Here is a stock photo of the tile

This picture pains me. On the tiles where the light from the window shines on them, you can see the scratches. On the top part of the pic, you can see the darker tiles. Of course I realize that Carrera marble has color variations, but there were two boxes of these tile sheets left over, he could have picked other sheets to put on the floors instead of the sheets with those dark pieces. He also could've popped those dark pieces out and replaced them with lighter ones. Maybe that's not a big deal and it just bothers me, but those dark pieces look awful to me. Despite the dark pieces, the other issues are obvious.
Is there a fix or should it be replaced?

I wouldn't be happy with that at all. I can't see the pieces that aren't level, but that first picture is enough for me. The trim should have completely covered the edge of the tile with no gaps and no cut edges showing. The dark tiles would bother me also, but I've noticed that most flooring people work so fast they don't even notice stuff like that.

The tile subcontractor that laid that floor should be fired and the floor should be completely re-done. If the scratches aren't too deep, they may be able to be polished out once the floor is laid and grouted correctly. I would probably ask for a whole new floor. I would check the grout color, too, because in the picture, the grout looks taupe rather than grey or white.

The grout lines are very irregular in size in the picture of the tile. Not sure if you can complain about that.

Had you looked at the tile before it was installed and relayed instructions to not use the darker pieces? I wonder if when viewing the floor as a whole, if those areas don't make it look more rich and natural versus man-made

He needs to re-do it. This is unacceptable.

It's not the installer. It's the tile. You needed better quality tile. You can see the issues in their stock photo, so there's no use in complaining about it. Buy something else. Higher quality. The miss sets are too numerous to pull off of the mesh and hand set. If you supplied the tile, the replacement is on you. If the tiler supplied the tile, it's on him.

But, the scratching issue is from the builder not protecting them with hardboard or cardboard after the floor was laid. That can be polished out by a stone restoration pro.

I think that is such a pretty tile, Chloe! I'm sorry the install turned out so awful :(

I don't understand why tile was not used as baseboard and that would circumvent that crack showing. Otherwise, you will need quarter round.

All of that type of tile I've seen is honed marble, not polished, and it can be re-honed. The grout, however, should have been removed as the tile was laid, there is no reason any grout should have been left on the surface.

The sample tile picture shows the same irregular grout lines as your finished product, so there's really no recourse for that. If one or two of the tiles were black they should have been replaced, but tile setters generally do not pick tile off mesh unless one is broken and they need that square foot. If you had plenty of square feet of mesh left over they should have used a better one, but agree that tile setters generally work too fast as they are paid by the job, not for their time. Also recommend shoe molding for the baseboards, but the smallest size.

As far as the uneven surface is concerned, I think that is your trump card. It is unsafe and has to be remediated.

As far as the stock photo looking irregular, that is not the stock photo from the company I purchased it from, it is just a random stock photo and it was not grouted.

The grout is indeed light gray, so it's probably just the lighting if someone thought it looked taupe.

It definitely was not a cheap grade tile.

It was not a subcontractor who installed it, it was one of the owners.

And yes, I had a note on top of each box of tiles saying to use light gray, unsanded grout, that there were extra sheets if there were any problems, to be careful because it is marble and to seal it right away. I am very careful about leaving instructions (in a polite way) because i think it's important to do so if you are not there when the tile is installed.

It is not honed, it has a polish to it, not a high high polish, but a polish.

If some of the dark pieces could be taken out, the grout that is lying on top of the tiles be removed, and somehow the uneven pieces replaced, I would love to keep it as it is a beautiful floor. I don't however know if this can be done since it has been grouted and it is in there and set really hard. I fear the only recourse is to have it taken out and get a total different floor so this doesn't happen again.

Someone mentioned that this would be on me, I don't see how this is on me at all. I did not lay it uneven, I did not install it with grout left everywhere, so how is this on me?

This post was edited by chloenkitty on Sun, Oct 5, 14 at 9:18

I think it's a combination of a poor job in laying the tile and grouting technique. But some of the fault does lie with the tile and how it's attached to the mesh.

With the stock photo, wherever that came from, you can see a lot of uneven spacing and that's going to transfer to the grout lines. The actual marble seems to have much more color variation than the stock photo.

The guy who lays tile for me says that when he has used stone mosaic (and I've seen similar on TV)--he ends up, or he and the homeowner end up going through all the tile, dry laying it, cutting uneven or poorly color matched or crookedly mounted tiles off the mesh and then filling in these spots with loose tiles cut from other tiles. They also mix the batches so there isn't a "patch" of different tile. It's time-consuming, almost like doing it twice.

How much did you pay per sq foot for this tile? You don't have to say, but for comparison, some of the Ann Sacks stone tiles cut into patterned mosaic can top $100 a sq ft.
So in may not have been inexpensive in the contest of "tile", but it may have been in the context of "cut-mosaic stone tile".

