Bill, Mong, others--can you please check out this tile job?

16 years ago

While we were on vacation the tile was laid in the master bath. I don't think I'm too happy. Since I can be overly critical, before I talk to the installer, I'd love some feedback from you folks. I've posted one picture and a link to a few others we've taken.

This picture shows how uneven the height of the tiles are in several spots. I've put a piece of wood on the floor so you can see the variation. The link has more of the same and some (not very good) pictures of spots where the tiles are not evenly laid out.

Thank you all--and Happy Father's Day!!

Here is a link that might be useful: bathroom floor

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Comments (11)

hmg58
Original Author
16 years ago
I tried to correct the spelling of your name before hitting that darn submit button. Blame it on jet lag...
bill_vincent
16 years ago
I don't think I'd be too happy, either.
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The latest update from DH (who was home to greet our guy when he arrived this morning) is that he is going to reuse the tiles if possible and lay them each by hand. He has a helper who is cleaning off the bottoms so they'll lay flat. DH (in a nice way) offered that if he wasn't comfortable with the 2x2s we could find someone else for the shower floor tile-laying. He said he very much appreciated the gesture but was committed to getting this right for us. So there you have it. I will be really surprised if it looks bad again tonight when I get home, but you know, life's full of surprises. I'm kinda squeezing my eyes shut and crossing my fingers today. I want him to be successful! Mostly for us, but for him, too. It took him 3.5 hours the first time, and it will take that long again, at least, setting them by hand. For all that work, I do hope it's right. I don't like to see anyone's efforts wasted. FWIW, he's an established contractor who does more than just tile, so I think the problem is that he does tile but doesn't SPECIALIZE in tile. For a perfect, efficient tile job, we should have persevered to find a tile specialist who knew the Kerdi system in our area, but that's hard to find unless you know who to call. And we didn't know who to call, so we started with Schluter. I can't explain why the 2x2 would flummox this guy, but I have to say, he isn't a "wanna be" when it comes to renovation jobs, just maybe isn't quite as experienced with certain types of tile. Maybe he usually works with fiberglass shower pans? I will update later. Thanks!
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Bill, Mongo...can you look at this please?
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No, that ain't happening. This is a practice many installers, for some reason seem to like-- putting 1/4" cement board over greenboard. First off, it's more expensive and more time consuming, because you've got two layers you're paying to install, labor and materials. Secondly, it's just as bad as if you'd installed directly over the greenboard. Neither tile and grout, NOR durock, is waterproof, and water WILL get to the greenboard. Tell him he needs to rip that all out and install a 6 mil polyethlene or 15 pound tar paper vapor barrier over the studs, and then 1/2" durock DIRECTLY over that.
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Are these tiles laid straight? Bill I need your eyes please
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Comments (11)
We just finished re-doing our guest bath (and are about to start on our master bath). We tiled up to the ceiling, around a tub, with a decorative strip of smaller tiles all the way around the walls. My GC -- who we're using because he did such a great job when we expanded and re-did our kitchen a few years ago -- did the tiling. He's not a full-time tile guy, let alone a tile master craftsman the likes of Bill and Mongo who post here. But he knows what he's doing, he takes pride in his work, he wants to please me as the customer, and he doesn't take shortcuts to save time. I know he went a couple of days over his estimate on this job because some days there was a lot of tile cutting, but he never complained nor raced ahead just to get done. One morning I mentioned how a few of the small tiles in the listello section weren't spaced quite evenly, and in one place the variation in the tile colors didn't seem as random as elsewhere. His reply: "Yeah, I noticed that, too; I moved a few tiles around as I set them yesterday to even out the spacing, but I was going to pop a few more off and reset them this morning." These weren't problems he created; it's just the way the tiles came on the sheet -- yet he agreed that it would look better to adjust, and was going to do so on his own (and at no additional cost for his time). THAT is what I value in a good contractor! I'm sorry, sherwhy, that your contractor doesn't have similar values; we consider ourselves fortunate to have found this guy -- which is why he's slowly getting job after job to re-do most of our house! -- Eric
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Please help--bad tile job! What now?
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I googled something else and found this thread. Lippageis poor craftsmanship. I was looking for a way to explain to my client why im taking so long. They keep complaining im slow at tiling I keep telling them im very detailed and every stone must fit perfect. Polishing lippage is wrong probably why it broke. A planatary floor sander should be used first to smooth out lippage. a full section should be done, like a room and stop on a grout line/seem. Then honing using honing powder to the desired finish this for natural stone. Polishing will not remove lippage. From WORK From WORK
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MongoCT
16 years ago
If Bill's not happy, then Mong's not happy either.
hmg58
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks, gentlemen. So now I'm not happy, DH isn't happy, Bill's not happy and Mong[o]'s not happy. I'm thinking that tomorrow the tile installer won't be too happy.
I'm not looking forward to tomorrow--I really don't like confrontation.
MongoCT
16 years ago
All you have to understand is this:

These things happen.

The good news? These things can be fixed. The sooner the better, due to the grout.

One small dippitydoo can look pretty bad, but it's like the first scratch in your brand new car. It may tick you off, but you can live with it.

But dippidydoos throughout the floor? That's not right.

Mongo
hmg58
Original Author
16 years ago
That picture was just one example of many dippidydoos. :-(
I have other floors with only a dip or two and yep, I can live with them. I've only seen about half of this floor (the rest is covered with tarp and tools) and have found several spots that just aren't right.
Wish me luck!
hmg58
Original Author
16 years ago
I spoke with the tile installer and he sees what I'm talking about. He said that part of the issue was with the heat mat. Whatever. He plans to pop out tiles where he can to level them and to use grout to level in some spots. Does this sound reasonable? And is there a standard as to just how level it *needs* to be? I know how I want it to be, but we can't always get what we want...
Thanks again!
MongoCT
16 years ago
You have no idea how close I came in my previous post to asking if there was a heat mat underneath.

I advise you to talk to your installer before he does the repair and ask what happens if the heat matt is destroyed during the repair.

Making repairs over a heat mat makes things considerably more delicate. It depends on the type of mat and where/how it was installed, and how the installer intends to make the repair.

I have a squawk box that I made from parts at Radio Shack. It's essentially a continuity tester. I clip it to the leads of the heat mat when I'm working. If at any time one of the wires is broken, the continuity of the circuit is interrupted and a buzzer sounds.

He definitely needs something like that, and it needs to be used during the repair.

Mongo
hmg58
Original Author
16 years ago
I'm feeling a bit better about our installer. He told me he will test several times as he's doing the repair. :-) Thanks, Mongo, for pointing that out to me.
mythreegirls
16 years ago
Was wondering if you got this issue resolved? We are having a similar problem. Our installer wants to grout tomorrow and I am not liking the "dippity-dos" in our bathroom. We also have the heat mat and our tiles are long and skinny which, according to my tile person, is making it more difficult.
Thanks for replying if you see this!
hmg58
Original Author
16 years ago
Mythreegirls, the issue is not resolved. :( In fact, yesterday I started a new thread about how to proceed. Here's a link:

Here is a link that might be useful: current thread

Bill, Mong, others--can you please check out this tile job?

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Bill, Mong, others--can you please check out this tile job?

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