I will try to add pictures if I can figure out how.

Please do. I'm completely lost here. If this is ANYTHING like what I'm picturing in my head, it all has to be ripped out and redone. I'd like to see pics, first, though.

Your best bet is to go to www.photobucket.com and start a free account. With each photo you upload, you get what's called a "tag line". Simply click on it to highlight it, right click and copy it, and then paste it into the text of your message, and when you post, the picture will appear in your post.

I'm really hoping I'm misunderstanding you.

Here is the first picture.

Here is the soap niche I was talking about

Here is a link that might be useful:

Here is a link that might be useful:

This is actually rotated to the upside down position so that you can see the measurment better. This is from the stud.

Here is a link that might be useful:

I hope the pictures help you all to know what I am talking about. I really need some guidance.

Thanks so much for any help you can offer

can't speak for the thick mud job, but the slight cracks or voids in the grout lines are easily fixed..Though i need to ask why that color grout? It draws my attention to the grout instead of tile...

My tiled bathroom walls (both inside and outside of the shower) were floated (i.e., they mudded and lathed the walls before tiling rather than just using cement board). The resulting depth differential was addressed with the use of decorative trim,, specifically a V-cap).

Here are a couple of pictures of it showing what I mean. In the first picture, if you look in the lower left hand corner you'll see a portion of the tile against the wall with a depth differential similar to shat you describe. The only major probelm I encountered was that I needed to get a toilet with a 10 inch rough-in, since the new wall didn't allow for a toilet with a 12 inch rough-in.

Here's another picture that illustrated the same thing from a different perspective:

The soap dish looks like a poor layout by the tile setter, which may or may not be the fault of the tile setter, depending on what s/he was told about where to put the soap dish.

The missing grout is also a less-than-adequate job. But I agree with gdog, the grout is not the correct color. The grout should be white.

Was it discussed with your installer before he floated the walls the max that he could float them?

The tile guy told me they would do a mud job and told me to have the plummer prepare for a 1 1/2 inch finish. I had floated tile on the wall before this remodel....but it didn't stick out this far. The tile guy told me that I would need quarter rounds or radius bullnose for the trim. As you can see the radius bullnose that I had to special order does not begin to do the job.

What do we do to fix this?

Thanks again for your help.

As far as the return on the floated wall. it looks like the tile guy grouted that return. It's pretty wide, be prepared for that grout to eventually crack as it cures and shrinks.

I'd do one of three things:
1) use a grinder or mechanical tool to dig out a recess in the return and fill it with a thin strip of your white wall tile.
2) cover the return it with a run of decorative tile trim pieces like arielitas mom's pics show
3) Cover it with a banding of wood trim

The soap niche? Ugh. The centering of the face frame is atrocious. The grout line in the rear of it could have been avoided.

Holes in the grout? The sooner they are filled the better. New grout sticks to newish grout better than it sticks to old grout. Still, it's a bad grout job.

With gaps like that in the grout, I'd be worried about hidden voids behind what you have. Meaning some of the grout lines may look solid, but there may be voids in the rear of the joint.

Contrasting grout like you have accentuates both the grout lines and the shape of the tile. As such, anything out of perfect is accentuated and shows up like a sore thumb.
wavy grout lines? There they are, front and center. Out of square tiles? In your face.

If you ever feel the need to tone the grout color down, it can be colored with a Aquamix Grout Colorant. An excellent product.

I wish you the best in getting this resolved. When tile looks purdy, it's ever so nice. But when it's ugly...what a disappointment.

Best, Mongo

Hello again.....I still don't have this resolved. The tile guys keep talking about what to do about the amount of grout that is showing. They now are saying that they will add 1/4 inch green board to the entire wall to build it out so that the grout line wont look so big. It will still be big but not as big. I wonder if this is an ok fix???? How will this transition work out. I have read here about how calk is suppose to be used at the corners and transition points. There is grout everywhere. Are they suppose to grout and then caulk over it....or are they suppose to just use caulk? They have not sealed it yet......or even fixed all the cracks in it yet. They are going to have to redo the tile around the soap niche and replace a few glass tiles in the trim that are cracked. Its been 3 weeks. Will the waterproofing of the tile be compromised by having the grout being done at different times????? I am so discouraged. What would it take for them to remove all the grout and start over? or should they just tear the whole darn thing down and start over?

Man....I do my onw tile work and I think thats a nasty job...
Your grout should be white and not show so much...
was this their idea??
And you should MAKE them do a good job or not pay them and get someone else in there.
Do not let them leave that color...it looks like baby poop smeared into where your grout should be...did they have references??
I am so sorry for the mess you have, it took us a long time to do our main bath...its such a pain to have just one but we got tired..
Karen L

they will add 1/4 inch green board to the entire wall to build it out so that the grout line wont look so big. It will still be big but not as big. I wonder if this is an ok fix????

That's one way to do it. Another would be to dig out that grout, and vut in a return sliver of tile and install it. THen the grout joint would almost completely disappear.

