It depends. What do you think about the work? Why do you ask? Who supplied the tile? Who set the tile? Whats behind the tile? What prep work took place? New construction or remodel?

remodel. subway is dal tile, cement board and black roofing paper behind the tile (I wasn't there during the entire install; just know supplies purchased and saw parts of it). i don't love the uneven tile...but i'm more concerned with how it will hold up. will it cause issues?

Some wonky tiles shouldn't cause a problem beyond looking bad, except for maybe making it more difficult to get your fixtures to sit flat, shower glass tight to the wall without excessive caulking, etc.

What will get you is how the shower is waterproofed. The fact that you don't have a curb is problematic unless the entire room's floor is waterproof, and I don't see a properly installed floor drain to make me think it is. How is the shower waterproofed otherwise? Any in-progress pics you can post?

Like usual in this forum, the conclusion is probably that you've got to rip it all out, or otherwise expect it to rot out within a few years.

"The fact that you don't have a curb is problematic unless the entire room's floor is waterproof"

I totally missed that. Why is the floor raised like that? What will stop the water?

Design and build total fail.

I thought it was obvious that this bathroom hasn't been completed...i'm only referring to the tile in my post and looking for insight as to whether the uneven tile could pose a problem in the future.

It all ties together.

Yes but the question stands- how is that shower ever going to work? Yes it’s obvious you are going to get glass doors, what Isn’t obvious is how you are going to keep the water in the shower.

With tile work that sloppy we assume that the waterproofing is equally poorly done.

Looks like a complete tear out to me based on the provided photos...

Can you tell us the reason for the raised shower floor? Do you know if they applied red waterproofing to the cement board?

It looks like whomever designed that plan suffered from three major fundamental deficiencies in basic life understanding.

Water runs downhill and has capillary action.

People occupy a roughly 30” circle and need to move through a space.

TANSTAAFL

Everything in that picture is going to cause you major problems. Starting with the lack of the permit posted in your window.

That is a gut and redo NOW. Or a gut and redo later, repairing rot and doing mold remediation later. And you will need to find more space to expand the closet. The whole design doesn’t meet minimum standards and needs to be red tagged.

I am ONLY inquiring about uneven tile (if you read my original post). I appreciate the feedback, but I am only asking about tile and repercussions of it being uneven - not assumptions of anything else. No worries. I'll ask someone locally to give feedback. Thanks anyways.

Hey Tabatha,

The tile, as it is and in itself, will probably not cause a problem. The lack of a curb will cause a problem, and the fact that you don't have a curb calls into question the overall waterproofing of the shower base.

Normally, if you're putting tar paper behind cement board (this isn't the modern way of doing it), you're doing that on top of a shower pan built with a plastic liner. The liner normally wraps up and over top of the curb. The whole thing forms a sort of water proof tub.

The reason you have a curb is because water, when splashing into puddles on the floor, will tend to push outwards. Even if the shower base is sloped, it will still get splashed/pushed outwards. Without a curb, this water will flow under your shower door and onto your not-waterproofed bathroom floor, and seep back under the base. The whole thing ends up getting rotten.

If you really want to proceed, I would install the shower glass a couple of inches inset from the edge of the shower base. Yes this sacrifices space inside of the shower. Make sure to install a tight fitting sweep on the bottom of the door.

Plan for water damage - if this thing does leak, what will get wrecked? Hopefully nothing more important the shower itself - because otherwise you should bite the bullet and fix the shower now.

I think you already received some feedback pertaining to your question, and I agree with the response that the wonky tile will only be a problem if you intend to install anything on the shower tile, like the glass walls/doors. Those tiles must be perfectly flush.

BTW, I think your tiler did a fantastic job with the floor!

The uneven tile will not be a problem if the wall was properly waterproofed. Black roofing paper doesn't sound good.

I am ONLY inquiring about uneven tile (if you read my original post). I appreciate the feedback, but I am only asking about tile and repercussions of it being uneven - not assumptions of anything else.

When the boat has a hole large enough to sink it, you don't worry about whether or not the sale was properly hoisted...

"Should I be concerned?" Poorly installed tile begs the question: Is the cement board installed correctly and waterproofed? To answer your question, yes, you should be concerned. From the appearance, it looks like it was installed by someone who doesn't know or doesn't care about how to do a proper tile job. I understand that you're done with this, but if you quit now you'll have problems later and they will be more expensive to fix then.

Let us know if someone locally thinks any different.

Only a hack similar to who stole your money on this would say anything else.

Hire someone with a clue to rip out and redo.

https://www.ceramictilefoundation.org/homeowners-guide-to-hiring-qualified-tile-installer

https://nkba.org/info/why-hire-a-designer

http://starcraftcustombuilders.com/bath.design.rules.htm#.W100QuNOnYX

http://starcraftcustombuilders.com/sources.faucets2.htm#randolphmorris_namelink

[https://www.houzz.com/discussions/10-tests-for-you-and-your-contractors-first-meeting-dsvw-vd~5332686?n=90[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/10-tests-for-you-and-your-contractors-first-meeting-dsvw-vd~5332686?n=90)

To the OP - it would be a mistake for you to look at the wall tile issue you raised in isolation. You can't isolate, you just can't. Even though you are saying only to address your wall tile question, it's impossible. You'll have to understand that it's all connected. For example, zsmith mentioned above about how are you going to hang the shower glass from tiled walls that aren't plumb? And that leads to asking the reason the shower floor is raised there, which leads to water seepage and water proofing questions (capillary action as Sophie Wheeler mentioned), and all the other questions.

