omg! no, that is absolutely not correct! I don't have any advice, but I'm sorry this happened to you and I hope it gets fixed with no hassle!

Who was the one who decided to stairstep the ending of the backsplash? Because it's that decision that is throwing off the corner. It should be ended with the bottom row wrapping around the corner to the edge. And the cuts should at least line up in a straight line on the left hand side. And the pieces should be bullnosed.

The rest isn't bad. Although it looks like he set the tile directly on the counter rather than leaving a space for the caulk.

Thanks HomeNoobie. Me too. :-) Still can't stop staring at it. I can't believe I'm not crying. That will come later probably.

live wire oak...nobody made a decision on that...least of all me. I'm not really sure what you are saying. I just told him I wanted a brick pattern backsplash using this tile. Period. That's the only decision I made. And you are right...there is no room for caulk. *sigh.*

Looks like tile dude needs to be doing it over again. Especially since that corner looks like a drunk did it and I would think the whole 'no room for grout' doesn't mean 'no room for water seepage'.

It's not okay. You didn't pay him all the way yet, did you?

Sorry this happened but you'll get it fixed. He'll have to as you haven't finished paying him yet. It's hard to tell from the pictures but it looks fine to me except for the uneven corner layout. Perhaps all he has to do is cut the tiles so they are even at the corner? Take a deep breath and stay as positive as possible when you talk to him on Monday am so he doesn't get defensive. I find it always helps when I say something nice about the work before the but I'm concerned about the..." You're his employer for this job-he should want to please you and get a good reference especially in this economy. Let us know how you make out.

Seriously?? Looks to me like he didn't even finish, like maybe he just got to the corner and propped a few pieces before calling it a day. Horrible.

As for wrapping tile around the corner, is there an upper in the corner? It doesn't look like it. I suggest just tiling to the corner and ending it there. Period. Don't even wrap it around. Without seeing the whole kitchen, I'm guessing the end of that counter just dead ends in a space not used regularly. If that's the case, you don't need tile on the right-hand wall at all.

Good luck with getting this straightened out. Keep us posted on the outcome.

deedles...yes, no room for grout is a huge problem.

lottieS... I'm not sure how he can fix the corner. The short tiles are cut of course to keep the pattern going. The long tiles are full size and haven't been cut. He just ran out of room to place tiles before he ran out of wall. It's just a big fat mess. I think the problem must've been from teh beginning. It seems a math problem to me, but I'm not sure at all. I'm hoping someone who does tile will know what happened exactly.

breezygirl - nope, those aren't propped...they are stuck to the wall with mastic (sp?). And, i do need to wrap the corner. The stove is just out of view. Even if I didn't have to wrap the corner, the tiles don't meet the corner. There are 1/4-3/4 inch gaps between the end of each tile and the end of the wall where it meets the corner.

The tile guy didn't bring a tile saw with him? I ask because the corner cuts look like he whacked them off with a hammer and screwdriver.

We just finished our first (and maybe only) backsplash tile job. It too had an inside corner. After much discussion we brought the cut the edges of the tile on one wall to the corner and butted the straight edges on the adjacent wall up to the first. They looked pretty good before the grout went in, and with grout, they look even better - no rag tag edges. Your corner appears to be greater than 90 degrees which complicates things somewhat, but out-of-perfect walls are more the norm than not. And he's a professional, or so he claims. No amount of grout will fix that corner.

I'm also wondering about spacers. Did you envision that the tiles would have little to no space between them? The tiles on the bottom row absolutely need room for caulk in any case. They certainly left generous amounts of room at the top of the tiles behind the sink.

Do you have a GC? I think you should enlist his/her help.

Suzannesl - please post a photo or two of your corner. It would be of great help. He had a saw....but, I agree they looked whacked. And, yes, I noticed the top of the tiles behind the sink too. :-(

oh dear. just know you will recover from this and get it done right. i had to fire a counter fabricator (via the GC) and get a new counter made with new marble slab - it was screwed up that bad. it was a hassle but worth waiting for. stick to your guns and get it done right.

the worst thing is when you are so excited to see progress in your house/kitchen, and you trust someone to do something right, and they totally mess it up, and then you're left with a huge hassle of dealing with it - instead of sitting back and admiring it. I feel u. HUG.

You poor thing! I didn't even get what was wrong until I hit that last picture of course. IMO the whole thing has to come down. I don't understand why he reduced the width of the bottom row of tiles... he should have started on the bottom and trimmed the top if anything. And used spacers. And left space for grout b/w the counter and bottom row. And that corner is atrocious! I had totally wonky walls and did not experience anything of that sort.

I would ask for the money to replace the tiles and hire someone else. Again, so sorry for you. Here's my corner, FWIW it's filled with caulk, not grout:

I so appreciate everyone "feeling my pain" and offering so many great suggestions. We are in the process of taking it all down right now before it has days to dry. We documented everything with photos. Does anyone know what he did wrong? Is it a math problem? SEriously, I have no idea what he did to create this corner. I know he cut the bottom row of tiles...that' easy to see...and he whacked them...all of that is easy to see...but the corner is a total mysetery to me.

