It’s a C level job. What you see everywhere in the real word, but never gets featured on Houzz with the 20K A+ tile jobs.

Where did the tiler come from? What waterproofing system did he use? And how much was he paid? You don’t get A+ for D level pricing.

In the real world, a properly waterproofed shower, runs 7-10K from a properly licensed and insured contractor with a clue. Just the shower. The average hall bath remodel is 19K.

Was your 10K job properly waterproofed? What system was used? That is THE most important part of the project.

Do you have in progress pictures?

Progress pictures are not loading- here is a link Click for progress pictures

Typical C level job. No adjustment of walls for flatness. A slap of Redguard, but without using a thickness gauge. It’s not gonna rot out any time soon.

Your contractor is not not capable of recognizing the finer details that go into an A level job. If he was, he would have addressed the out of plane wall issues before anything else. And he would use a different waterproofing system. And he would be twice the price.

You got the level of job that you paid for. For your next job, you have a paid education about delineating expectations on the front end in the contract. Some people don’t get the opportunity to learn that.

Your expectations could have been met. But at a greater cost, and by a different contractor.

Hi Jen,

Oh, that looks horrible! I'm so sorry.

Our contractor used permabse on our 117 year old bathroom, constant corrections had to be made. The tile around your window...ugh!

Hi Jen,

At the end of the day, this is business.

If you're 8 months pregnant, this is something the hubs should be dealing with IMO.

Throwing a childish tantrum, in an attempt to no longer conduct professional business, is not an option for me.

Typically in these types of situation I am the one "conducting business" as my wonderful, kind and loving hubs is somewhat passive aggressive (i.e I am typically the one "doing the talking") whereas my hubs will simply cave. I must add that he is amazing at other things, but confrontation is not one of them.

If there is no consequence, your contractor will most likely not react.

Congrats on your soon to be new baby!

Sophie speaks the truth. We are often hired to rip out brand new work and do it right. Sad but true. What you have would pass for new-construction-starter-spec home - not an occupied remodel. If you haven't paid for it, don't have him redo it - he's not capable.

Did the installer have a stick in his hand?

I’m sorry. This looks terrible! Are they supposed to be flat-they all seem to stick out at an odd angle

Most of the newly built starter homes I’ve seen look nothing like this. Although many of those homes have fiberglass surrounds in the secondary bathrooms, the master baths normally have tile and I have not seen any like this.

Did the tiler even have a wet saw? What kind of tile is it? Unless this some kind of artisinal tile, they should have been able to use adhesive to level them out. The badly cut and chipped tiles should never have been installed.

Janie,,,what does being 8 months pregnant have to do w/dealing with workers?? It's like your saying, "a pregnant woman doesn't have the emotional stability to voice concerns to a GC.,,better let the 'man' handle it ". what is this, 1950?

Jen, can you put a small level in the niche so that it points out? I'm wondering if it's even sloped down to allow for water run-off.

Sophie basically covered everything. No, you're not being picky,,,it's sub-par tile work. The flat/level of the tile is one thing, but there's no excuse for chipped tile cuts. Unless he used a butter knife or some cheap saw blade. Those grout lines seem a little thick for my liking.

show your workers these pics of what a decent tile job looks like

this is what your grout lines should look like

I would withhold all payment until corrections are made. if your GC thinks this is acceptable tile work, then he's also a lazy hack. (but, as was pointed out, I have no idea what you paid to have the shower done.)

We had a bathroom nightmare “tile job” as well, in our brand new construction home. The curb installed for our custom shower did not support the weight of the glass properly plus the curb liner was installed incorrectly. Result was leaking shower into basement and mold under tile after living in the house for only 3 months. We complained and finally threatened to take the builder to court at which time he finally fixed the problem. His first remedy was to come out with a caulk gun though. See for yourself. First picture is of the original tile job with subway tile on the curb, followed by repairs and finally reinstallation of granite on the curb to support glass properly. The entire curb was also re-lined and re-tiled.

That does look awful... :(

Oh Jen, I'm so sorry! I am not picky at all and this is unacceptable even to me...

I'm wondering who supplied the tile? It doesn't look like the right edge tiles were used.

