Blotched big tile job? (repost)

4 years ago

last modified: 4 years ago

I hired a contractor to finish up a small basement bathroom. A previous contractor abandon the project before completing it. His work was of good quality, floor tiling and building a tiled shower pan. Unfortunately he was a jerk, long story. The new one did an OK job installing drywall , texturing and painting. However, today when I was checking what has been done over the last 3 days (I was away), I noticed that his tiling is very sub par. At least on one wall it is. The tiles are large, there is no accent tiles, just plain white big porcelain tiles. As simple as it gets. However he managed to make them slightly not vertical. The wall is 84+ inches high and because of this "slight" imperfection the bottom tile (cut) is 1 inch narrower than the top. The tiles have not been grouted yet. I am attaching pictures. The vertical protrusion on the right is an enforced stud to hang a corner glass enclosure shower unit, very heavy. The shower corner has 2 of those. They are strictly vertical, I measured.

Now the question:

Is there a way to fix it without ripping out the wall/cement board?

I am going to confront him about it but I want to access the scope of the damage.

Thank you.

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Comments (5)

AJCN
4 years ago
https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5725013/what-to-do-when-a-project-goes-completely-south#n=13

I had a project go south. Eventually I found a qualified pro, but sometimes it can be difficult and take a long time. If this is a year-our, next time be sure to hire a qualified pro and be prepared to pay a appropriate price for the tile pro.

I’m not a pro. Hopefully a pro will weigh in to address if/how the project is done wrong.
Elena Kazakova thanked AJCN
Elena Kazakova
Original Author
4 years ago
Thank you, AJCN. I really appreciate you advice.

We did hire a pro and he cheated us out of $15K. So in our area where there is a construction boom it's more like "is there anyone who would take a job on". I had like a dozen contractors coming over and never hearing from them again because there are so many jobs out there in the town that I've been told no one takes on a job with less than $60K price tag. It is not a matter of hiring a cheap labor, it is a matter of hiring anyone at all.

Said that I just wanted a professional opinion if the tile can be removed without ruining the cement board behind or if everything should be stripped to the bare bones. IT is a matter how much more I will need to pay to redo.
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PRO
Avanti Tile & Stone / Stonetech
4 years ago
They might come out intact. All you can do is try it. Much depends on what type of waterproofing was used...was it a surface membrane, roll on or fabric, or was it simply a vapor barrier applied over the studs?
Elena Kazakova thanked Avanti Tile & Stone / Stonetech
Elena Kazakova
Original Author
4 years ago
Thank you Avanti Tile & Stone / Stonetech.

I really do not know :(. I am wondering if I should request the current contractor to strip down everything to the bare studs in the shower or just remove the tiles (is it even possible? not planning to reuse the tiles just the walls behind them). I will definitely hire someone else to do the re-tiling, but the question is if they would need to build new walls or just tile the existing.
Anthony C
4 years ago
you need to find out if they properly waterproofed the shower. You keep mentioning tile on cement board but there should be a waterproof layer somewhere. If you pull the tile, the waterproofing will need to be redone. If there was no waterproofing then the entire shower needs to be redone.

I have a similar problem to a poster above. My area is so hot it isnt a matter of getting a good contractor, you cant find any contractors at all.