Is this a shower? Looks a little rough on the install for sure, lol. Who installed the tile? Is the floor properly pitched? What is behind the tile? What else did the "tile setter" (term used loosely) do on the project? Is he a tile pro? Where did you find him? What does he say about the quality of his work?

The irregular slate is difficult to work with. It doesn't line up on the mesh, and has crevices and cracks that thinset gets into, and you cannot expect to get it out. It needs a highly qualified tile installer with patience. No highly qualified tile installer was involved with any of that. Which makes the work behind the tile extremely suspect as to being correctly waterproofed.

oh ansd to answer ur questions (sorry) yes that is the shower and it appears to me they simply laid the tile over the base of the floor - if they did pitch it, they were drunk or high. there is supposedly hardy backing with the red moisture barrier on it - on the shower walls - i don't think anything is on the floor from what i have seen. oh, the 18x18 tiles on the walls clearly have air behind them when i tap them - it sounds like damn near an echo when u tap one - they will not stay on those walls a month if you ask me...

Please check out these resources for consumers from the National Tile Contractors Assn: https://www.tile-assn.com/page/trade-professionals-consumers

thank you all for such valuable information. i feel much more confident going forward now that my gut has been reaffirmed and i actually have some data behind me - i will let this be a lesson to me: just bcuz someone says they are professionals and they have the trucks with their name on the side, doesn't mean a thing. i will from now on screen the subcontractor they hire to do whatever job it is: tile, flooring, drywall, EVERYTHING! now i am gearing up for what i hope is not a battle but suspect it will be....

Good luck!

That is in fact quite terrible. Pretty tile, though.

Your first photo of the small slate looks pretty typical for the material but wow it goes downhill from there.

thank u all so much - its really sad bcuz my aunt is elderly and has metastatic brain cancer - they pressured her to use them, overbilled for everthing and are just slapping things together bcuz they think it won't matter anyway. they are very very wrong. thank u again for ur expertise.

Did Stevie Wonder tile this?

Stevie Wonder would have done a better job...😆