The only thing that can really be done is pull the pieces and recut them. That wasn't apparent before the grouted?

Hey Bill, I did see that they were uneven before grouting and talked to tile guy then and he said he "wasn't finished and it would be fixed in that area". But I should have found out then what he meant by "fix". Frankly, I'm still horribly disappointed with the way the rest of the tile looks also. It's pretty uneven all over and I'm just not sure what to do since the grout is set. It seems my options are 1) learn to live with it or 2) insist it be torn out and redone. Bill, since you are in the business or anyone who may have had a similar problem and chose 2), what would you recommend? The GC already has a50% deposit. Do you withhold remaining 50% until the job is redone (can you do that legally?) and at his expense? Do you withhold 50%, fire first GC and hire ANOTHER person to lay the tile? I absolutely don't want the same guy since he obviously is not experienced with laying this kind of tile. (he's a very nice guy by the way and worked hard on the bathroom; I think he just has never done this sort of tile installation before). The tile cost 700$ and will take a week to get here.
I'm so exhausted by all the planning that went into this and horribly disappointed by the way my beautiful tile that I chose turned out, I'm just not sure what to do.

Before I say anything, can you take a couple of overall pics? if it's really that unacceptable, by all means withold payment. But let me see what you have.

Hi Bill, I'm attaching a few more pics....it's kind of hard to see details but hopefully you can make out the problem areas. After talking with a couple of other tile experts on penny rounds,they said that because of the mesh backing and difficulty in getting the sheets straight they had to snap lines for placement (which my tile guy certainly did not do). I'm not one of those people that expect perfection but this tilework just looks poor to me. I'd greatly appreciate your advice on what you would do.

I'm not real impressed, to say the least. Alot of installers think penny rounds are so much easier to install because there's no worries about making sure corners of tiles are aligned. To me that just makes it more difficult, and what I see above is why. I'd most certainly be taking issue with that installation. Hold back payment until it's right.

My main floor powder room has penny rounds, same color and size as yours actually. They were here when we bought the house 10 years ago and are being removed by us. Mine have imperfections in the installation just like yours do and they stick out like a sore thumb to me every single time I step foot in the bathroom. I hate the floor.

If you are unhappy, and I would be with that, I'd make them do it right or else you'll be stuck with a floor thats imperfections will scream out at you every time you enter the room.

Yikes, that's not good. The field is a mess, and there's no excuse for not having a straight row of full pennies at the entry. If you don't redo this, you'll never be happy with your bathroom. Don't pay this guy another cent until it's straightened out, or maybe just have him tear it out and send him packing and find a professional to do it right.

I'm so sorry, that's a waste of some beautiful tile.

Hi all, thanks for the replies....I definitely need the feedback. I just met with the GC about an hour ago. There are also issues with the wall subway tile (I won't even GET into that) but I believe that can be fixed. As far as the floor tile, he agreed with our suggestion to cut back the threshold and add a complete row of penny rounds at the threshold.He also suggested I wait and look at the tile after the grout and haze is cleaned up. Also, he said if I wanted it ripped up and redone, he would provide labor but I would be on the hook for the 700$ to buy new tile. I've called a couple of professional tile installers who will come out to look at it. They estimate 6-8$sq.ft. for installation. If I already have to pay 700$ for new tile, I think I'm better off paying an expert ~400$ to make sure the job is done right. I don't believe this GC has anyone with the expertise to do this. The other issue that the GC brought up is that the floor wasn't level so they "floated" the floor and that's why I have a wavy look to the tile. Well, the floor wasn't level before and I never noticed or had a problem with it. So, I guess that means I'll have to have board placed on the floor to relay the new tile. Floor will still be uneven but at least flat. Wouldn't you expect a tile expert to have known how important a FLAT floor is (esp. with penny round) and warned me about this???

Cleaning up grout haze is not going to straighten out those horribly crooked rows, and an unlevel floor is not going to make your tile job look 'wavy' in a direct overhead picutre. It the floor was unlevel enough to cause an issue, they should have fixed it before tiling. If it was slight enough to float during tiling, then it shouldn't be unlevel any more, that's the whole point of floating the floor, to get it level.

The fact that he is willing to provide the labor to redo it makes me think he knows it's a poor job. If this were my floor, I'd be paying someone else to do it. Maybe you can negotiate and recoup some of that labor expense somewhere else with your GC.

Good luck.

Codnuggets, I totally agree. I don't believe I should be out the 700$ either for the ruined tile. I've never hired a GC before though and am at a loss as to how to proceed. I've already given him a check for 50% of labor (around 2,500$). His plumber did put in the supply lines for the new sink and tub and the wall tile should be able to stay so I do owe him for that labor. What I would like to do is have him bill me for that work, subtract the cost for me to buy new floor tile, and fire him (stopping payment on the original check for 2500). Even if I hire a professional tile installer myself to install new floor tile, I really have no faith that the GC can complete this job with anything approaching adequate worksmanship.
What would you do?

