Tile layout went sideways, caught it before the mortar set

Doing a kitchen backsplash in Austin on Tuesday and the laser level was reading true but the pattern was off by half a tile on the second row. Noticed it when I dry laid the first few pieces on the counter, something just looked wrong. Pulled out the tape and measured from the counter edge, turns out the wall behind the stove was out of plumb by almost 3/4 of an inch. Re snapped my chalk lines off the actual cabinets instead of the wall and started over, only lost about 20 minutes of work. Any other drafters run into walls that look straight but throw your grid off, and how do you check for it before you start laying?

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stone.jesse26d ago

Different take here: the cabinets are usually the last thing I trust for layout, especially after a stove install shifts things around. If the wall behind the stove is out 3/4, odds are the cabinet faces are too, so snapping off them could just move your problem down the line. I check plumb with a long level on the wall first, but I also measure off the counter front edge since that's what the eye actually follows. Catching it early is good, but that dry lay trick is what saves most people, so you're already ahead of the game there.