Is this a mediocre tile job or am I too picky?

9 years ago

Paying for a full custom remodel and some of the shower wall tiles are a bit angled so there is a bit of a lip on the tile next to it. You can see the shadow in one of the pictures even. Also.... I feel like the little half inch piece could have been done a more efficient way. The cubby also seems a little small to me.

Am I too picky or was this not the best job? Should they have to fix these things?

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PRO

Linda

9 years ago

While this isn't ideal, I certainly wouldn't describe it as mediocre. The cuts appear to be square, the grout lines are consistent widths and all the tiles seem to line up well. As Cancork points out, part of the waviness is directly attributable to the choice of tile and accented by the brick pattern layout. If those tiles would have been laid straight up and down, the lippage wouldn't have been as noticeable.

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Comments (8)

Caleb
Original Author
9 years ago
Circled problem points
PRO
Cancork Floor Inc.
9 years ago
The level of "flat" is HEAVILY dependent on the surface the tile is sitting on. If they paid A LOT of attention to floating the wall surface to get it as flat as possible, then this probably wouldn't happen. The other part in this is the tile itself. Rectified vs non-rectified will make a difference. The warping in the tile will cause issues with install that have to be hidden.

Put a warped tile over a poorly (ahem...low cost) prepared surface and you have a wavy tile install. The choice of where to put the slivers of tile on the cubby is probably a poor choice...but then again what was the alternative? And dark grout (as you have chosen) will cause the sliver to scream out "LOOK AT ME!!!!"

So...the question the pros will ALWAYS ask is: How much did you pay for prep to get the walls as flat as possible? And how wavy/warped are the tiles themselves???

Put two and two together and you get "wavy". To be clear, a fully floated surface can be $2-$3/sf MORE than a straight tile job. That is SIGNIFICANT. But then again, the tile would have been sitting flat(ter) than it is now. Take a hand full of left over tiles and stand them on end (like you are about to play a game of cards with them). See how wavy they are. Then lay them flat on a table - like setting the table for dinner. Again check to see how wavy they are.

Now check your contract with your GC to see how much you paid for wall prep in the shower. The waviness + prep costs = the whole story.

Could this have been done better? Yah. At the same price? Probably not....but then again I don't know how much you paid nor what market you are in.
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nancyburridge
9 years ago
I agree with you. This is not acceptable work. The choice of tile has nothing to do with poor workmanship. I hope you can resolve this in a manner that is acceptable to you.
Caleb
Original Author
9 years ago
Thanks everyone. I ended up talking to the GC and looking at each individual tile that I thought had an issue. He agreed that there are a few in various places plus one section that just had a lot of mistakes. He is going to make sure the tile guys do it right.
PRO
Mint tile Minneapolis
9 years ago
nancyburridge
9 years ago
Caleb, I am glad you will have a satisfactory solution. Congratulations! :)
PRO
Prysum Renovation LLC
4 years ago
It comes down to wall Prep, If they had floated, that would have been much better, but that's much harder to do and truthfully, less and less contractors know how to do it. Its certainly going to cost more than say normal backer board. Subway tiles are harder to perfect than say a 12 x 24" Tile, for one, there are many more tiles on the wall, and its significantly more tiles. Subway can have 150-200 tiles depending on Hight and Width of wall while a 12x24" tile might only have 50ish thus much more room for error, second, the color of grout will also make a huge impact on how it turns out, lastly, subway tiles tend to wave in the production process specifically while in the kiln. The Grout Joints are on point in my opinion and the tiles are wavy..... Your Contractor should have sat you down and gave you better expectations... At the end of the day, I am looking at one picture, and I cant see the over all job.