wait, they did the cement board underneath and they're blaming different tile thickness just in that spot with just those few sheets of tile??! lol. And if they were aware of the diff thickness, then why didn't they put those aside? And why isn't the tile thickness visible elsewhere? Just straight up in what appears to be a joint line.

. they did the cement board and didn't check to make sure it was completely plumb and level.

A good tile setter would have stopped and rectified the problem instead of continuing to tile and grout! It's plainly obvious.

did you already pay in full?

and no. you can't do anything to fix this other than remove it and level it out.

how far up does it go? take a pic from further back.

When in doubt, you always have 2 recourses: Filing a complaint against the contractor with the State Contractors Board (they will go after them whether they are licensed or not) and filing a claim with the contractor's bonding company. Usually a threat of contacting one or both of them will "inspire" a contractor to correct the job immediately. Good luck.

@Beth

Yes. It is paid in full. Can we remove some of the tile and redo it ourselves?

@Dragonfly

It took one of his workers 4 days to do just the tiling. We told them what tile we wanted and they purchased it. We paid 1000 for the tile and 5000 for various labor including shrinking the wooden frame, putting in the cement board, and tiling.

For now I wouldn't touch it. Take photos. Call your contractor and ask if they want to fix it right, or you will have to file a complaint with the State Contractors Board and file a claim with their bonding (insurance) company. All of the contractors licensing, bonding, etc. information is on the State Contractors Board website. If your contractors unwilling to cooperate, also get estimates from other contractors on repair cost. I don't know what state you're in, but California is notorious for shady contractors. They're everywhere!

@cheri woods. Thanks for the info. Sounds like something like this has happened to you before? We are in Portland, OR so not too far from there.

It definately has to be redone, that is no good the way they did it. I sure hope you haven’t paid them as the entire amount. It has to be pulled down and redone unless for some stupid reason the tile setter put too much glue compound behind those few tile areas and didn’t notice until it was set..terrible. Sorry that you have to go through this.

It would be easier to redo if they were a larger format, but those small stick mosaics...Not so easy for DYI replacement. Agree we wouldn't have installed it with this result but then if someone was contracted for a day to install this and they were handed what they were handed and paid what they were paid, it could be a "get what you paid for" install. Not good. But then that is why you vet and hire professionals who often require prior inspection of tile, design, lay-out, etc. Not defending the outcome which is sub-standard big time but we are pointing out the combined contributions to the result.

@Dragonfly Very true. Lesson learned. This is our first time using a contractor and we learned that patience pays off :/

How much would you charge to fix something like this and how would you do it?

when you say 'shrinking the wooden frame',,,,?

did the tile guy build the wood frame that the cement board was attached to? you don't happen to have any pictures of that, do you?

Dragonfly, I think 5K for this job seems a bit much. Am I off here?

ooioo,,, the problem with you pulling it off and redoing it, is you will never get the grout to match up the part that stays. (unless perhaps the grout used was the Mapei FlexColor which comes pre-mixed in a bucket? normally it's very hard to mix a new batch of grout and have it come out identical. water amount and even temperature of the water can affect the coloring outcome)

Do you plan on hanging a mantel or any art? If you did, it would hide a good portion of the defect. I realize you shouldn't have to do this, but it is an option if they refuse to do anything.

@Beth Thanks so much for your input and the awesome photoshop job. We decided to ask for a refund for the materials and some labor for the tiling. Fingers crossed they will just give us a refund.