have a chat to your stone mason installer and ask them how smooth it needs to be or if it actually needs to be smooth for them to mount the spashback. They may be using mud to attach it or  ??? (never had a stone spashback so I havnt been able to sticky beak )

I would remove all the leftover bits of tiles tho and looking at your last pic the old render as you can see that it looks like it has fine cracks around the edge. No pint in trying to stick something tosomething that isnt solid. 

Dave

[Nailbag]

Hi @Joyy 

I would follow  @EricL advice in preparing for the repair. But instead of rendering, which isn't a structural finish for your application I would I've had to recently use Earl's expanding cement. I have used this myself on a small similar laundry job. It's available in a few different tub sizes up to 10kg. It starts to go off pretty quick so just mix small amounts of a time. Fill the deepest areas first until you get close to the top surface then start applying a smother thin coat over the entire area with a flat trowel of some type.

You don't need a perfect finish as thew stone masons will be applying a thick adhesive anyway. It takes a week to reach full strength. During that time I would get the stone mason back to have a look to make sure they are happy with the finish so there is no suprises on installation day.

Regards, Nailbag