Are they suppose to grout and then caulk over it....or are they suppose to just use caulk?

Just caulk. Have them dig out the grout in places that require caulking.

Will the waterproofing of the tile be compromised by having the grout being done at different times?????

Being that neither the tile nor the grout is waterproof, the answer to that would be no.

What would it take for them to remove all the grout and start over? or should they just tear the whole darn thing down and start over?

You COULD carve the grout out and start over, but I have a feeling that would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak. What about using a grout colorant over the grout to change the color? Not only would it change the color for you, but it would also permanently seal it with an epoxy coating.

As for trashing the whole shabang, the ONLY thing I think you'd really solve that you can't alleviate otherwise is the placement in the layout of the soapdish, and I think once you change the grout color, that won't look half as hideous as it does now.

hello again,

I noticed another thing. Look at the picture above. Is it ok for the top of the tile field to be put on regular wall board instead of the cement board?

Yes.

Maybe I am grasping at straws but I keep trying to think of ways to fix this mess.

The grout line along the mud floated wall edges taper. They are much smaller toward the floor. At about half way up to the top there is enough room for one of the little glass bricks to fit if they are tipped so they are longer up and down into a verticle position. How do you think it would look if a row of them was run along the top half of the edges and a bead board wainscot was run along the bottom half of the walls?

I would put tile wainscot in but it might not leave the 12 inches that is needed for my toliet. There is only a 12 1/8 inch space left and the way things are going I was afraid that it would be too big and the Kohler Bancroft toliet that I plan to use might not fit.

Or.....I guess I could run a quarter round of wood along the tile edge and connect it to a beadboard wainscot and then a run of trim (do they call it a shoe) along to the top about 6 inches from the ceiling.

I would run it to the ceiling but it is valted and slopes up toward the wall opposite the tub.

I guess another idea would be to put in a false ceiling that would be level instead of valted and run a nice wood trim all along the new ceiling edge. The new false ceiling would maybe have the benefit of enabling me to put in a ceiling light or two. I have no idea how difficult this would be or how expensive this would be to have done.

I am also worried about how this all might look. I have lost my vision for this bathroom. I was going to have a Bancroft toliet and pedastal sink put in and had picked out a tall dark coffee colored linen cabinet to go between the wall oposite the tub and the sink. It would have been a little tight. There is about 19 inches from the wall to where the edge of the 24" wide sink pedastal sink goes. The cabinet is 18" wide.

I was originally going for an old time metro look and that is why I chose the darker colored grout. I had envisioned the walls painted the same color as the grout. On the floor I was going to use those small octagonal white tiles with the same grout color.

I have a few pictures with a new orleans music theme that I was going to use.

I have bought a musical shower curtain with warm colors. You can see a picture of it at the Linens and Things web site. It is called symphony. I will paste in the web address so you can see a picture of it. I hope it works

http://www.lnt.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2054110&cp&sr=1&origkw=symphony&kw=symphony&parentPage=search

Thanks ahead of time for any suggestions. I am really floundering here.

Mongo & Bill -
"If you ever feel the need to tone the grout color down, it can be colored with a Aquamix Grout Colorant."
"What about using a grout colorant over the grout to change the color?"
Would it be possible to use colorant to make the grout lines lighter? My builder's tilers used a much darker grout color than specified in our bathrooms and I'm very disappointed.
I appreciate your opinions.

You can go from any color to any color-- light to dark, or vice versa-- using grout colorant.

Busygirl if your tiler's did not use the grout color you specified, then have them remove it...and use the one you want. The grout color is your call, not theirs.

OR, have THEM use the colorant. Not only will you get the color you want, but then the grout is permanently sealed, as well, and much easier to clean. It's win/ win.

Listen to Bill. : )

Well I guess I need to give you an update on the tile problem. They added an extra layer of wall board to the wall to bring it out to the level of the tile. They did not seal the grout first or use any caulk between the new wall...which is now covering all of the tile edge. I ask about it and they told me it was ok. They also told me that it would be easy to bring my sockets out to the edge of the wall but I just got off the phone with my electrician and he says he they are too deep (about 6/8') and that he will have to destroy them inorder to get them out and that this will cost me a couple hundred bucks.

Have I gone from the skillet to the frying pan?....or is this an ok way to fix the problem.

These guys are licensed tile contractors from a higher end store so I thought they would know what they were doing. I will try to attach pictures of this so you can get a look. I'm still not very good at the photobucket thing.

Thanks for all the help on this continuing problem.

Here is a link that might be useful:

Sounds like your electrician's out to screw you, as well. Shut off the power, and reef em out. They'll probably get destroyed and have to be replaced, but that, and the time it takes to get em out shouldn't even be CLOSE to a couple hundred bucks!!

You might want to check with a couple of mirrors to see if there's a "KICK ME" sign on your back!!