I am surprised at your rejection of the comments here which are to help you. Please re-read your own OP and the many questions you wrote in it, which this forum is answering as you requested.

I am not a professional, but I don't see how you are going to get out of this without a tear out. It looks bad. Sorry!

After we had a bad professional tile job I learned to do tile myself and now have only myself to blame if it doesn't turn out to my standards.

The shower needs to be a pan - have sides, or slope towards one wall. Your drain is in the middle. Even with the free flowing drain, you can have 1/4" of water or so in the shower - where is it going to go without sides?

The whole thing could be "hacked" but realistically what is going to happen is the OP is going to finish the project as is. There might be some leaking issues right away or down the road. The whole bathroom could just damn well explode in 5 years. Everyone with their expertise is not getting anything accomplished or helping this OP. Yea, yea, it's not done the way it probably should be, but she is not going to change it from the above posts...Make all the excuses you want about "we are just telling the OP what she needs to hear", it is not working if the OP's just leave.

Wacokid, yeah, I hear ya. Classic problem of experts stating a conclusion rather than providing a free education that lets the OP reach the same conclusion. The fact that the same screw ups happen over and over certainly helps establish the pattern.

That said, even these curt good/bad comments are helpful to an emotionally detached reader who will follow up with research and hold their future contractors to account.

So, OP, you have to think - is it going to hurt more to fix now, or hurt more later to fix all the damage and do it all over again after enjoying that new shower for a few years? We can't decide that for you. Sucks that it was done wrong, but it often is.

The OP specifically asked whether she would need to tear this out and start over. If she didn't want the answer, maybe she shouldn't have asked the question....

@wacokid, I think it is irresponsible to tell the OP that the tile is an issue when in fact she has multiple huge issues of which she is unaware that dwarf the tile issue. She has a real problem with this bath install. She could address it now or she could wait until she has more serious issues with water and mold that will be hugely expensive to remedy. This is her choice. But if no one points out the bad install, then she has no idea that the tile is the least of her concerns.

If she knew about tiling or about waterproofing or even if she had studied how to hire the right tile installer she wouldn't be in this pickle now. If I were in her shoes, I would not have this contractor finish because he has NO IDEA what he is doing. Classic case of throwing good money after bad. Sophie posted some great links. Here is another one: https://www.johnbridge.com/

Maybe some of the money spent here is recoupable. Maybe. The OP acknowledges that she went with "cheap labor" so there may not be a lot to recoup.

The biggest issue is it wasn't a big enough room to begin with to put in a bathroom. And that, and that platform without any real slope, say that the bargain labor is going to cost 10x as much to fix all of the issues here, and pass inspection.

So sorry you are going through this.... it sounds like the shower niche was done wrong as well. " and a couple of the floor tiles in the shower pan are higher than others " is definitely a concern since it is imperative that the tiles all pitch towards the drain. In this case there would have been diagonal seams in the tiles...

Goodness this is so difficult...

Bright side - I love the floor you chose and the tile being vertical on the shower walls....

Good luck

If someone came to me and had a bee on their cheek I would lightly flick it off, I would not punch them in their cheek.

Yes, the wall tile is bad. Probably, based on the drywall next to it, because the wall is bad. I see zero evidence of durarock peaking out behind the tile, so I suspect you might just have sloppy drywall behind the wall tile which is why it looks so uneven. And which also means you likely do not have proper waterproofing.

You didn't ask, but the shower pan is absolutely wrong and should be taken out. Even if the missing curb was not an issue, which it is, the size of the tile doesn’t allow for a proper pitch to the drain in such a small span. Your shower door will not be able to contain the water. Please fix this before you invest any further.

Best of luck.

Equating a bad tile job with someone standing on the interstate proves my point. Let me know if the OP comes back and listens to what you are screaming about.

Sorry to jump on the negativity train, but this is just a disaster. Has he offered to re-do?

Hi Tab,

SO sorry you're going through this, perfectly understand you just want this guy out of your house and done with this reno.

Did you by chance take pictures along the way?

For example, if you put a tile on the floor with the finished side up, would there be small, open spaces underneath? Most likely in the center of the tile?

The answer to your question is yes, there are BIG problems with bowed/cupped tiles in bathrooms.

We've been traveling, just got home, this was the bathroom in our B&B in Florence, Italy, we died laughing!

I wouldn't be able to live with it. I'm sure you are going to put a nice glass surround .Redo it. Find another tile guy. Maybe save you some money and remove it yourself. Thinset may still be wet.

Joining this late. Would like to know what the original poster's next move is going to be with this bathroom?

The floor is beautiful.