Atleast he red guarded so many installers don't even waterproof

The issue could be (ie. is!) also in the FC substrate - it should be a single flat sheet with horizontal joins only if required - looks like they used offcuts....it was doomed from the start if the prep isn't careful and substrate square and straight......a good tiler can possible get around the issue, but when you have a double whammy of a bad prep and a less skilful finisher you unfortunately hit the doozy jackpot...........Agree with advice on endeavour to remain calm and professional with going forward and resolving, though it is difficult and there is an art to dealing with trades - they can be particular good at deflection and not taking responsibility..........the success of these jobs comes down to communication and rather than pointing fingers understand there's shared responsibility within the process between a number of trades involved and it can be really hard to get sorted........start with a chat with the main guy and see how you go........this is your investment that you'll be living with for the long term and IMO no you're not at all crazy! :)

Jen. Sophie is right. Take it from someone who had a horrible tile job on living area floors. We got what we paid for. A side job basically. Not worth it. Would of paid double just to have even tile. And if its bothering you now it will bother you every single time you look at it and even when youre not it will always be on the back of your mind. Get it fixed now while you can before it becomes a "later" project. You will be grateful you did.

In California, the contractor has the first right to correct work that is of less than workman like quality. Unfortunately this "contractor" does not have a clue about what they are doing. I will not comment on the obvious flaws others have noted, but be clear the entire job needs to be demolished to the studs and then built by a reputable professional...maybe the former guy can do the demo and off-haul as a courtesy while you hire someone else to do the work correctly. I always sub my tile work to people I have worked with for years because they know how to "lose" the irregularities that are always present and make the job look right. I inform my clients that it is going to cost them more because if we don't get a professional result they are going to have leaks and dry rot in the future not to mention a crummy looking job that I can't be involved with.. Check the past work of your next contractor and if his price is too good to be true, expect a similar result.

Hi Beth,

It looks like posts may have been deleted, but I believe it was in the essence of " in addition to all this I'm 8 months pregnant". The tone in which her post was written suggested that she had multiple hardships to deal with.

Jen had also asked my personal opinion.

And yes, IMO, her soon to be baby comes before a botched tiling job.

If your contractor is licensed and he refuses to correct the issue complain to the state / city contractors licensing department plus if you've paid him search whoever licensed them

boy are these situations messy....agree with Selvig Development, to get the sough finish, it (unfortunately) should be taken right back to the substrate and do it all again ;(

Hi Jen, I'm sorry you have to deal with this. You are not picky, this is poor quality work! It needs to be torn out and redone.

I wouldn't accept this work ! You are NOT to anything ! It looks terrible and should be replaced.

All of you folks recommending rip it out? You do realize that what she got was the best that her half price contractor could do? And to rip it out and redo it would require MORE than double the expense that she already paid. Money out of her pocket, to a different contractor.

There is nothing physically wrong with the installation. It is aesthetics. No, it’s not pretty. But is it worth paying double for demolition and rebuild?

Ms. Wheeler makes an accurate comment about the out of pocket costs, HOWEVER, the sloppy work (and especially the poor grout work) suggests that water will get behind the tile. I would not want to rely that the waterproofing is any more sound than the tile work. Also, there is also a potential safety issue, especially if the floor is tiled as badly, that tile is sharp and will cut skin. No reason to re-enact a horror movie while showering! I'm sorry but it should all be replaced for sanity and safety.

Sorry, Sophie but where are you getting that it was a "half price contractor"?...the only thing I see is that the op says it was "expensive".

Did I miss something?

You did, she stated that the remodel itself was expensive.Unknown what the tile installer cost.

So...nobody knows for sure.

I don't think the op will be back. If you're reading OP...I wish you the best of luck whatever you decide to do. These things are always (and there are many here) such a sad thing to read about.

No, she wrote that she paid about 10K for the entire bath job to a questionable individual. That was in her second post, which has been deleted by her. Not just the shower. Then she deleted that post and several others containing facts that didn’t show her in a favorable light. Which is why a few of you are making incorrect assumptions here, not based on actual information posted in the deleted posts that now have people looking like they are talking to themselves.

Yes, there are numerous deletions suddenly.

I didn't think it showed her in an unfavorable light, just that Jen was highly upset (rightfully so), is hugely pregnant, and her contractor screams, throws tantrums and it is "scary" to her.

