I'm too nice, my wife is not

[89th]

We're getting some kitchen work done. New counter tops (done 2 weeks ago, look great) and today the backsplash. The tile guys dropped some tile causing extremely small dings in the counter (if you look really closely you can see it) and the backsplash tile isn't perfectly uniform with spacing. For me, I'm like... ok they are working hard (they are), the damage is barely noticeable, and the spacing is like 95% good, so a few tweaks and I'm fine. My wife wants the company to send someone out to review it, come up with a remedy plan, etc. Which route do you think we took and why did you so quickly guess it was my wife's?

[jon-nyc]

Because I’ve met you IRL and noticed you wear a skirt. So I assume she wears the pants.

[89th]

WE WERE IN SCOTLAND

[Horace]

Both solutions can be accomplished without leaving the house. They are equal.

[Mik]

Spacing is the easiest part of tiling. They sell spacers, fer crying out loud. I did my backsplash and spacing is perfect. I'd probably make them redo the bad parts.

[Mik]

Pictures would help.

[89th]

The guy is fixing it now, he's doing it more carefully. I think his colleague rushed it a bit.

[Mik]

I'd also make them fix the counter. I didn't know it was multiple drops. That's just carelessness that they didn't have it covered.

[jodi]

We need pictures.

[89th]

This is the picture we were shown when we selected the tile. Of course this is with grout so it's hard to know what ours will look like when it's done.

Here are the dings from the dropped tiles.

[89th]

This was after the first round, I told them we didn't like the small 1" tiles, and the gaps were not good.

[89th]

This was after yesterday, it is better. No short skinny pieces because they planned it better this time. I'm still not convinced the gaps will look perfect after grout, especially down the left and right "vertical seams", but I could be wrong.

[89th]

For reference, this is what my FIL had done* and is what I am expecting... slightly different tile, but same size tile.

*the guy who did theirs is notoriously slow/OCD, like 3 days staying until 9pm each day, cutting each tile. That's who we requested but he was not available based on scheduling.

[89th]

And a picture of last night's moon while driving yesterday evening, because, why not.

[Mik]

The first guy didn't know what he was doing and was probably trying to save tile by using scraps. Where those 1" pieces were could have been a single piece. Setting tile is all about planning. Start right, end right.

The dings in the counter are unacceptable. It's a brand new counter ferchissakes. It should have been covered by a tarp. Let your wife handle it and do not give them another red cent until it's done. It's not difficult but you have to know how. The counter people should do it and the cost deducted from the tile job payment.

[89th]

Yes they had a tarp but a thin one it seems, and if you dropped the previous 3x3 tiles just right, I can see how the dings happen. They are Cambria countertops so they will fix it (and the cost out of the installation job).

Your tile comments are spot on. It's about planning, and the 2nd time around I talked through the strategy with the guy. I'll be sure to post after pics later today when the grout is done.

[89th]

Job is finished. Grout definitely helped, I don't see any issues. On the very far left the wall looks rough near the tile as the existing backsplash was out too far, so I have to patch/paint that in a few days.

[89th]

This was the "before" btw. We did the rest of the counter (island, sink, two other areas). The sink is probably my favorite part. Went from a split sink to a 30" wide sink, which is something I didn't expect to enjoy so much lol.

vs after.

[Axtremus]

Last time I commissioned a remodeling that involved tiles, I made it a point to choose bigger tiles to minimize grout. Except the ceiling and the bath stall floor. Ceiling because of a tile were to fall I would rather a small piece falls rather than a big piece. Floor because it's supposed to be slightly curved to facilitate water draining, smaller tiles can accommodate curvatures better.

[Mik]

Big format tiles are nice but tricky. You have to get them absolutely flush. I learned this when I did the master suite shower in large format.