Anita, I don't know what's going on, but I posted to your thread right after you posted it, and it's not showing as having an answer. But if I click on the thread, my answer's there!! here it is, copied and pasted: o RE: Bill Vincent (or other tilers), a tile sliver question for yo Brought to you by clip this post email this post what is this? see most clipped and recent clippings * Posted by bill_vincent (billvincent@hotmail.com) on Sun, Jun 8, 08 at 12:57 There's two things you could've done to make it a little better. Normally, it's a no brainer-- split the difference, so that you have a 2" piece, top and bottom. But in this case, that would've ended up putting a sliver at the bottom of the window. If were up to me, I would've started the full tile at the bottom of the window. That would've given you another 1/4", anyway, from looking at the photo. Secondly, where the tile comes out past the cabinet, I'd have used tiles bullnosed on the 6" side, made the sliver that comes out from underneath the cabinet an "L" cut, and then a full piece of bullnose to end into the other window. I'm sorry-- I don't mean to tear your work apart, but you asked. :-) Other than that, it looks good! :-)

They're 1/3 offset, so of course every third tile will be quite small. It looks like your right wall isn't quite plumb, so they did the best they could to make the pattern work. The actual laying and the matching of middle and side walls looks excellent. This is a great time to use tile-matched grout, though, instead of something with a lot of contrast. Old houses don't do well with finish choices that play up their imperfections...

You have a herring bone install with a boarder or hard edge that could NOT be moved. With the size of the space, the install (herring bone) and the size of the patio tiles something had to give. Even the straight lay (brick pattern or running bond pattern) has sizing issues. And the "size" that is the issue is the problem of the PATIO and not the installer. Either the SIZE of the ENTIRE patio could have been altered (either made smaller or bigger), or the pattern altered (no herring bone) or the size of the patio stone chosen could have changed. I'm guessing that "none of the above" was an option. The cuts are straight. The boarder/hard edge is square and true. I would say this is technically a nice install. Technically = nice work = pay them for the work done. The AESTHETICS (your reaction to the nice work) may not be what you thought was going to happen....but there does not seem to be anything "wrong" with the work. The SIZE of the tiles dictates how much SPACE a run takes up (including grout lines). The size of the SPACE dictates how many FULL RUNS you can expect to have using the tiles chosen. The cuts are because of the amount of space you had as a patio "ran out". One thing that COULD BE changed...the SIZE OF THE GROUT LINES!!!! Yep. Nice, big, fat, juicy GROUT lines could have been used to eliminate the thin cuts. But that would look EVEN WORSE than what you have (would look like it was laid by a kindergarten class). You can have it redone...but then you have to CHANGE almost everything about your project. And to do that, you would have to pay for it. Because technically this install is good or "very good".

Thank you so much to everyone for your input! And that is some impressive cut @Creative Tile Eastern CT! I greatly appreciate the photoshopped image @groveraxle. THAT is how I would've preferred the tile to be laid -- much more centered. I have asked my tiler about all of the issues mentioned here: - Lippage: they have checked each tile to make sure there is a smooth transition. They mentioned that it is common for 12 x 24 tiles to occasionally be bowed but they sorted through the tile and picked out flatter pieces. - 2 piece tile around vent: they were also very frustrated that this had to be done because they had gone through 6 or 7 tiles trying to make that cut but the tile kept cracking. It was very surprising because it should have been a very easy cut and that is always what they do, but they believe this tile was fired at a very high temperature so this was the next best option. - Centering: they measured everything before cutting and laying down the tiles and felt this was the best option because otherwise there would have been a sliver at the top right corner of the vanity and back wall, to the left of the toilet. I'm not sure where is better to have the slivers or if by the vanity would even have been noticeable. Overall, I'm a bit frustrated with the tile not being "centered", but I do trust my tiler and am hopeful that the slivers on the left are not as noticeable once the door is back on. The grout is going in today (I'll double check on the gap around the baseboard) and I will post an updated picture! I am also doing the same tile in my master bath and will be much more attentive this time around! I plan to measure out and sketch a few scenarios to avoid slivers, especially since I will be walking on that floor daily!