Poor thing.

Her profile page is gone as well.

I didn't know that. Has she paid him? I'd be very uncomfortable if a contractor screamed and threw tantrums to the point that I was scared. Like call the cops uncomfortable. Like never let him in my house again. Like get a means of self-defense.

Suzy,

Right?

When Jen asked my personal opinion, I absolutely said her husband needed to handle this, especially if this individual is in my home and I'm 8 months pregnant?

She made it clear her contractor was frightening her.

Thanks, Sophie, I figured that's what had happened.

I think when people have trouble like this and and ask and then find out how bad it is, then maybe they worry about it from a legal perspective and prefer to remain as anonymous as possible until it's sorted out.

Agreed it comes at a rotten time in her life and she should take care of herself first.

No, she made it very clear that she was the one being overly emotional about everything, and blamed it on her being pregnant as the excuse. I don’t think a contractor staring at her in silence after an outburst is “threatening” at all.

Meh, I can understand it. My pregnancy brain was off, too. And regrets about comments I made, made me say more emotionally fueled things that compounded the whole problem....So maybe she didn't want to be judged by that.

Well its not the first time a dissatisfied customer has lost it on a contractor. But feeling scared is subjective. I'm a tough old bird with lots of remodeling cred, so whats threatening to me may be different to a young, expectant woman. Remodeling is always nerve wracking.

Thank you everyone for your responses. I deactivated my account because of how the contractor spoke to my husband .. I was honestly scared. Also to those who said we were over emotional and overreacted to our contractor .. I did not once say that... we have been calm cool and collected thru this entire process. We have been nothing but respectful in voicing our concerns to our contractor. His tantrum was completely unstable and out of nowhere which was the scary part. And Janie is correct..my pregnancy comment was just saying that this is the last thing I need right now and I don’t want these men in my house when I go into labor... I’m actually a very happy pregnant person! To update you all: he sent one of his crew members out this morning (the contractor has only been to the job site once) and the crew member says he is going to make it right. We’ll see.

Jen, any tile guy will first check the walls for "plumb & level" using a 5 foot steel level. (Floors require a 12 footer.) If a "pro" does not do this (after the cement board, before the Red Guard) he isn't worth hiring. Just sayn'.

Never seen a 5ft level, I've seen 2,4, and 6.Where is this found?

Mattman.....They have five foot levels....well, 59” ....is that close enough. And they also have other sizes on Amazon as well.

Hang in there Jen. Hope they do make it right. And stay safe. And trust your instincts.

Im on the fence as to whats worse, the tile job or the thread :)

I sincerely hope that the contractor makes it right because it looks amateurish to me. I wouldn't be able to live with it. It looks like tile work done by one of the subcontractors for spec homes. I closed on my home 1 year ago. It was a spec home that I will likely live in for 10 years before building my custom home. After reviewing some of the shoddy tile work of a few of the ready move in homes, I decided to get the included bathroom and then have my awesome contractor to remodel the bathrooms after 3 years in the home. My contractor has done amazing work for me in the past. Eight years ago he remodeled a bathroom for me that still looks amazing to this day. It is actually what helped my old home sell so quickly. The buyers were impressed with the 7 year old renovation. One of the folks commented that you get what you pay for. I paid $10k for the above mentioned bathroom remodel and the work is impeccable. My contractor takes such pride in his work. He usually goes a little over his estimated completion time, but he is a perfectionist that won't move on unless the job is superb.

I hope you didn't pay for this job. That's the only power you have. A poor job is not a job deserving payment.

You’re not being too picky. This is a very bad job. I’m sorry you’re dealing with this. Only advice, see if you can get at least part of your money back. Have it redone by a recommended, vetted, installer.

Good luck with your project, consider this a lesson learned.

With out knowing the price you paid? You may of purchased the quality you have received. If you were charged my price(Sawtooth Silver LLC @ Facebook) you were taken. We photo journal each and every job, our clients see the process before hand, and you should always ask for reference. Also, if its alright with said contractors current contract, and the homeowners is alright with you coming over to check out his/hers work, is another way to protect yourself. A little DD and a lot of ppl can save themselves from headache. I’m so sorry to come across these stories.