How is that waterproofed if the tile is set on regular drywall?

It's not on drywall -- they put in Durarock and coated it with that red waterproofing stuff.

OK, then as palimpsest pointed out, the wall should have been prepped to be plumb and level before the durock and drywall. Not dealt with tail end. This shoudl be on the installer to make it right. How is up to him at this point as long as it is acceptable to you. But that being said his half-assed method would not fly with me.

Thinset is not a thickness compensator. It shrinks as it dries and will compromise the bond. The studs could have been sistered, or the cement board could have been wet shimmed with a high quality LHT product. You would still end up with a lip needing a quarter round.

Thanks, everyone. I appreciate your knowledgeable words.

Spoke to the contractor today; he says that if he had corrected the studs within the shower that much, it would have made the rest of that wall (outside the shower, which includes the bathroom door), kind of wonky, and he sees that as being the same result. But I'd rather have walls that are a-ok from the inside and tile that is properly installed with the right amount of thinset.

The tile is not properly installed (at least on that wall). The tile should be in full contact with the substrate.

But the wall must already *be* wonky it to make the tile plumb it is that far out.

We recently had a similar situation. Once they feathered out the drywall, everything looked fine.

Not how I would have done it, but hey, let him finish and we'll see. The wall looks remarkably flat for so much thinset.

Knock on the tiles - if it sounds hollow, its not good. Setting likes like this is called the 'spot method'.

Spot Bonding

The reason installers use spot-bonding to install floor tile, especially large format, is that it virtually eliminates lippage (one tile higher than the one adjacent). With the mortar concentrated in these five areas, the installer can easily push down on the mortar spot and get it to flatten out with the adjacent tiles. Continuing to push down on the other three corners usually yields a lippage-free installation. Life is good, right? Wrong!

This mistake creates a number of problems which many times will be cause for a callback and/or potential failure.

• The number one problem caused here is the lack of support of the tile. Any point load, including a woman’s high heel, will cause the tile to crack.
• The second problem occurs when a hollow sound is detected in the area which has no mortar underneath. This is not acceptable.
• The last problem occurs when moisture collects in these hollow areas causing the grout to remain dark until the water has completely evaporated. If the tile is a natural stone, the moisture could permanently discolor the stone, not to mention the grout.

Although spot bonding with mortar may be easier to set tiles flat to each other during the installation, it’s only a matter of time before just the slightest force causes a failure!

Eliminate spot bonding! It is simply not recommended for installing tile.

Spot bonding in wet areas leads to mold growing in those cavities. It doesn’t comply with the required 95% tile coverage required to meet TCNA industry standards.

Please read the maximum allowable thickness under limitations on the bag of thinset mortar used to set tile.

Your answer is there in writing!

Call the mortar manufacturer if needed to get the facts.

That is a conversation/communication I have with customers before setting. In some cases it is better to go point to point (flat) on a wall with exposed edge like that And live with and out of plumb condition.

(I still would try to shim out backer board/kerdiboard the back corner as much as possible to plumb so the cuts look uniform in the back corner. As long as you have a flat plane on the wall you are good usually)

Nor sure but looking at the pic....could be the pan liner was folded up at the bottom or something like that which caused the bottom of the wall to stick out.... so if you went plumb from that spot... yes you could be way out there at the top. Not sure of the methods used. Sometimes I have had to plane the studs to accommodate this.

(You have to also take into consideration if you do this....whether or not there is enough adjustment for a glass door if you are getting a shower door kit from a box store. They only usually have a tolerance of about 3/8” or so. Anything more than that and you have to usually have a glass company make custom doors....which is way more expensive.)

Obviously you would have had to redo the entire plane of drywall on that wall and not just in the shower to make totally plumb. Otherwise the transition would look bad.

Some times that is unrealistic. Especially when a vanity or door or window is on the same wall/plane Because it would throw everything else off.

But this should be communicated to the contractor and/or homeowner so you can manage expectations.

Bottom line is that this looks unacceptable and I don’t see that being remedied by skimming more drywall mud. Then the ceiling line is going to have a big wow in it.