Needs a redo. A curtain panel would hide it I guess, if thats what you are wanting to do.

Our practice is to remove the trim before installing a tile backsplash, then reinstall the trim after the backsplash is complete. That way you have a nicer, more finished look.

Yes that would have made more sense .. but now what .. complete removal or are there stains that will cover up the area .

It does appear that way milworkman does it not

If you must avoid a redo and want to make it less obvious, use a blue Sharpie. Or if you have scraps to practice on (although ideally you'd have grout to practice on), see if you can find the perfect color nail polish. Don't use the brush it comes with. Toothpick maybe.

Of course a redo would be best but for most of us it's just not practical.

After he pulled the apron, he should have used a Japanese pull saw to notch the stool, slid the tile behind, then reinstalled the apron. I'd make him do it over. That's awful.

Thanks Fori . Nail polish may work cause it's think and glossy like the tile .which I'm.goig to try as an option if I can't redo

I have asked for a redo though. Joseph Corlett can you please explain in layman terms . A stool and an apron probably mean very different things to us .

Thanks guys

A redo would be best...if they can do better. The stool is the flat part (that we call a sill but isn't technically) and the apron is the part against the wall under it. In older homes window trim can be embedded in plaster and drywall and who knows what else so removing it is not always an option...

Some tile guys CAN cut tile pretty well and don't necessarily have to dismantle your window trim.

ss,

Tile setters are not interior trim carpenters and interior trim carpenters are not tile setters. Your remodeler/GC is responsible for removing the trim prior to installation of the tile and reinstalling it. Removing the trim would have avoided not only the issue you're focused on, but the large grouted joint under the apron, which you will likely find to be objectionable at some point. Get your remodeler to fix both. If that remodeler is you, chaulk it up as a learning expense--that would be yours not the tile setter's.

Do not touch ANYTHING with nail polish.

@Charles Ross Homes

At what point should we expect the tile installer to stop and let the homeowner know that without removal of the window trim it aint going to be pretty.

The tile installer won't stop (unless they are really customer-focussed). They come in and do the job. That's all. If the space is insufficiently ready, then you get the kind of job you have. If they stopped, they'd be out a day's work and no one would pay. If they continue when another trade is "at fault", then they get paid twice if you decide to fix it.

The tile setter--and any trade for that matter--doesn't get paid when they are not working. Once they are on site they want to work to completion without interruption. They can't simply stop what they're doing at one job site and then go to the next job for a couple of hours and come back. There is a lot to mobilizing any trade. Trips cost money.

Knowing the correct order of operations and getting each task completed on time is a big part of how remodelers/GCs add value. When homeowners act as their own remodeler/GC they're likely to get "educated" on a couple of things and that "education" will come at a price. For what it's worth, I've been doing this for a couple of decades and I pay for my "continuing education," too.

I will agree that it is poorly done.. I disagree with the level of deference to the tile setter. Subs don't run the job and when they do - that's the work you get.

We don't know if there was a trim carpenter onsite but if there was popping that apron and notching the casing could easily have been done while he waited. Literally 10 minutes worth of work and it would be done by the time the tile setter was done setting up his saw.

More importantly why didn't the tile setter communicate what he needed before he came onsite ? "This is what I need before I can come on the job to install the backsplash." If he can't communicate or he choses not to it is not my problem if has to wait once he's on the job that's on him.

And if that work is acceptable to him you don't want him on your job anyway.

On our jobs we say it all has to get done. And the guys and the crews that get the repeat work, and the price they want, work together to get it done.

We do not allow for a culture of prima donnas.

>We do not allow for a culture of prima donnas.

If I lived in Connecticut, I'd probably hire you. But that doesn't change the fact that communication among subs is a rare and valuable thing.

It's not clear who was managing this project nor what other trades may have been on site at the same time nor whether the tile setter had any relationship with other trades if they were. I don't think the tile setter had an attitude, indeed I think he made a good faith effort to cope the tile with the tools available to him. The outcome is a management issue, or more correctly stated, a lack of management issue. If a professional remodeling contractor was hired, they need to be held accountable.