I probably shouldn't even say anything since I'm not t tile expert by any means but I would tend to beleive he's feeding you a line of bull! I would be upset too!

Not an expert either. But even if it's true, which seems crazy, he should have warned you ahead of time. Who would expect tiles to be chipped in the process of installation? I'd be upset.

Don't pay him. It's a rip out, and do over.

It doesn't sound normal and probably requires more ability than he has. Another item to add to the list of things we homeowners have to learn and watch out for ...

You owe him nothing. He owes you for new material, removal of his work, probably a new substrate. Then hire someone else. Those are big lies he told you. Don't trust him for the replacement. If he actually believes what he told you that's worse!

I'd be totally pissed if he did that to my tile (which is beautiful, btw). And, he didn't even line the tiles up properly. I agree with others....redo.

Thanks for the feedback everyone, I agree and am looking to have this redone. I found out that the tile should also have been sealed before being installed (which it wasn't), hence the staining. You always hear about these nightmares but never think they'll happen to you...

There is no such thing as a "self leveling spacer"

it appears that he used a device to manage lippage , and keep the faces of the tile in plane. That's a good idea, but looks like he chose the cheapest one, it wasn't suitable for this install , and or he had no finesse removing them.

additionally , he didn't do a good job keeping the joints aligned. center of your photo just below the cutout- the horiz. joint is off by a full joint's width. Total bush league.

Come on, if those spacers self leveled, how come those joints aren't the same ?

Its a tear out in my world, but no one has brought this up:

how did you come by this guy and what did he charge per sq ft. to install this? It's better than most of the craigslist specials I see , but is a travesty if this guy is the best in town and works on million dollar properties. The site looks neat and orderly at least.

More context is needed to determine if you're being too picky. What's not in question is that this is not a first class job.

The lippage system that was used has straps that extend perpendicular out of the grout joint as all of them do. The problem arises when the straps are pulled straight out or snapped by knocking them sideways as the system used does. Normally there would be a spacer or wedge between the modular stones to level them as well as the straps for the lippage system. The weight of the top stone would be on the wedge. Not the lippage system strap. Unfortunately the installer allowed the weight of the above stone to rest on the lippage system strap by using it as a spacer. In the installers thought process " it can't be done without chipping" Yes by improperly installing the stone he actually could not remove the straps without causing damage to the soft stones. This will certainly be a lesson learned for the installer and I'm willing to bet he won't do it this way again. Provided he understands what he did wrong. You may want to share this thread with him. It really is a nice looking stone. Keep in mind with the ceiling lights that close, any lippage will be exaggerated and even if the joints are flush there will still be a shadow. Hope this helped.

Creative Tile brings up an excellent point about the lighting. I have lippage in my shower that I did with large format tile. It was hard for me but I got it done. I love the shower but the light cast shadows and really accentuates the lippage.

Could one just have the stone refinished, like is done to floors? Then the tear out wouldn't need to happen. Just a thought.

You could actually install directly over what is there. The problem here is there should have been a matte black profile installed under the stone abutting the gas stove face. I'm not sure what was planned. Possibly a trim kit is being used. That would have been determined prior to the stone install. It may still be a possibility. Enduring's idea of refinishing is certainly an option but my concern is how deep the chips are. I personally don' know the details of refinishing a vertical surface but it's a good thought.

As I think about it, I wonder if the refinishing on a wall would be too hard. I would imagine that a floor finisher would be more consistent in pressure, using the weight of the machine and gravity. That wouldn't be available on a vertical surface.

Matte black Schluter Schiene behind tile. Two pieces. One toward the face of the gas stove and the other back to back covering the edge of the tile. Sorry about the dusty pic's.

I see what you're saying, thank you for the information. The fireplace is finished with a trim kit that's not in in the pics (you can only see in the picture that shows the whole fireplace wall) hence the gap. Your fireplace tile looks great Creative Tile.

The GC hired the tile guy so I don't know what he paid. I saw some other work he'd done that didn't look like this...

Talk to your GC , it's his guy. Let him earn his fee to correct this.

I am reviving this old thread... My wood look tile was installed with a leveling system and there are little chips on many of the tile right where the clips were. Luckily its color body tile but I still notice them and am very frustrated with the end result. But they aren't going to rip out 100+ tiles... which would probably open a can of NEW problems.

You do what you want, but I would not pay for damaged work. I would expect a total redo.

I have used these same spacer/leveling system and have gotten the same results with large format ceramic tiles. does not happen with smaller tiles or porcelain. the problem occurs because the leveling system pulls the tiles together and level to each other. if the tiles are tight against the spacer, when you use your rubber hammer to tap them from the side it breaks the plastic tab under the tile but it is also pulling the remainder from between the tiles. if the tile surface is tight to it, it can pull a chip as it comes out. I did a 12x12 room and tried to gingerly tap the spacers and still ended up with 3 chips. I am trying a different system with spin on spacer lock