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Bathroom tiling

Elite

Elite

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Hi guys,
I need your help on some of the bathroom tiling issue. My parent hire this contractor to remodel their bathroom. They want to redo the tile on the floor and the wall and they want to use Marble tiles. Anyway, the contractor started doing the tiles yesterday. I came down to pick up some stuff and checked it out while I was there. I think the guy did a pretty bad job and I point out some of the issues to my mom and my sister.

First issue: the tiles are not level (some are higher and some are lower). You can see with your eye and you can really feel with your hand/foot.

Second issue: the gap between the tiles are not the same. Some has about 1/20" gap and some has no gap. The corners are not even.

The contractor came back today and my sister told him about the issue. He said that the floor/wall are not even. The tile corners are not exact 90 degree. He also said that this kind of tile, it's best to have no gap and that's very hard to do due to those problem that he mentioned. He said that when he does the grout, the tiles will be even. He also said that if we can find someone to do a better job, he will pay for it.

I don't have much experience with tiling but I don't think what he said is correct. What do you guys think? Also what kind of grout that you use for tiny or no gap like this? I know there is a non-sand grout that we use for small gap but it still required a little gap.

Hope you guys can help me out before the guy come back.
TIA
 
Well, when someone starts a tile job they have to draw a square based on a vertical and horizontal level lines and off those lines start, the cement or what ever is called to place the tiles works as a leveling material (I'm not sure if you get what I'm telling you)
The gaps between tiles are set by the same tile, look on the edges and you will see some spacers. grout is just a filler, not a make it look as it should paste.
On the other hand if it was a budget remodel...
 
The contractor came back today and my sister told him about the issue. He said that the floor/wall are not even.
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This one is complete horsepoop, even if the floor isn't even, you lay down a self leveling cement and make it even first, then when you have a level surface to work with. As to the walls not even, what house has even walls? you square your tiles from the center and where the tiles are most visible to get your nice lines, then as you get near the walls you CUT each tile individually to fit the wall, from there you can overlap any tiny unevenness in the wall pieces with your trim board or wall tiles if you go that route. You don't just jam them in there all uneven just because you can make them fit that way.

Now I don't have any experience with marble tiles, so I can't say for certain about how they're supposed to be laid out (RE: Gap or not to gap), however every marble tile job I've seen finished while yes they may be slammed right up against each other, they are perfectly lined up. Why don't you just measure the tiles with a tape measure (corner to corner) to see if they're actually 90° or not.

What kind of marble tiles are these? Smooth finish? (if so horrible choice for a bathroom) or the ones that have some rough unfinished texture to the top? Where'd they get this contractor? Guy that has a pickup truck therefore qualified contractor? :D
 
Almost no tile or stone is installed with no gap. You should choose the size of the gap or grout lines based on the material and the look that you are going for.
This is usually done in advance as it helps to lay out the tile and minimize small pieces. If I see a tile job with 12"x12" tile and one side of the room has full tiles and the other side has less than half a tile then someone did not do the math ahead of time.
Sanded grout is for gaps larger than 1/8 inch I think. Non sanded is for 3/16 or less. It actually says on the package what grout to use based on the size of the grout lines. Uneven tiles are unacceptable.
 
Mike, I don't like the tile my dad picked but it's their house so I can't really tell them what to do. The contractor is the son of my dad's friend. I told my dad not to hire him but he didn't listen. The guy came to my house to give me an estimate on my kitchen remodeling. He didn't bring any paper/pen with him. The worst part he didn't even have a tape measurement. Asked him for a price and all he said was $3000 something for this and $1000 something for that. I had to keep asking him how much is something.

Thanks guys for the info.. I will let my parent know and they can decide on what to do. To me, if I pay someone to do something, I expect them to do a good job or at least better than what I can do.
 
houseboat007.jpg

This is what we are doing now in Sausalito.
1/16 inch grout lines.
 
If the guy did half as good as that, I wouldn't complain. What kind of backer board is that?? I don't think I see that at HD or Lowes.
 
Elite said:
If the guy did half as good as that, I wouldn't complain. What kind of backer board is that?? I don't think I see that at HD or Lowes.
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And you probably never will.
It is a waterproof crack membrane.
It is installed on the plywood subfloor.
http://www.schluter.com/products.aspx
 
that is not a bad price at all.. look much better than the backboard I have been buying at HD and Lowes. I checked out some of the other products and man I wish I know this before :( ..
 
euod said:
Great material. How long have you been using it John?
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first time was about 4 years ago. I put the Ditra on an old cracked basement foor.
We installed an electric (nu-heat) warm floor under the tile.
I was worried about the existing cracks transferring through the tile.
Very happy so far.
 
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