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Home Disasters Flooring Remodeling

Is this an acceptable tile job?

2 years ago

last modified: 2 years ago

Long story short home advisor sent us a contractor (because we don't know anyone locally). We had him. Anothet pneumonia who was about 2x the price and another one who was suspiciously cheap. He was middle of the road although pretty cheap overall and had good reviews online. We actually planned to start the job with him when I stumbled on his portfolio on fb. I am generally a very picky person so I can't tell if I am overreacting or if this work seem sloppy and unevern around the edges. Should we go ahead with him or find a different contractor. It's a big job (about 3000 sq feet of tile floor including demo of the old one). Please tell me if I am overly nitpicking or if I should not ignore this.

Line in the below picture the corner seam looks uneven and the top of the cutout looks pretty sloppy (not sure if it's missing grout)

In the one all the tile next to the corner looks slightly different width and the cutout in the all also looks off

In this one you can see the seams of the tile patter don't seem to line up (especially at the bottom)

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Comments (8)

lynzy1
2 years ago
The pros here will weigh in on the tile pics, but they don‘t look great. I would be very wary of Home Advisor, though. It’s long had a scammy reputation with fake reviews and little to no vetting of any contractors on it. If your gut is telling you something isn’t right with this choice of contractor, then don’t move forward and take more time to find a true skilled professional.
itsourcasa
2 years ago
If these are the pictures he posted of his work I would not go with him.
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Is this an acceptable tile job?
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Comments (8)
Creative Tile is on it! No water proofing = do over! Good news is, you don't need to pay for anything else! The GC is the one who should "talk" to the tile guy. He who pays the subs, talks to the subs. He who pays the GC, talks to the GC. The GC hired a tile guy = GC responsible for said tile guy AND lack of water proofing. S/he who purchases the TILE is responsible for the tile. This is why GCs, designers, installers HATE it when homeowners insist on providing materials...it muddies the water. Now we have tons of finger pointing re: tile shape, size, colour, etc. Sadly, you are VERY luck the water proofing is MISSING!!! Very lucky. Everything needs to be removed (probably nothing can be salvaged) and the GC needs to start again...the tiles are irrelevant because the waterproofing is missing. That's your argument! Stick to it. And stop talking to the tile guy. The GC is your point of contact. That's why you have one. I'm sorry you are going through this. I would look at it as a blessing in disguise. The tiles are probably the reason why the alignment is all mucked up. And if you purchased the tile, it would be your responsibility to pay for new tile and another installation (if you didn't like it and insisted on a redo). The lack of water proofing takes away that financial responsibility. That's why I think the lack of water proofing is a blessing in disguise. Good luck. Keep us posted.
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New construction tile job: acceptable?
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Comments (9)
Quality? Its on par with builder grade lowest denominator sub contracted tile installation work. Theres also Custom professional master tile installation crews out there. "But builder said the other subs they use would grout and then cover with clear caulk. " As CTEC stated builder is wrong and you dont want his other sub either. What you want is a detailed scope in your next tile contract refrencing industry standards to be met and followed as well as details of layout expected only then will you have written documentation to debate upon.
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Is this an acceptable tile job?
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Comments (6)
Looks a lot better than most tile jobs seen on here. Bullnose tile is different sized than field tile. They didn’t “give up” on doing the staggered joint pattern. It is not physically possible to maintain a staggered joint with the bullnose sizing offered with your tile. The different sized tiles surrounding the niche are a function of niche size and again, bullnose size. Of course they had to cut tile to make it fit. No, the corner is not perfect. But the corner gaps are not at all “large”, and will be properly filled with silicone caulk. The tile cuts wrap the corner properly, and everything looks plumb. That’s pretty good. The tiny tiles above the bench are a function of the bench height. They will be hidden when the builder retroactively installs the stone top, which he should do without fuss. Chipped tile in a corner that will be covered by caulk is fine, unless it is excessively jagged. No cut tile should be an exposed edge. It should covered with bullnose, pencil, or Schluter trim. If it’s exposed, that should be popped off and changed If that shower is properly waterproofed, this is very much a passing grade. Especially so since this is a builder project. They are notorious cheapskates who won’t even pay the lowest going rate for a “tile guy”, much less paying a professional tiler. You are pretty off base with the majority of your concerns. There is certainly zero reason for a tearout and redo. Unless you just want to pay for that.
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Bad tile job? or is this acceptable?
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Comments (6)
Use grout that closely matches the tile colors and these small imperfections will probably disappear. Such as MP "Frost" which is a very ver light gray thatis almost white. When redoing 3 bathrroms, I used MP "white" with white subway tile in the first one to be grouted. I coul see the slight yellowish color in it. So for the other 2 bathrooms I switched to Frost and it's much better. Have the contractor do a sample board for you before committing to a grout color.
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panther2277
Original Author
2 years ago
Yes these are part of his online portfolio
Jean
2 years ago
I would not use this installer.
PRO
Jeffrey R. Grenz, General Contractor
2 years ago
last modified: 2 years ago
Many "referral services" are actually just paid advertising.

This work is terrible.
Lyndee Lee
2 years ago
If those are his best projects...
Nope!
Juliet
2 years ago
I wouldn't hire him. when we started tiling, I got 2 names from a local tile store. I called 2, one never responded, one we were going to hire but every time he came to measure, he jacked up the price of the bid.

Then I found the 2 highest reviewd tile persons on Houzz. They couldn't meet our timeline but I asked them for their best recs. through those conversations I finally found our guy.

He’s done what i think is a great job. He’s easy to communicate with, shared how he waterproofs, did a dry layout and explaind how he was going to lay the tile. We talked about the day’s plan when he would arrive and he’d walk me through the job at end of day. I stressed I didn’t want sliver cuts and he made sure there were not any. Lots of levels and straight edges to make sure it was all straight. He miscut our quartz piece for the curb but replaced it on his dime. Total integrity.
weedyacres
2 years ago
Nope. Sloppy grouting, sloppy cuts, some visible lippage, and he can't even line up the tile offsets right on the gray floor.

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