Tile's Up, Wait, It's Down, Back Up Again

Now that the backerboard is up, it's time to tile the walls. Easy, right? Well...

Mr. Plumber told us that the tile man he uses is someone he has worked with for several years. So Tile Boy shows up about an hour late and for some reason, he didn't have many tools with him. I showed him the tiles and what it was supposed to look like. I expected that he knew what he was doing and that Mr. Plumber had gone over everything with him.

Around lunch time, I went up to check on the work. The tile was up most of the wall, but failed to install the listello. He had to rip off some tile to add it, but because he had already installed the corner shelves, he decided to cut some corners for himself. In order not to rip off more tile, he placed the listello in a strange place directly on top of the shelf. I had told him that I preferred the listello to be above the shelf by at least 6 inches, but he ignored me.

Notice the crooked tile in the corner. At the bottom, there wasn't any tile, but once he reached the top, he was adding in tile slivers.

The bottom tile was crooked and not flush with the wall.

I’m not a tile pro, but I have watched enough HGTV to understand a little of it. Most professional tilers use a wet saw when making intricate cuts. Instead, Tile Boy used a hand saw. It was a small little hand held saw with a blade no bigger than 4 or 5 inches. I watched him go in and out of the back slider to cut tiles and wondered why he needed to cut so many. Lots of mistakes was the answer.

The tile wasn't cut straight which caused to listello to get pushed up in places.

The bullnose was in the wall leaving holes.

The listello wasn't lining up properly in the corners, and it was placed directly above the shelves so he didn't have to pull off more tile because of his mistake. Very bad design, and looked horrible.

More crooked tile.

Once he finished the tile, he rushed to pour the concrete for the shower floor. He had one bucket that was filled with the wet concrete almost two inches from the rim. Greg offered to give him another bucket, thankfully, so he wouldn’t possibly spill it going up our stairs. 

There were several gaps where the concrete did not reach the wall. There were more hills and valleys than the Andes Mountains. Should have been smooth and sloped to the drain.

I finally asked him how long he has been working with Mr. Plumber. “This is my first day” he replied. I think I resembled a deer in headlights. Really? As it turned out, Tile Boy had never worked with Mr. Plumber. Tile Boy got a call from Tile Man who couldn’t do our job because he was working on a much larger job. Tile Man thought Tile Boy could handle it, but obviously, he couldn’t. 

After Tile Boy left, Greg called Mr. Plumber and told him how terrible our tile looked. It was crooked, cut in jagged edges, and just plain ugly. Mr. Plumber promised that he would fix it.

Mr. Plumber and Tile Man came over and profusely apologized for the poor tile work. It would all have to come down. Even the concrete floor was poured horribly. I think Hayden could have done a better job.

That weekend, Tile Man came over with his wet saw, and all the necessary materials to fix the job. He also brought Tile Boy, so that he could learn how to properly tile a wall.

Now that's a better tiled wall.

Shower floor flows with the floor tile in the bathroom.

Pretty browns and tans.

Where I originally wanted my listello, finally got it.

More tile had to be bought, but not at my expense. Tile Man got the tile up correctly and properly. The floor was put in nicely and really looks great. Even the listello was placed at a proper height. Tile Man decided to tile up to the ceiling which I appreciated. It helped, plus most showers are now done this way. 

I’m pleased with how it finally turned out and glad that it will be finished soon. Glass people arrive today so hopefully we will have a fully working shower by the end of the week.

Listello on the tub gives the room a cohesive look.