(a) is this a normal commercial tile, or some kind of funky hand-made kind?

(b) are you the contractor or the owner/client, and who picked the tile?

looks unacceptable to me, but how to proceed depends a lot on whether the problem was with the tile choice or the installation, and who did the critical part.

Hello... The tile was selected in a showroom and not irregular. Professionally installed

"selected in a showroom" doesn't really answer the "might be handmade and intentionally variable" question. if you're sure that isn't the case, however, then you have to decide whether you want to accept this level of workmanship. that is, the variation looks small enough that it shouldn't cause a functional problem, but it will be there for you to notice or not every morning...

there's no reason that laying rectangular tiles in a brick pattern should cause anybody any trouble, so it would indicate that they either didn't prepare the wall properly or don't care about workmanship at all. have you had the head contractor (or GC) back to look? do they say this is their level of professional installation??

In the "professional" showroom we selected tile that appeared even. At first we were hound to source our own tile to safe $ but the contractor told us that lowes/Home Depot tile can be uneven and have shade variances do we opted to go with the "better" tile.
Tile contractor admitted that the tile was uneven after inspecting the finished shower and said he won't order from that supplier again. So, I don't understand why it was installed. If it was defective to begin with then it should not have been installed.
Now the builder is refusing to fix unless we pay.

Sorry for typos. Just frustrated and not proof reading.

He should share the cost if he recommended the tile/supplier.

My best guess is your tile layer did shotty work... If you have an uneven wall a tile layer would still try their best to make the tiles adhere to a flat surface.

Are your grout lines very small? They look not existent where the subway tile is laid.. And even when you look above at the mosaic pieces they are unevenly spaced and crooked.

If you had a contractor do this, this is not acceptable, even if the tile was cheap and un-even they have to try to make it look better than that...

Those are what nicely laid subway tile should look like with small accent tiles. You should not be fixing your tile layers mistakes... Ask your tile layer to fix it, I'm sorry you've had to go through this.

I would ask for a partial refund, he should have let you know he didn't like the quality before it was installed. If we are shipped bad tile we tell the homeowner and tell them we're dealing with the supplier, so now the fault lies on the contractor and he has to take responsibility for making you unhappy.

No mention to us about uneven tiles until the shower was complete and then I noticed all the wavy/uneven pattern and I questioned it. The tile contractor supplied the tile, not us.

It appears you may have yourself a porcelain tile made with a clay compound. Some tile companies do this to actually create a tile with depth. But in your case it not the right kind of tile for a bathroom wall. What happens is the Tile you have currently absorbs the water over time and heat causes it to bend slightly. It only bends a little bit but its enough to be noticeable. Try either a Manufactured Ceramic or a Stone if you are up for replacing it all. Otherwise call a local tile shop and show them the picture you posted they could help you with tiles that are the same style but wont curve or bend over time.

This shower was recently completed and has not been used yet. New construction

I've seen that exact dilemma before in a couple of bathrooms. From What I've learned its not that the tile was installed incorrectly its that the tile is a handmade tile that isn't exactly straight. The ironic part of it all is usually hand made tile is more expansive.

Our contractor gave us the option of uneven handmade tile which was more expensive or the even, flat tile which is the look we wanted and agreed to.

I'm not sure if the tile is supposed to be that uneven though, look at the top three rows, very little variation. Did you happen to take any pictures of what the tile looked like in the showroom? or do you know the product manufacturer or product number to look up other pictures of it installed? That's how you can find out if in fact it is supposed to look like it has variation.

Interesting. Since it hasn't been used and you just got it installed your contractor should be able to come up with something that satisfies both parties. Replacing some of the tiles wont work. Because you don't know which tiles are slightly uneven and you could remove one tile and then discover the tile next to it was uneven as well. But you wouldn't notice until you put the new straight tile in.

So slbbsn, I return to my other post... "he should have let you know he didn't like the quality before it was installed. If we are shipped bad tile we tell the homeowner and tell them we're dealing with the supplier (and then return the bad and get new!), so now the fault lies on the contractor and he has to take responsibility for making you unhappy."

We chose the same tile for our laundry room and kitchen and have no issues in those areas. Different tile contractors did bathrooms and kitchen.

Thanks for your professional opinions and suggestions. Our builder is making it out to be our fault so needed some guidance as this is our first custom building experience.

A rely from our builder today after a lengthy discussion about not being satisfied with the final product.

And... FYI... They installed the tile with NO lighting because electrical was not finished yet. So now the lights are turned on and the unevenness is very apparent.

LOL, love how his solution is to go back to bad lighting. Good luck getting this resolved to your satisfaction.

You might want to have an independent professional come assess it to bolster your argument that there is a problem with the installation.

Oh so he's blaming the lighting now. Well that's Interesting. Honestly I would just go in and replace it. I know as the contractor it would be a bit of work but he/she has to own up to it. Do you see variations like that all over the bathroom. Or is it just on that wall?

Variations are sporadic throughout 3 bathrooms. Some areas are worse than others. Some areas are perfectly flat how we wanted it to look.

First off, that response is baffling to me, and I am going to apologize for that builder for ever thinking it was OK to send an email like that to a client. Regardless of whose fault it is, you are paying for a service (an expensive one) that needs to end with a quality product you are truly happy with.

Anyways, this tile install is not the worst I've seen, but is definitely not acceptable, and would not be allowed on any of my projects (unless specifically designed with that look in mind).