It seems to me that a combination of factors led to your floor not turning out as nice as one would hope. My brother did his bath completely in carrara marble. This brother is a perfectionist. He is also a longtime professional tile guy. The project took him forever to complete. When he purchased his tile, it too was all over the map as far as depth and size of each tile. He took his time making everything level and straight, tile by tile. He did not use mosaics. Even with all this attention to detail, a few of his wall tiles sit just a hair proud of the others. Your tile guy should have had a discussion with you, prior to the install, about the inherent inconsistencies and difficulties with this tile, so that you were fully aware what to expect and not end up placing blame on him. He's the professional and should be familiar with the properties of carrara tile. He should have sealed the tile prior to grouting and he should not have used sanded grout, which could be the reason it scratched. I don't think the irregular grout lines or the height inconsistencies of the mosaic were the installers fault, but he certainly should have pointed that out to you just to save him from a dissatisfied customer. It baffles me that he did not forewarn you ahead of time.

This post was edited by theresa2 on Sun, Oct 5, 14 at 14:32

It baffles me too, Theresa 2. They have gone ahead and did some things without discussing them with us, which I did not like. Not a huge deal, but for instance the inside stairs. I wanted a square style for the corner posts inside because I have a lot of clean lines in the home and I just wanted the squared off posts. I came in the house one day and the banister was all done, painted, stained, etc and they were rounded posts. Things like that they should ask before they are installed. Now someone will probably post back here that I should have told him. In my defense, I made sheets up of every room and what I wanted in them etc before the house was started. Of course, being a first time home builder, I would miss something here and there I didn't think of, but I still think the home owner should be consulted before they add anything like that.

Ask about the tile job over in the bathroom forum. Mongo is the tile expert and will give you the right solution for your problem.

I agree with Pal about the mesh- I used small glass subway tiles on my kitchen backsplash and ended up removing them all from the mesh because I noticed how uneven the spacing was and knew it would really bug me.

Most tile installers threat the 12" x 12" piece of mesh as just one tile and do not take the time to adjust each individual tile piece in the mesh.

I just had a good tile installer redo our master bathroom and I have some of the same issues with the glass mosaic on the mesh. I had another mosaic that was made up of slightly larger individual pieces with no mesh and on that one he did a perfect job.

It seems the mesh gives them the "permission" to line up each 12 x 12" square but not to worry about the individial tiles within.

A good tile installer will have no problem taking up individual pieces and replacing them, even after the job is finised.

Palimpsest, I wish I used your tile guy. I think he sounds great and did it the way it is suppose to be done.

No one answered (maybe because no one knows) can certain sections be redone or does the entire floor have to come out? Most sections are very nice and I love, but the bad sections of raised tile, grout I cannot get off and that area by the floor molding I cannot live with. I did know when I purchased it that some areas of the marble were dark and some light, that's natural and gives it character, I don't mind it, but if it's done in a certain way. This is just horrible though.

Our builder has a tile guy and he did a fantastic job in our master bathroom and our full bathroom. I don't know why one of the owners, who is one of the on-site builders, decided to do this for himself. It was the most difficult and time-consuming out of all of the bathrooms. He should've let the guy that specializes in tile do this bathroom. Lesson learned to him as well I am sure.

Is it a tough job to take this floor out? It's a 6x6 powder room. You know, if only the mistakes were where the toilet was going to be or in the far corner where you couldn't see it etc. none of this would matter, but of course Murphy's Law, they are right smack in the middle of the floor where you see it as soon as you walk in.

I'm not sure how tough a job it is to to remove tile- I've only ever installed it. I Imagine someone could carefully chip out certain sections, but it seems like the problems are widespread. I agree with kswl about the unevenness being your trump card- that does not seem to be acceptable craftsmanship and I hope they will redo it all of you.

As far as your stairs go, did you use an architect and weren't the stairs designed on the blueprints? If so, take those to the builder and tell him to change the railings, bannister, corner post, etc.

When we have built the molding and trim were all illustrated on the blueprints.

You should have detailed drawings of the stairs included in your set of construction plans. If those were not provided, you should have been verbally consulted about the details before the stair was finished, then anything different from the builder's specs should have been written up as a change order.

We did not have an architect, we purchased the plans. Well, the plans also called for a beautiful window seat on the landing going up the staircase.mi was so excited about that I could hardly contain myself. As the build was moving along, I asked them about it and they said there wasn't enough room on the landing for it and acted surprised when I said it was in the plans.

I had one 13" square tile in a bathroom that got scratched. The tile guy removed it and replaced it with another tile from the same batch. I can't tell where the tile was replaced, so it can be done if your tile guy is skilled.

Did you get a set of detailed construction plans?