What I see in the picture really doesn't look all that bad!

http://i240.photobucket.com/albums/ff248/taratune/P1010136.jpg

Here is a link that might be useful: photobucket.com

It looks ok....I was just worried about the lack of caulk and that the grout that is now obscured by the wall has not been sealed. Is that ok? How can it be sealed now? Can it still be cauked now that the wall board is up?

Also they still haven't fixed the holes in the grout. see pics above....its been a few weeks now.....they say they're still going to do it and take out the tile around the soap niche and re-do it before they seal it. Some of the grout holes are right next to the new wall. I'm wondering how they will fill it in without messing up the wall.

Thanks again,

The grout holes are one thing-- they SHOULD be fixed. As for sealing the grout, I've yet to ever seal grout around tubs in my OWN house, so it's not something I'd ever worry about. AS for the caulking, again, that's not to seal the joint, but rather it's there as a movement accomodating joint to transition from the tile to the rest of the wall. You're okay.

I can't wait to see what happens with the soap niche, though.

I don't have a clue what reef them out means. I am a white haired older lady and am at the mercy of someone else to do the electrical stuff for me.

Is this something that a handyman could do instead of a licensed electrican?

The electrician that saw the pictures said something about the ears of the outlet are not able to sit on the face of the drywall and said he could remove the outlets and patch around the boxes then put the outlets back in on the face. It will need to be touched up with paint on the drywall in order for it to look good.

The other option is to unscrew the outlets and have the drywaller patch up close to the box.

I am not sure what he means by this...which would you choose?

Thanks for the reassurance about the crack between the tile and the edge of the wall. I thought there had to be caulk to keep the water from spashing or seeping in. So where does the caulk go? So far they haven't used any.

I don't have a clue what reef them out means

Put both hands on the outlet, feet against the wall, and PULL. :-) It was exaggeration for effect.

As for the options, the first is the better of the two, because then the ears would be sitting on drywall, whereas with the second option it would only be joint compound. However, the first option would also be more expensive and time consuming. Considering that it would all be covered by the switch plate, I'd let the drywaller fill it in, if he can do a good enough job to get the outlets and switches to set properly.

There may be electrical code considerations with the new layer of drywall that has been added. I don't think you can just patch the gap with drywall mud. Common code says that the receptacle boxes have to be flush with any combustible surfaces. If you don't want to rip out the boxes and reinstall them, you can install box extenders (available at any HD or Lowe's) that are made of the same blue plastic as the boxes. This should fix the problem an meet code.

Outlets can be installed either way. Doesn't matter.

interesting, i honestly have never seen them installed this way...Most electrical cords that are 3 prong have the cord attached at the lower end where the "prong" is..Hence if it is plugged into the outlet as shown above, the cord is bending in a direction that is not normal, and likley not good for the life of the cord

Let me ask you what may seem like a really stupid question, and I'm NOT trying to be a wise a$$-- how do you know that third prong isn't on TOP, and therefore "usually" bending in a way that's not normal?

My point is that it really doesn't matter. It doesn't hurt the cord, the plug, or the flow of electricity.

Not to be smug, BUT...

The way most right angle plugs are designed, with the cord exiting on the ground pin end, you could plug only ONE into this recept. The cord would block or partly block one or more other slots

AND

when you're using a device with a digital display that "mounts" directly to the receptacle (e.g. a programmable electronic timer). Here, the assumption invariably seems to be "ground is down."

I thought the caulk was suppose to go at the transition points. So I am thinking there should be caulk instead of grout at the place where the tile meets the tub and where the tile meets the window and where the tile meets the wall. So is this just desiable or best or necessary?

Also they still have to pull the tile off and redo the soap niche......How should this be done so it will look right?

Also the grout color is not exactly what I had in mind....it has not been sealed yet....in fact has not been completely filled in is some places.. see previous pics for some of the bubbles/cracks. What has to be done to fix the cracks/bubbles? Should it all be taken out and redone? If so then I guess i could get the color corrected when they re-do it. If the needed bubble/cracks just have to have grout schwished in and then sealed....then is it better to put the color change product mentioned previously on before it is sealed?

I forgot to mention that the picture of the electric outlet is upside down. Thanks for the help with the electrical. I hope the plug socket things can be pulled out to the level of the new sleeve edge.

Do you think the wall is now too thick. I was planning to put in a white beadboard wainscot but now I don't think it will fit and I'm wondering what to use to trim around the edge of the floor tile when it gets installed so it wont look funny where it meets up with the bottom of the wall tile?

Baseboard would take care of that, which you would want even if you DID use the wainscotting.

Well I am still worried about the crack between the tile and the wall. Caulk doesn't seem to be holding up very well as it is almost flat surface of tile next to wall board. How often would I have to caulk this lline?

Well I am still trying to get this bathroom done.....no more word from the store yet....but I think there may be yet another problem.

This is a picture of the inner bottom corner of where the tub and wall met before the mud was put on. I am told that the vapor barrier has been compromised. I sent a copy of this picture to the tile store.....they haven't said anything yet.

Do you think this will make a difference?