@trescool - the way you figure out "who pays" will come down to the CONTRACT you have....and whether or not it SPECIFICALLY calls for floor leveling/furring out the joists, etc. And then the next place you can LEAN on (legally) would be the specific language regarding the tile install. This is where the words, "To NTCA Reference Manual Guidelines" will come in handy. These TWO statements in your contract (please pull out your contract to see what it says) will save your bacon. I would wait to see what the GC (and not his subordinate) says. If they offer the redo but are sticky on who pays, then this is going to get UGLY. If they offer the redo with a 50/50 split, then you have room to negotiate. I'm sorry to say but your project became the COMPANY'S learning curve for who NOT TO HIRE and how NOT to work - especially if they want to keep earning awards. I would push the "awards" point - quite heavily. Because the people who gave out the awards may not KNOW about the lowering of standards for this Company, you can use that as leverage (but only as a last resort - before it gets REALLY ugly). You could mention that you would be happy to UP DATE the award-givers regarding your project to see if this is common practice for the Company in question.

Perhaps it’s semantics but the plumbing inspector came out several times to check the construction of the shower including approving waterproofing method as well as needing a 24 hour flood test to check the integrity of the shower pan. And of course the installation of the rough as well as the fixtures had to be approved as well. Based on my understanding it seems as though it is the construction of the unseen elements that impacts the functionality and waterproofing of the shower. Perhaps I’m not understanding but theoretically one could have an ugly tile job but a waterproof shower.

Jenna, keep a very careful paper/electronic trail of all your communication with the contractor. I had a contractor quit, and then later sued me saying that I fired hiim which I did not. We had a very good paper/electronic trail of all our communications proving that they quit. We prevailed in court, but we would not have if we didn't have that paper/electronic trail. If you are missing any evidence that they refused to fix, create a retro-active trail of that communication by sending an email to the contractor that says something like this: "Thank you for meeting us at the work site yesterday to discuss the poor tile placement and faulty waterproofing of the shower you built. We were really hoping that you would decide to move forward to fix the problems, but since you refused, we are now stuck in a situation where we need to hire a new contractor to re-build the shower. I would like a refund of [$$$] to cover [$$$] to re-puprchase tiles, and [$$$] to hire a new contractor to re-demo and re-build the faulty installation. Please bring a check, or mail one to [address] today." Make it *kinda *polite. Then save his response. You need a piece of the paper/electronic trail that proves that he refused to fix anything, or else he could claim that he was totally willing to fix, you were unreasonable and fired him instead. In most states you have to give the contractor a chance to fix. If they botch the fix or refuse to do anything, then you can legally fire them. That's what someone did to us, and they sued us, but we had the paper trail to show the judge that they had quit. They said it in an email plain as day and judge awarded us everything we asked for in our counter-suit. You need proof that he refused. Probably he will respond to your email in some rude way, and probably will not refute your description of him refusing to fix. That should work as proof. Sorry this has happened to you. I would post my "Goes South" story, but I have a feeling everyone is sick of it. But if you want to look it up it's called "What to do when a project goes completely SOUTH." Good luck, and take tons of photos of every layer of everything that is underneath those tiles. You may need them one day. We did.

@avaaustin The process of attaching fiberglass mesh to ceramic/porcelain tile differs from natural stone processing. Mesh on the back of ceramic mosaic usually doesn't have a layer of glue between the mesh "cells". At same time, the main reason of "resin backing" attached to natural stone is to reinforce it and fiberglass mesh is attached using a "glue" that is mostly polyester. It, first, adds an impervious layer to the back of stone and can significantly reduce the evaporation. Secondly, there could be problems with how well the bond is between the mesh and the substrate since dry set or polymer-modified mortars don't adhere to it very well. True porcelain tiles, whether sealed or unsealed, have >0.5% water absorption. At same time, marble is a translucent stone that will still absorb moisture as vapor even after an impregnating sealer is applied. I can't tell you whether Bulletproof sealer will help you in your situation. With properly installed water-in, water-out system and stone with no "resin backing" it is best to avoid any sealer. That's my strong opinion. Sealing the stone but not sealing the grout will not make any difference. Impregnating sealers are all considered permeable but if there is trapped moisture under the stone unsealed grout won't help.