No idea what color grout to use, but I like your tile choice. Akoya Bone is one of the ones I was considering for my bathroom - it's really beautiful and very realistic looking. Good luck with it!

Thank you Charlikin. I love the tile so much but really dislike the job this installer is doing and I can't sleep. He has 4 different widths on the grout lines. I think I will hire someone to remove the floor and take off the border I did not want in the small 4' X 4.33' area and start the tiles at the door and not in the middle. He forgot that the quarter rounds would cover spaces. He is trying so hard and it looks nice but when I get up close, it bothers me that the spaces between the tiles are not the same size.

I agree that the grout widths should be uniform. Don't know what kind of pattern you're trying to create, though. Can you post photos?

Hi Charlikin. The border he created that I did not want would look nice for a bigger floor. The border is what is adding more problems with the spaces. The front foyer is so small and would look better without the border so there would be more than 4 full 12" X 12" tiles. He told he he had no choice but to do the border. I wanted the tiles on the diagonal. He told me there would be 1/4, 1/2 & 3/4" tile sizes all along the edges wasting many tiles and the area was crooked. I see only that two sides with 6 tiles would have had 1 3/8 to 1 3/4 size small tiles if there was no border. IF he would have started at the door as one other installer told me we should, only one side would have 2" small diamonds along 3 tiles and then the quarter rounds would go on top so little pieces would not come loose like he said.

He is such a nice guy and hard worker and the price is not much but this is bothering me so much. Now I wish the tile came in 13 X 13 so no little pieces and I see the install would be easier.

A client/friend is coming by to look so pics later on. He said he would be here at 9 AM and is not here yet at 9:28 AM so that is good.

The installer came here late and when I told him about the grout width problem (he promised me 1/8th width.. I can live with some tiles off by 1/16 but not off by a range of 1/16 to 1/4) and that some tiles are filled with glue between the tiles are are 1/16th so how can he get the glue in the tiles.

I was going to ask him what he would want to be paid to remove the tiles, start at the door to make that even (has various size gaps there) and do much less cuts with no border that I did not want in the first place. But first I told him to not get started until I talked to him about the widths being so off for the grout lines. He would not let me continued and he got up and left with all his tools upset with me and told me to find someone else to finish the job.

My client/friend who came by a few minutes before the installer and agreed that the job was not acceptable (and he is not so picky like me) just removed the tiles since we found out the glue was not spread out well with some tiles having hardly any glue and others very lumpy and uneven. Amazingly the tiles all came up so easily with a small screw drive since many were not glued down too good. None of the tiles have damage except one has a chip on it that the installer did and remember there are only 4 whole tiles with many 3 X 12 pieces that may not be able to be used again

My client/friend is cleaning the tiles for me and trying to get lumpy glue off of the bottom and then we will figure out how to get the haze off of the top. Any ideas?

I wonder if I should buy 1 or 2 more boxes of more tiles in the same lot number (14 tiles to a box) and not open them in case they are needed so I will not have to have a different lot number in case no one has time to do the floors (that have lumpy glue all over them and no hardwood floors or tiles on both foyer areas now) for several weeks.

I love the real stone look and color of the bone/beige tiles but now wish they were 13 X 13 instead of slightly more than 12 X 12 since I am seeing that the bigger the tile, the easier the job will be with no small pieces. But the color was perfect in my office and I think I would like to make the tiles work out.

Sorry I only had 4 hours of sleep so I hope this makes sense. Doing tile work is a lot harder than I imagined and I feel now it take talent to get very close grout line widths.

I'll wait till I see the pics. Unless you're working with rectified porcelain, 1/8" joints are difficult to keep, because of the sizing of the tile. It may be that, or it just may be that he didn't grid out the floor and went with spacers, which makes it even more difficult. Once you post pics, I can give you a more accurate assessment.

Thank you Bill. He did not grid out the floor and went with spaces and started in the middle of the foyer and then was trying to space the tiles against the door and walls at 1/8th but some were next to the door or wall with no space and some were 1/4th inch despite having the tiny spacers in them. He tried so hard and told me he could not finish the job without a border. When it cut the tiles 3 X 12 to do the border, it just created more cuts and that made the job harder and harder. I think he was afraid to do the middle foyer and this was his way out. I had asked him if he could do a 1/16th grout width and he told me he could not do it that thin. Then I asked him if he could do the 1/8th grout width and he told me no problem and would use these little white spacers.

I feel so bad since he was nice guy who really tried his best.

I have the TEC Antique White Grout here that seems to be darker on the color chip than the Lowe's Latricrete Antique White grout. I guess I will not open the bag until I talk to another installer. It seems to be the darkness of the Marble Beige that Latricete makes.

So much work! I have so much of my own self-employment work to do but it took me all day until almost 4:30 PM to clean the haze off of the tiles after getting them off the floor with a screw driver. My neck and back hurt now and I am drained. I think I got 85% of the haze off with the vinegar until I ran out.

Tile work is difficult I have found out and I must find someone who is very knowledgeable and does good work. I have taken pics before and after to share when I get back. I must go out and get some more vinegar, then feed my little dogs, and try my best to also do some billable hours.

I just want a simple diagonal tile job with no border and a grout width as small as allowable by my 12.125" X 12.125" Akoya Bone Tiles. But I see even a simple tile job is not easy to get the grout widths the same size and to do the best placement of the tiles.

I got a few more estimates and one installer wants to use 3/16th widths with my tiles and I liked him a lot but he just had gallbladder surgery a week ago so will not be able to do the tile work for several weeks and my floors are a mess right now with cement only and glue on them.

I have someone who is starting Thursday who says he can do 1/8th width and promised to call me over after he grids the floor and discuss it before he glues the tiles down.

He says he does not have to remove the old glue which bothers me. He also does not want to use Latex glue and feels I am wasting my money but I have 2/3 of a bag left of the TEC Super lex Latex Modified Thinset Mortar so I feel I might as well stay with this good brand and buy one more bad since I do not want my tiles coming up.

Any advice on this?

We are doing Akoya Bone in our bathroom. I'm glad I read your thread. I hope your project ended happily:))I do love that tile. Did you ever post any pictures?

avignon, I love the Akoya Bone tiles in my two foyer areas and I know you will too. The tile looks like real travertine tile and it is not slippery and I have gotten a lot of compliments today with visitors.

I did have problems with the installer not wanting to put transition pieces next to my carpet until I have time do replace the carpet in a few months with engineered hardwood floors. It seem with the grout in the tiles, most of them are a 3/16th width with a few tiles a 2/16 and a few a 4/16th width but it looks nice so it does not bother me. The tile itself is beautiful and I love the Mushroom grout color.

So far in the back of the middle foyer, none of my "furkidz" are missing the puppy pad but it is nice to know if they do, I can clean it up easily.

I have so much to do in the next few days, but I will try to find some time to post pics.

The mistake you made was blaming the installer - I'm not surprised he walked off.
The tiles are not exact sizes and it is IMPOSSIBLE to match the grout spaces.
I see now you are living with the variance in sizes!

R
Alan

Alan, I did NOT want a border and cut up tiles. I wanted less grout lines. He had some tiles next to each other so NO grout could fit in and some so far apart. I did learn that the 3/16th width that my new installer seemed to end up using with some less wide and some more but at least it is pleasant to look at is doable for the tile I chose. I did not see your post until today when I was doing a search for grout colors.

He should have not walked off especially since he already damaged most of my other tiles by cutting them into little pieces and leaving them in the garage to do the middle foyer. It cost me so much money to re-buy the tiles!