Good luck, chabang. I have experienced the exact nightmare you're living. Do not let your GC try to "fix" anything. If he didn't get it right the first time he won't get it right the second time. I fired my GC, paying him only to the point the work was completed. Even at that he made out better than I did but I just wanted him gone and did not want the expense of having to battle him in court. I am now in the process of working with a professional tile installer who specializes in bathroom "tear outs and re-do's". All of the tile had to be ripped out and in the process several substandard aspects of the plumbing and electrical work were discovered and had to be redone to meet code. Brace yourself...it costs more to undo someone else's bad work but in the long run it will be worth it when you step in the room and like what you see. While I fault the general contractor I also felt I had to assume some of the blame for not doing my homework and insisting on references and seeing some of his work before allowing him to start on mine. Consider it an expensive lesson and move on...peace of mind comes with a price tag!

Thanks Poggie...It's comforting someone else has felt my pain. I did fire the GC and pay him for (substandard)work done to date. I'm keeping the wall tile, will fix what I can and live with the rest and started demo of the floor tile today with new tile installer. I figure I lost about 600-700$ but that was cheap compared to continuing with this guy. Most friends I spoke to (and the GC) thought I should just keep going with him since "he screwed it up so make him fix it". No thanks. I don't want him within 100 miles of my bathroom and trying to "make" him fix it would just have cost me more money and headache in the long run. Good riddance.

Good luck to you. Please post with updated pictures after the new floor is in.

I don't mean to throw gas on the fire, but the floor should not be the only issue. That corner with the subway tile is pretty bad with the partial tiles and how crooked that corner is. I wonder if that wouldn't be more difficult to deal with. I wonder if small claims court shouldn't be in your future. There's no way you should be responsible for the new tile cost.
Sorry for all that you are going through! :o(

Unfortunately, I think my old age is catching up with me! I know I saw those pics, but now I can't find em. If it's the pics I think you're talking about, The problem is "existing conditions". If he were to flatten the floor, from the looks of it, there'd be a step at the doorway into the bathroom. He did the next best thing-- set the base on the floor, and then cut in the field tile. Short of raising the whole floor causing a riser at the door, there's not much else he could do.

Hi Barrybud, the subway tiles have a few issues unfortunately. I had to ditch my beautiful wall mounted console sink and buy a sink w/ vanity to cover the subway tiles that he cut much shorter than the rest to adjust for the unlevel floor in one corner. Yes, I knew this would be done but was told it would be "hardly noticeable" esp. after he floated the floor to make up for some of the floor uneveness.

I did NOT have to pay for the new penny round tile at least...I subtracted the 700$ from the GC's bill (after extensive discussion with him....I don't think he wanted us to end up in small claims court either).
Bill, I'm still learning (more than I ever wanted to know about tiling) and it's much more complex than I'd thought. You're right...to make the floor completely level, it would have to be raised and therefore raise the threshold. But I don't want it LEVEL, I want it FLAT. I mean, I do want it level but I can't afford to do it and I don't really notice the inch difference from one end of the room to the other. His attempts to level the floor really made no difference that I could see anyways based on the way the tile looked after he cut the lower row so that border would be straight. My new tile guy is planning to put a cementous substance (I don't remember the terminology exactly) under the thinset for new tile which will make the floor completely flat (no dips) so the penny round can be laid correctly. If I had wanted 12" square or 18" square travertine instead of penny rounds on a mesh backing, I probably wouldn't have even noticed a problem. The other major problem with the wall tile (just while I'm on the subject) is instead of attaching greenboard to the studs that was flush with the drywall and then placing the top decorative liner over the seam between greenboard and drywall to cover it (I thought this was how most tilers did it?), he installed a thinner greenboard that was slightly recessed compared to the drywall. I thought when he did it, "well I guess that will work but he'll have to be very exact on his measurements". So what happened of course. A few areas are right up under the drywall and the rest had a big gap between tile and drywall which he just gobbed grout in.

People actually accept this kind of work?? We're hoping to add another liner and bullnosed tile on top to cover that mess. Oh, and also the tiles aren't evenly laid on the wall with some "jutting out" from the wall more than others if that makes sense. I do wonder if I should have ripped the wall tile out also but I would have had to taken the GC to court to recoup that cost and labor and I just don't have the energy for it.It came down to the budget and what I thought I could live with (no way I could have lived with that floor tile though).

Wow. Old age IS catching up with me. I still say there's not much that could've been do about the slope, but the workmanship is nonexistent.