Oh, dear! What is it with these fabricators taking no pride in their work? Best of luck in getting this resolved.

I share all this after having laboriously taught myself to tile. I'm still no pro, but for gods' sake, your guy really did made some heinous bloopers.

The Problems, in detail:

1. The walls are not square/plumb. This is a very typical issue that your tiler apparently doesn't have the experience to handle (!). It can be resolved a number of ways, among them back-buttering extra mortar on the dropping side (easier solution) or actually correcting the drop of the wall itself with new wallboard (harder solution). It should NEVER be resolved the way he tried to, by cutting the tiles on an angle. This is elementary stuff, yikes.

2. The slanted edge cuts on the tile are atrocious and certainly don't look like they were done with a saw. All straight cuts should be done with the saw.

3. Yes, it's a matter of planning it in advance with some simple math. The whole bottom tile course has to be moved about 1.5" to the left, so that you wind up with a cut piece on both sides, and NOT a whole piece with a few millimeters to spare. In general you don't want to have to cut pieces smaller than about an inch (depending on the tile). That way you'll have cut tiles on alternating courses that are slightly more than half - if you lay it out like CoCo's tiler did, this will work nicely as you round that corner.

4. Is it just my monitor, or did he actually cut the bottom OFF of the lowest course of tile? If you've gotta cut horizontally for a backsplash, you should cut the top course if possible, since most of it's hidden under the cabinetry. Otherwise, it makes the whole splash look like it's sinking into the countertop.

5. Yes, there should be the same groutline-sized gap distance between the bottom tiles and countertop as between the tiles themselves. This, and the corner line, will be filled with caulk that matches the grout - not with grout. You always use caulk at changes of plane, to account for difference in expansion and contraction (and also between changes of material - the same is true for caulking between the final row of tile on top and the wallboard).

6. The "ears" of the electrical outlets are supposed to rest on the tile, not inside the tile cutout. You won't be able to screw on outlet covers the way he has it right now. (!! another pretty elementary rule of tiling walls.)

Here's a quick shot of my backsplash mid-tiling, before grouting/caulking. Not how the corner looks nice and straight BEFORE caulking - all the caulk in the world can't fix your dude's cutting & layout errors. Here you can also see an example of how the electrical receptacle ears are resting on not under the tile face, and another example of how to lay out subways in a corner (CoCo's is Good Example number one).

Hope that arms you just a little bit for the battle. BIG hugs!

PS: ... and just for the record, did you notice that your painter gave you green outlets? ;-)

Whoops, guess I could include that photo, eh?

I am sorry to see your problem - that sucks for sure. I suggest that you post this in the john bridge tile forum's professional's area. These guys have been very helpful to me in the past and if you want to kill a few hours, check out the "crazy tile jobs" thread - there's some amazing stuff!

I didn't ignore your request for photos, I just had trouble getting them sent to my computer. For what they're worth, here is our first try at backsplash tile - we did the bathroom floors a couple of years ago, so we at least had that much experience. We've had to order more caulk, so that part still has some bits to go.

{{!gwi}}

{{!gwi}}

The point is, if we can make that corner first time out, your "professional" should be able to make your subway tiles come out right.

I do think that it looks like he horizontally trimmed the first course of tiles. Bad choice on his part. Correctly mentioned previously that it looks like the tiles are sinking behind the cabs. The corner cuts are atrocious!!!!! I tiled my own backsplash. First tiling I EVER did and it is head and shoulders above this job! Grout will not fix this. As for wrapping the corner, I agree with the poster above that votes to butt the tiles into the corner and not wrap but maybe there is an issue with your stove?

He needs to pull this down and start from scratch or better yet, he can pull this down and someone else can tile your backsplash. That'd get my vote.

Good luck Monday. Show him these responses and he'll see the light.

Ne

Good golly!

I'm with you: it's almost funny! Not, of course, only ... well, don't lose these photos. Someday you'll be very amused.

I would agree that one's confidence in the guy could be counted so low that the best solution of all would be to ask him for your money back and go find someone else. circuspeanut maybe!

Good luck!

That awful job reminds me of the first installer of my tiles who had them all crooked and some had no room for grout and others had too much room. He cut my tiles so poorly and he walked out when I confronted him. I had to spend two days removing all the tiles. I paid for the thinset, grout and tiles myself so I had to buy a lot since he decided to cut the 12.4 X 12.4 tiles in small pieces when I told him no border in the very very tiny foyer area! I then had a tough time finding someone knew. I really feel for you. That is an unacceptable job by someone that sure does not look like he has enough experience.

Are you sure he wasn't drunk or on drugs when he did it?
Wow! I know children that could do a better job.
Tell him he has to do it over until it is done right. No money til it is. No soup either. :)

BTW suzannesl, like your tile job and the floor!

Your walls are significantly out of plumb, that's why the tile looks like that. Did you have a GC? If so, I would start with him. Most tile guys, as opposed to tile contractors, know how to lay up the basics, and do a mitred corner. This corner looks so out of plumb that it may need more leveling that he can't provide.

That is a terrible job and I agree that you should probably search for someone else to reinstall it, as he doesn't seem capable.

