Having tile jobs done are gut wrenching. So happy that your builder is making the correct move to remove and replace. Seems like only ten percent of the tile contractors are legitimately good. My builder prepped the tile guy who I had by telling him that I would be doing the bucket test, sliding a 5 gallon bucket across the floor and it should not catch any lips. Also, every morning I had blue tape X marks on tiles that needed to be replaced because he did not use a random of enough color pattern. The fool just grabbed from the same box and went with whatever was in his hand. Could not believe it. Good luck on round 2!

Thanks for the insight, Joseph! Sorry, I may have used the wrong words. We hired a tile company who took care of everything and scoped all the work. They hired their own guy and said it would be great. But I think your sentiment still stands that the issue is the ceiling and not the tile work - that’s what I was curious about so thank you!

Thank you! Several lessons learned here. The instructions on the back of the bottle said to scrub for stubborn stains. I used a toothbrush, but wasn't crazy aggressive. But I did do several rounds of Zep in this one area. That was likely my mistake. Just glad I was careful enough that it didnt harm the tiles or baseboards (I used blue tape). Maybe I'll have my tile guy just remove the grout from this one area and regroup. I dont mind if the shade of grey (I still have the original bag of grout we used) is a bit different, because my whole floor has very slightly different shades of grey grout throughout. I can't just put grout on top of it? I know you have to usually remove 2/3 of the grout in the joints for the new grout to cure, but I read somewhere that for sanded grout, if you mist it enough the first few days, it will still be pretty hard in the end. Or, maybe I'll just leave it alone. It's not that low. Glad I just tested it on this one small area! lol

I recommend you/someone is on site in the morning. Take photos of where they are when they start the day and then someone drops by just before the end of their day - do the same thing. Take photos and then post photos....each day if you must. Start a new thread and tell us that you are posting new photos daily with morning/evening photos each time you post. We will keep an eye on how things are going and will point out a 'Stop! Don't let them go any further!' statement if we have to. You can take a photo of the demolition of this cr@p. Then start with new photos of the redo. If you see wall studs with nothing on them or in them...great. Take a pic. If you see studs with plastic stapled to it but nothing else....great. Take a pic. To you it may not look like much, but to us we will be able to spot the 'little' things that make BIG differences. You have a stand-up GC. S/he said it's a do over IMMEDIATELY. I know this is disheartening, but we have seen the worst option possible: we've seen GCs tell homeowners (as in, "Hey Lady, let thems guys does the jobs youse's paying 'em to") that nothing is wrong, or that they are too picky or that 'what do you expect'? Etc. And we've seen GS swear at anyone who questions them and drive off...with the homeowner's PRODUCTS in the back of their truck! Nope. Not kidding! They have ghosted homeowners to the point of $20K lost in payments and materials. I know. It doesn't make you feel much better (especially when it is someone else's misfortune) but you have a better than average situation. You have a GC who is taking this down and getting a new crew. That is MORE than many, many people have gotten. I know. One would hope a pro would offer more....but the building industry in N. America (for the most part) is the Wild Wild West. That idea of, "Big Government is Bad Government" is part and parcel for the situation we are all living through. Chin up...you are on the RIGHT TRACK. Trust us on this one. You are going to be OK...your GC is doing what s/he SHOULD be doing.