when setting this type of glass tile, it's imperative that the thinset be smoothed flat after troweling it onto the wall.

Who set the tile?

normally the thinset is troweled on the wall like this.

well, you have to use the flat edge side of the trowel to 'smooth' down those ridges.

Then you set the tile, pressing evenly to make sure you get full, smooth coverage. The glass tiles were covered w/paper or plastic, yes? So it's hard to see full coverage. you almost have to coat the back of each tile very lightly in order to insure you get full coverage, but not too much that oozes out in between the tiles.

there is no way to fix it. the tile has to be pulled off and redone. and if that's your plan, do it ASAP or else the mortar will harden like cement and you'll ruin the wall ripping it off.

Otherwise, it looks pretty good. If you paid someone to do this, they need to redo and be shown the picture of the trowel smoothing process. It should say it on the specs of the tile install too.

But really, any tile expert who has worked w/transparent glass tile should know this. I'm assuming he used white thinset meant for glass?? hopefully?

(laticrete platinum 254 is on of the best for glass. it's bright white and it perfect for glass )

My husband agrees with Beth H. He does all of our remodeling work, and we both agree we would be very disappointed in this. I hope they will rectify this for you. Pretty bathroom.

Thank you both. I’m not sure how many days it’s been since the tile was set- we were out of town. It could be as many as 5 days- is that too long to fix it? I’m really disappointed as we thought we hired a “tile pro” and had an architect design and oversee the work. I just feel that this botched tile is a focal point of the bathroom. The project manager must have noticed it, but maybe it was too late to fix it. Posting a few more pics- overall a great job but I am really sad about the backsplash.

it's pretty well set by now. but it's not a big deal to remove it and redo. it just has to be scraped off well.

I'm surprise the manager didn't notice it before it was grouted. maybe they thought it didn't matter.

Either way, you're paying for it and should have it the way you want. It's a rookie tile mistake as no expert w/glass tile would let this occur.

I was going to suggest something above the toilet. The blue/green is so pretty, but everything else is a little bare.

If you do some wood shelves, it will add some warmth and texture

or you could paint the wall a color to match the tile (just the inset part) and hang art

This is cool looking too:

or jazz it up w/a collage and some green plants

you could also think about doing the upper half of the wall w/that glass tile, or go all the way down like they did here

Thank you, I didn’t want to sound like a jerk for complaining but this is a bad job, right? I wonder if the contractor let someone else set this tile. Could you please tell me in layman’s terms what this result is called/- bubbling? Air pockets? I am going to email the PM tomorrow. And thanks for the suggestions on decorating, will also be adding window blinds so can bring wood that way too. Adding window pic.

i wouldn't call it a bad job. I'd just say it was an oversight. It looks like the trowel marks were skimmed smooth, but there wasn't enough of the thinset on each tile to provide full coverage.

I think a few of them weren't pressed in hard enough to assure that most of the surface made contact w/the wall. that's why you have what looks like 'air bubbles', when it's really just pockets that don't have full coverage.

Does that make sense?

If the tiles were covered w/brown paper, you don't peel that off until the tiles have set and hardened. so you're basically doing it blind. Some tiles come w/plastic sheeting that allows you to see the tiles. I don't know which one of these came on yours.

95% of glass tiles now come painted on the back to prevent this. You happened to buy some that weren’t and the tile guy didn’t notice. The only fix is a tear out. It stinks but that’s how you learn.

I’m sorry this happened to you. Your bathroom is beautiful and you deserve proper installation. Take a deep breath and tell your contractor he has to fix this.

He apparently set the tile directly on the top; another crud catching rookie mistake. Set a continuous shim the thickness of the grout lines on the top, then lay the tile on the shim and grout them. Pull the shim and fill the gap with color matched silicone. Caulk at a plane change is a TCNA requirement.

I know it doesn’t help, but when I have work done, I want to BE there to make sure it looks right from the beginning. I tell the workers in advance that “I will be there with my level and measuring tape”. They can’t say no because I’m the one with the checkbook.
Call the contractor and schedule the re-do.

Cant imagine you will get any push back on this..it is a small project and an obvious problem..

Thanks everyone for your input and advice. I reached out to the store where I purchased the tile and sent them photos of the backsplash so I can gather some additional info. to help me decide on next steps.