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raehelen

Whoops! Floor not level, tiles need to be removed...any advice?

raehelen
10 years ago

So upsetting. DH's birthday today, and we were planning to celebrate by finishing off shower by installing the glass doors. Yeah, I know we live the high life!

While I was making his favourite cheese and ham scones, he was measuring, said he'd had a nightmare last night... and lo and behold, realized that the 5' X 3' base is not square to the tile walls. What happened we discovered is that the floor slopes towards one end by ~ 3/8" in that 60".
So, that by the time you get up to the top of the glass doors, the difference between the edge of the glass and the wall would be over 1/2". Crap! My stomach is twisted in knots, I realize in the scheme of things not the end of the world, but just so disappointing!

The only solution we can see is to remove the bottom row of tiles, plus at least one floor tile so that we can lift up the base (solid cultured marble) and shim it level. DH is now banging away trying to remove tiles which he says I will never have to worry about falling off, ie they are not coming off easily!
Any words of advice, encouragement, sympathy? Guess the only way to get those tiles off is to break them?

Sigh.... :>(

Comments (6)

  • lotteryticket
    10 years ago

    Oh, Raehelen. I'm so sorry. That might be the only way. It might be a bit of a set back but better to deal with it now and move on. And I'm envious of the ham & cheese scones. Your DH is a lucky guy!

  • enduring
    10 years ago

    How did this work out? Did you finish installing the doors?

  • raehelen
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Thanks for asking Enduring! think it's solved. DH removed the bottom tiles, (just from the short end that was lower), and all the tiles attached to the shower base itself on the outside edge, and one floor tile. He then lifted up the base (turned out he needed to lift it more than he had anticipated at first). He's remeasured everything, used levels and squares, and thinks it's all 'perfect'. His brother happens to be in town today, so we're hoping he can help hold the glass door in place to check that it will fit properly, then DH will retile everything and then doors can be installed. I am over the angst I felt last Saturday, (did not sleep very well that night). Compared to some of the problems others have been having this week, this is a minor blip, relatively easily solved, and we even still have extra tiles left over. Our tile place luckily had an open pail of the waterproofing membrane, and so instead of having to pay $150 to re-waterproof exactly 2 square feet, it only cost us $25! And, if it doesn't dry out, may even be enough to waterproof around tub edges in next BR! LOL (We could end up saving money! Ha ha ha!

    Floor tile to furthest left had to removed, all the tiles on shower base, but luckily none of the surbase tiles, as the floor tile had just fit underneath.

  • lotteryticket
    10 years ago

    So glad to hear that. Fingers crossed but it sounds like you guys fixed it!

  • enduring
    10 years ago

    Sounds great. Your post was a fun read :) and I think the colors of you tile and shower base are very pretty. You guys did a very neat job of tiling. Looking forward to the finished pictures.

    You're ahead of me. I still have to tile that dang shower. Today they bring the second counter as the first one was cut too short on one end. Good news was that there was enough from the remnant to make a second counter.

  • raehelen
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    We now understand why you're not chomping at the bit to do your shower. We have a VERY healthy respect for GOOD tilers! As I've said in another post, DH is a very competent DIY'er, but he says he will never tile another shower again! I love the look of the 12 X 24 tiles, but if we'd had a 6' X 4' shower, instead of a 5' X 3', it would have been much easier. Nearly every single tile had to be cut. We decided to miter all the outside corners, niche and one wall, and that was a bugger on those big tiles. We're not 100% happy with the results, but it will be interesting to see what others think of it, of course it's in our Master BR, and guests will only see it once, and I'm sure they will be polite and give the appropriate oohs and aahs. Hopefully once the teak vanity is in, my complete vision will come to fruition, and the overall look WILL be worth it.

    Hopefully, your counter is perfect. I have a feeling they might have had problems cutting mine too, as it is not exactly the part of the remnant I had specified. I had another piece cut for the shower niche, and when DH had to trim it a bit, a corner fell off. When I took it back to the granite fabricators to fix his boo-boo, another bigger chunk fell off. They glued it back on...far back corner, so no one will ever see, but I realize that this granite, though very pretty, is quite fragile. It had that mesh glued on the bottom...so it's fine for a small vanity, though I don't think I would have taken a chance with it for a large kitchen, too many places it could have crumbled/broken.