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giselle_cabrera

Tiles don’t match

5 years ago

Hi everyone. So I have a little dilemma. The tiles installed in my bathroom don’t seem to match and according to the supplier they are all the same dye batch. What to do?

Comments (23)

  • PRO
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    let it dry and comminicate with your tile professional. likely will balance out after it cures a good week

  • 5 years ago

    Thank you, it has been a week and some tiles are still darker than others :(

  • 5 years ago

    Large format like that can take a month to fully cure and dry out.

  • PRO
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    A week ouch ! be patient but start communicating with tiler. YOU have any boxs in your trash so you can personally verify dye lot numbers id pursue that as well while hoping for the best

    Porcelain tile forces a longer cure, stone will dry out and balance quicker if the proper mortars were used. But porcelain usually shouldnt show moisture after only a few days if porcelain that points to dye lot issue

  • 5 years ago

    Thank you all for your reply. Neither my contractor not the tile company has said anything about curing. But I think if the tiles were installed around the same time then wouldn’t they all look the same and cure at the same rate? I also saw tile cuts that also had different colors, although I did look at the boxes and the tile batch seems to match but I didn’t see anything about the dye lot number on the boxes. So frustrating and I’m ready to go in a hole and live there because the house is full of dust boxes and mayhem so stressful and this is holding up the remodel. Should I just stick to these mismatch tiles and call it a day, feels so annoying because this was almost 25k remodel. So frustrated and over it.

  • PRO
    5 years ago
    last modified: 5 years ago

    unfortunate im guessing thats porcelain and youve got dye lot issues ( different than batch #s.) Live and learn. Im hoping youve had inspections and flood tests on shower pan and no other issues develop. In my market 25K very low for a bath that size with that much plumbing and tiling.-Best

  • 5 years ago

    Yes it’s porcelain but I think just glaze? Found these in the trash. No dye lot number anywhere to be found. Oh well decisions decisions.

  • 5 years ago

    Dream bathroom turned into nightmare! As the vanity cake in and marble top now has stress cracks, looks like what was going to be a 2-3 week remodel is going to be 2-3 months.

  • 5 years ago

    2-3 months is standard. Especially during Covid. That could be even longer. 2-3 weeks is an HGTV fantasy timeline

  • 5 years ago

    He had said 2-3 weeks, and it would have been that way had the tile matched and the vanity came in intact ugh

  • 5 years ago

    Do you think it’s acceptable to leave it as is?

  • 5 years ago

    Yeah the contractor said to make sure I have a carpet, but no one mentioned the slip and fall risk either I guess you live and you learn like mint mentioned lol first remodel ever and what a headache

  • 5 years ago

    Well, Giselle, the good news is that because of the shade variation, it looks like you have a beautiful marble bathroom. Had you not mentioned the words “dye lot” in your original post, I never would’ve guessed I was looking at imitation marble.

  • 5 years ago

    Thanks that makes me feel a little better lol although still trying to see if we can get some matching tiles and just change a few, but if not, I guess will have to leave it this way, as it’s basically the only thing holding up the rest

  • 5 years ago

    still trying to see if we can get some matching tiles and just change a few

    I strongly advise against that, Giselle. The chances of you ending up with a better result than you have now are extremely low, while the chances of you ending up with a real disaster are significant—especially when it comes to removing the shower wall tiles depending on the method that was used to waterproof the shower.

  • PRO
    5 years ago

    I'm in the school that thinks an imitation of a natural substance ought to have variations just like the natural substance has. I see nothing wrong with it.

  • 5 years ago

    It’s not possible to replace the unmatching tiles? Without disturbing the foundations?

  • 5 years ago

    It is unlikely that you will be able to selectively remove some tiles without doing damage to the underlying substrate. Not so bad on the floor, but can be a real hassle on the shower walls. It depends on what you want. If it's getting the remodel over with as soon as possible, leave them. If it's more a question of cost and salvaging money already spent, leave them. If it's wanting to make your designed bathroom look aesthetically pleasing and more in line with your vision, consider replacing some of them, but understand the risk and costs. If it were me, I would seriously consider replacing all of it.

    Why?

    You can see from your photos that this tile has a photo screened image of veined marble under a porcelain glaze. Each tile is not unique. You can see the repetitions, and orientation changes don't help so much because it is such a large format porcelain. It will only fool the viewer so much before they realize it is not marble or natural stone. Clearly a rug on the floor will alleviate some of that. It such a beautiful bathroom design that was probably meant to give a plush, high end feel. I think the tile selection defeats that. But perhaps in person it delivers a more impressive and realistic feel. Best wishes on your project.

  • 5 years ago

    Thanks jazz for your comment and thorough thoughts. It’s tough to be in this predicament. I appreciate your sympathy and opinion. Oh well could always have bigger problems I suppose.

  • 5 years ago

    Update.... not completely happy but it does look pretty lol :) so 70% happy

  • 5 years ago

    Absolutely sweet! As anyone who has gone through the build or remodel process, you will always notice the little flaws that are bound to occur... but generally nobody else does. Thumbs up, it looks stunning! You should be very happy and proud. Cheers

  • 5 years ago

    I'm glad you continued with your renovation. In my neck of the woods, $25K gets a nice master bath update...but nothing as new and exciting as yours.


    If everything is functional and it is just a slight dye lot concern, then a lovely compromise is a discount on the tile purchase. There is nothing wrong with having a few dollars left over after a major remodel. The tile dealer would be the one to talk to about this.

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