My sister hired a contractor to put tile floor throughout their house. She sent me some pictures.

First question:

What are your thoughts on how this transition between two rooms was handled? It seems odd to me to put that tiny piece where it is in the bottom of the picture. Is this normal? I would think it should have gone up top against the wall.




Second question:

The floor is uneven in a lot of places. Really bad. The contractor is now trying to say that they were warned that large tile could be uneven. Aside from the fact that this is a lie and my sister was never told this, is that true about large tile? It sounds like a BS excuse to me.

Thanks

Yea, that is going to need some work....

Was the room at the bottom of the picture already tiled, or did he do both rooms?

Everything was put down by the contractor. All floors in the house were replaced at once.

Wow. The same pattern should have flowed from one room to the next. The larger cut piece 2nd tile from left is wrong also. The door cut on right should look the same as the wall in the upper part of the photo.

It looks like he started on opposite sides of the two rooms and realized his layout was wrong at the end. Here are ways to fix it without redoing one room. He would only need to redo 4 tiles. The bottom side already has a straight edge.

https://www.google.com/search?q=tile+tra...024&bih=666

The guy had no clue how to properly install tile that size, much less that amount of tile.

wow, that's a wreck...

Bet she is Mad as a Hornet !!

Thanks for all of your input.

I don't have any experience with this sort of thing, but it just looked terrible to me.

KD, I agree. I told her to find a pattern she likes and make them fix it.

This is exactly what happened. Use KD's idea, put in a perpendicular piece of tile (full width) at the door jam because it allows for a better transition between the rooms.

and the cause of the uneven floor is not because of the tile, it is the initial floor (slab). He did't use a self leveling overlay to bring the original slab to a level surface before laying the tile.

It is not acceptable to all standards of installation procedures.
Lots depends on the qualification of the installer, Was he the least expensive price for labor, could your sister have a complete conversation in English with him, did he have insurance, did she pay any money "up-front" .

Since it is the same tile in both rooms I wouldn't settle for a transition piece. It should have just continued into the next room. I'd have him tear out the smaller room and do it right.

Its no secret all types of contractors cut corners and do substandard work hoping nobody notices or cares. Of course there are many good ones out there, she got a bad one. Dog them til they fix it

To answer your questions:

English speaking wasn't a problem at all.

She got multiple quotes. This contractor was in the middle and definitely not the cheapest.

It's hard to see in pictures but there are spots like this all over where it's not even.