okay I'm going to try to upload these photos but don't know exactly what will work! photo looking into bathroom vanities will be on left and right [URL=http://img177.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn0317xz3.jpg][IMG]http://img177.imageshack.us/img177/6476/dscn0317xz3.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL] photo in bathroom looking at linen cabinet and shower area [URL=http://img503.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn0320kh2.jpg][IMG]http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/6724/dscn0320kh2.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL] photo looking at shower [URL=http://img147.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dscn0323qz3.jpg][IMG]http://img147.imageshack.us/img147/9883/dscn0323qz3.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL] Here is a link that might be useful:

I had this issue and after discussion with GC and tile co., it was all ripped up and reinstalled. If you are uncomfortable now, just wait a few months until buyers remorse hits. Also, if you were to sell the house, potential buyers would notice. Walk on it barefoot and then ask yourself if you are willing to put up with it forever. If possible, get it done right. Jerilyn, it's very unlikely it's defective material. This type of tile needs to be installed like marble, so they tell me and I went to the distributer to meet with the manager over this issue. She explained the whole thing to me. She was well aware I changed my mind on another bigger project using the very large planks. Not every tile setter can do marble but since this plank is in style right now, they all are trying to keep up. She said they offer classes to the companies who buy their supplies there but no one comes. They all think they know....sigh. After going through the process, I can't see where or how, removing a few tiles and reinstalling is an option. But I am not there. There are 4 points where adjoining tiles are going to meet up. If you adjust one, what happens on the adjoining edges. I am not a tile setter. I guess with enough experience they can make magic. This sounds like a quick fix and then what happens in a month or 6 months? Is this work guaranteed? But if you do this, before you tell anyone its okay, wait until it's dry and you can walk all over it. I saw on TV show they used a hockey puck to slide across the floor. If it's not even, the puck will bounce (lippage). Now, that might just be TV but you need to be double darn sure the job is what you want. In the end, even with a total rip up and the floor was floated to be sure it was level, I still have a few places where there is a tiny bit of lippage. It's not bad or in the walking path and I can tolerate it. The first install was like walking on very sharp edges and would even catch the sole of my shoe. When I ordered new window treatments, the woman who came to measure commented on the tile and then told me of her nightmare in a condo. It's all lippage, so much so she has rugs everywhere. It cost her a lot of money and because she didn't know any better, now she has a lot of rugs and a floor that will be a huge issue at resale. Make your stand, ask questions, go talk to the supplier without dissing anyone. Ask the GC if he would call this acceptable in a different job. I know right now it's about the cost of correcting it and ripping it out and starting over would be awfully hard for him to swallow. Did the GC sub out the tile work because that can get testy? But in the end, it's the GC who needs to work with you, you did hire him, right? I am sorry you have to go through this and I wish you all the best.

Only you can decide what you're willing to deal with here. I will say that if you decide to go before the contractor's board, they will expect that you've tried all avenues to correct the problem with the contactor FIRST before resorting to them. And they will look at the specs of the job overall, and what would have been a reasonable result to have been expected given the site conditions and the contract language. If you are the one that set the specs of the job and then got bids for it based on those specs, then you cannot hold a contractor at fault for following the specs that you set forth. Was the difficulty of installing large format tile discussed with you at all by anyone before you chose it? Even with perfect slab prep, you will have some lippage with large format tile. It bows in the middle. It's the nature of the tile to have lippage when installed in any other pattern than stacked where the bows in the middle align. And that's why manufacturers only recommend a 1/3 offset pattern. It minimizes any lippage issue. Is that the pattern you chose for the tile? Or is it a "random" pattern. That will create more lippage that wouldn't be the contractor's issue. It's the nature of the tile coming in to play. And it would be installed contrary to the manufacturer's recommendations, so it wouldn't be supported as an actionable item. Any tile floor can only be as flat as the substrate it's installed on. What type of diagnostics did you or the contractor do to determine what type of prep the slab would need? Would you have been willing to pay an additional $500-1K to ensure that you had a problem free install? That would include grinding down high spots, and filling low spots until the floor was flat enough to support large format tile. Was the flatness of the slab discussed at all? If you would have been willing to pay for better prep, then the contractor should have done that better prep at the additional cost. A true tile pro would have at least brought it to your attention and had you sign off on it if you refused to do so. If the condition of the slab was brought to your attention, then you really don't have a lot of recourse for the issues that you are seeing. As far as the cleanliness of the job site, contractors usually stipulate "broom clean" which doesn't mean move in ready. It means the majority of trash is gathered up and the place is swept. It doesn't mean mopped and scrubbed. You should always plan on cleaning a space post renovation, or hiring a cleaning service to address the job. Renovation produces lots of dust and dirt and it gets everywhere. It's not your contractor's job to deal with that unless it's written into the contract that he will hire the cleaning service upon job completion. That would be a higher bid for the job, of course. It sounds as though your tile job simply needs a good initial scrubdown.

I cannot address the install question but we have a similar tile in our shower, and we really like it. 3+ years of shopping tile and this is the only one hubs liked. I was apprehensive for the reasons mentioned above but it has not been a problem. It hasn't been difficult to keep clean and only one of us actually squeegees. No one in our house can be bothered to wipe with a towel, lol. Our mastiff gets bathed in it once a week (he has terrible allergies). The shower gets cleaned afterwards w/ a soft sponge and mild dish soap. It only takes a few minutes. No mildew, etc. I agree that you will not like a darker grout. We matched to the tile and it just disappears. You won't lose any of the handmade effect of the tile by matching the grout. Up close our grout varies in thickness due to the nature of the tile edge. Good luck with your project!