The comment/excuse about lighting..... hm... well, I'm going to start by saying that most all showers/bathrooms have light in them. This is no excuse. The builder sounds like he/she might not have experience with high end projects or quality work, and the tile setter definitely doesn't have experience. Was this builder the lowest bidder? BUT, before we jump to that conclusion.....below is a couple of things to also consider that might have affected this outcome:

1. Did the contractor/tile setter suggest floating the walls? If this is an older home, chances are the walls are out of square. IF so, the walls should have been floated, so the tile would be set on an even surface. It is a more expensive option, and takes a little bit more time, but it is most definitely worth it. Adhering the tile directly to a wall that is out of square will resort in lippage and unevenness (which is exactly what is happening in your photo).

2. Was this an inexpensive tile? Some inexpensive 3x6 white subway tiles are mass produced when being made, and are not even in thickness. IF this tile was a cheap, (home depot) kind of tile, then it could be that the tile is not made evenly and has various thicknesses. To test this, I would take any left over tiles and lay them tight right up next to each other on the counter top and see how it looks. Does the tile have lippage and do what the photo does? Or does it lay flat and pretty? If it does exactly what is on your wall, then it is not the tile setters fault. If it lays flat and pretty, then what is happening in your photo is an installation issue.

if the walls are not first Plummed vertical, IN plane horizontally and squared up properly underneath the substrate @ studs., and if the tile is Bowed/pillowed/warped there is no pleasant outcome possible, you simply cannot bend subway tile, and you certainly cannot bend it to conform to a NON TCNA compliant substrate.. These are the finer points of professional tiling we call troubleshooting & substrate prep and adhering to industry standards (TCNA/ANSI) many GC and tilers do not know this stuff nor want to back up and get it right and yep these are typically the more price competitive types.

You do have a warped tile, but a real quality GC or Tiler would have caught all this ahead of time. This is what we call managing client expectations while working within A Budget, time allotment, and tile selection. It starts the minute we meet, and ends the day I leave youre home. You will find the best tilers will proudly display that they Adhere and conform to all current industry standards ( TCNA/ ANSI ) and they will likley come in at the higher end of the price spectrum knowing that it takes TIME and skill to get it right. I think you have a budgeted job rushed thru with a poor tile selection and likley no mention of Detailed scope and standards in youre contract. youre beef is with the GC if they hired the tiler or recommended the tiler. this all begs the next more impotant question?????? whats underneath the tile...

The builder is a high end builder which baffles our mind how he would think that this is acceptable. The house is a new construction and almost done so no problem with walls. The tile was from a "professional" supplier as we were told that supplying our own would not be guaranteed the quality as far as shade variances and unevenness. So we opted to go with the "professional" tile & the installer was subcontracted by our builder.

Yes and thinking again about your comment about them installing the tile with no lighting because electrical wasn't done yet ... when we did our bathroom reno, the majority of the work was done before the electrical was finished, but our contractors brought in portable lights on extension cords to light their work and they were much brighter and harsher than the actual lighting, so would have definitely highlighted a problem like this.

New construction

The house is a new construction and almost done so no problem with walls.

I know you are mad right now and well deserved but this little snippet is of pure Naevity. New walls are often Un plumb and out of plane especially in builder grade homes with non select lumber.. Even timberstrand framing can be out. You need actually use levels and take measurements before declaring NO problem. and this is done prior to installing backer.

Same tile selected in kitchen and no apparent unevenness/wavy pattern like in 3 bathrooms

I don't think your the walls are the problem. Hopefully they used cement board behind the tile to even out the wall. Even if your wall is not exactly straight the cement board 1/2'' would help tremendously. Also another acceptable material would be hardie backerboard. Has to be 1/2 '' to create a some what flush wall. Its definitely the tile that's the problem. So don't worry to much about the walls.

Tundra Finish Works is spot on. Especially their last sentence....

"Hopefully they used cement board behind the tile to even out the wall.
Even if your wall is not exactly straight the cement board 1/2'' would
help tremendously

Has to be 1/2 '' to create a flush wall."

huh?

Greyfox, bending 1/2 CBU to the wall members does not get you "in- plane" . I think what you meant to say is hopefully they furred and shimmed the framing out prior to installing the CBU or floated the walls properly to achieve an in plane wall spec for tile (even a warped small subway tile.) You me and everyone can benefit from A TCNA handbook for proper future standards reference. Its all in here. But yes the tile itself, The GC the installer and likely the substrate all is to blame.

Wow that's not very nice of you to display pictures of how-to books. This is a positive community advice column not a Rack on people because you think you knowledge is beyond anyone in the chat room. learn to be respectful before signing up for a site like this.

No need to attack one another here. I simply needed some professional opinions on the tile install. All the contractor technical talk is above my knowledge anyway but just knowing that everyone agrees that our final project is not acceptable at a professional level has helped us tremendously. Thanks!

How to books???? Thats a standards book not A how to and i sincerely think everyone may benefit from having one for reference. I use it daily to spec write my project quotes and reference tile standards....

have i made an error in my point or offended you by correcting misinformation? Rack ? and thats nice in return? perhaps its not worded correctly just let me know. Ill edit or delete it to youre satisfaction.

......... moving on. Have a good rest of the day Tundra

1/2" board of any type spread over an uneven wall makes a 1/2" thicker uneven wall unless I am crazy.