I also agree with the suggestion to end the backsplash on that wall, but if you have to wrap the corner for the stove, I think it should continue further along the right wall and be installed behind the stove as well.

Also, I think the top row of tiles directly under the upper cabinets needs to continue along the rest of the wall, rather than stop under the cabinet.

Everyone else seems to have mentioned the other problems, such as the cut tiles on the bottom row, the rough cuts in the corner, the layout, the lack of space for caulk, the wider space under the ledge above the sink. I hope you get this resolved quickly and can get any money you've already paid back from him. Hopefully you can get him to pay for the materials too. If not, remember there's always small claims court and the BBB dispute resolution programs. (Better yet, if you paid by credit card, you can try disputing the charge.) Sorry this happened. Please keep us posted.

I hope it gets resolved soon. It's so helpful to have people here who know exactly why it looks wrong so you can arm yourself.

Thanks everyone for your responses. I so appreciate your advice and sympathy. :-) To clarify, the plan was always to wrap the wall and continue down the length of that wall and include tiling behind the stove. What you see in the photos is just as far as he got in one day (Friday). We spent Friday night removing most of the tiles. We started in that ridiculous corner and moved left. The further left we moved, of course, he more difficult they were to remove. And, as hard as we tried, there was damage to the sheetrock underneath the tiles he installed early in the day. :-( We didn't remove anything behind the sink because we didn't want to damage the short wall and wood trim behind the sink. My husband called the tile guy and he said it was the best he could do, as he isn't perfect. WHAT? Of course, nobody is perfect, but he is supposed to know what he is doing. I don't really know how he could have done a nice job for a friend and not be able to do this, but it is what it is. Maybe he just messed up from the start and didn't realize it until he got to the corner, but that doesn't explain the row of cut tiles, the lack of a space for grout, etc.

Anyway, we are going to start over again in our search for a competent tile guy. I don't have a GC because this is such a small job it wasn't necessary. We aren't going to pursue anything with the BBB or small claims court because all we gave him was a deposit. Of course, he wouldn't return it and we were only able to salvage the tiles that had wet mastic behind them, but all in all...it's not a tremendous amount of money. My husband feels it will be a million dollars worth of hassle and missed work to recover a few hundred dollars. He refers to it as the hassle factor. I'm just happy he worked slowly, took a 2 hour lunch and didn't get very far. LOL. I'll be sure to follow up with photos when we finally find someone capable. In the meantime, I try not to pay attention to the holes in the wall in my once pretty kitchen. We remodeled it 18 months ago but ran out of money before we could do the backsplash. It was the only thing left to do...and now this. But, all in all, it could have been so much worse. Thanks again for all your help. The kitchen forum members are the BEST! :-)

Just be glad you, did not have your whole kitchen, done by him. A two hour lunch? Maybe he, went home to practice. Lol

ROFL! He either went home to practice or to do some math. And, yes, we're very thankful he didn't get very far. He knew he messed up because he was waiting outside when I drove up and told me he'd see me Monday & left before i got inside. ha. My hubby was outside working in the yard and was in & out all day. But, he didn't notice a problem until I got home.

Wallboard is easy enough to fix. We did a lot of electrical work (had a real electrician in) in the kitchen and dining room, so we had a whole lot of wallboard to fix. I even put wallboard tape in a corner where the builders 40 years ago didn't. Actually, now that I think about it, it was the same corner as my pictures above.

That's not good. he must have mismeasured to get fule tiles falling just a hair short in the corner. He can pull tiles off about 3-4 tiles back on each row that ends in a full tile, and then space them out. The cuts all need to be much cleaner, and in the second pic, why did he drop down a course on the right of those cabinets? All in all unacceptable.

I'm sure if you had a little time (and a tile cutter rental handy) you could actually do this job yourself. However if you are, as you say, continuing to look for someone else to do it competently, why not try tile retailers or wholesalers for suggestions? That's how we got the name of our installer. Best of luck to you... I'm sure it looks better *now* with the tile down, even with damage to the wall board (anything would have to!).

you need to find out what your friend considers a 'nice' job.

and even tho a small job, i'd file a complaint with the state registrar of contractors. He should be registered there to be licensed. If anyone else checks with them before hiring him they'll see it.

I think he went home to do meth, not math.

lol -meth...

I do hope that you at least post reviews on yelp and angieslist. The sad thing is guys like that expect homeowners not to deal with the hassle of going after them. If they lost a couple of half days of work and had a few cases go against them, they may start doing a better job. Since they aren't held accountable, they keep doing stuff like this.
Our gc will be finding out how he can't get away with it on our job as soon as we have our written estimates. I know your job is not huge, but then again, going after him would therefore be easier/less complicated too.
Maybe you could spearhead going after him and leave dh out of the process. It upsets me to think of the people before me who had shoddy work done by the gc but did not get the word out or make there be consequences for the gc. If they had, then we might not have been duped by them. The sad part is one person I know who used him did not bother to enlighten me about them until after we were screwed by them. If we had been warned, even after our project started, we'd have been better protected. Please do your best to post reviews at the very minimum. You will be doing a real service to the community.

@ CoCo- What tile is your backsplash? Love it!

So what happened?!?!