I am not an expert, but we have done quite a bit of tiling ourselves. When cutting tile, the "cut" edge is not absolutely perfect like the factory-finished edge. However, I can't think of an instance when the cut edge would be anywhere other than the outside edge of your tiling project. When the cut edge is on the outside, with the grout, it should pretty much disappear. If your installer has put the "cut" edge next to a factory finished edge, in my opinion this was done incorrectly. Hope this helps.

I have a feeling that the installer may have a "porcelain" blade on the saw (sometimes known as a "hotdog" blade). It's very easy to tell, because it has thin slots in the blade to help cool it. The problem is that it also leaves a little more of a chipped cut. If this is a heavy duty porcelain that he's using, this is almost unavoidable. But if it's a normal porcelain, a regular blade can be used, giving you an almost chipless cut.

I cut 200 sq ft of porcelain tile in our bathroom, and everyone nneded to be cut - we had no chipping. I am wondering about the quality of your tile...

I did my apartment in porcelain tile and other than loosing some tiles as they broke trying to cut some strange shapes there was hardly any chipping. I do recall the installer having to go out to get a different cutter as the one that he started with was not cutting properly and it was chipping the tile. In Florid you can take a tile to HD or a tile store and they will cut it for a small price. I suggest you try taking a sample of your tile to a 3rd party store and have it cut. (1) see what they say about the quality (2) compare the cut.

Good luck

Thank all of you for your input. Our decorator had a fit when he saw the unprofessional job. He has similar tile in his home and the work is perfect!

I failed to mention in my post that a lot of the tile is crooked, slanting and has way too much grout surrounding it. All in all, it's a terrible job. Now the GC wants the guy to do it over. We want to fire the tile nut and get our own. We won't ever recommend the GC we are using. He is sloppy and we think his stinginess and stubborness has run off good subs. So far, there are three that we know of who have left him since early fall.

I think you got an incompetent tile setter who was either using the wrong blade or a worn blade for the cuts.

Here's the latest on our porcelin tile problem.... one of our city's top installers (over 30 years plus in the business) is a good friend of our designer and as a favor took a look at our tile installation. He was disgusted and said it was "very sloppy work!" He went on to say that the installer obiviously didn't use the proper blade; etc.

We've hired this well-respected tile man to tear out the mess our GC's sub made and reinstall it properly. We are also hiring him install our Walker Zanger master bath tile. We are livid at our GC. He is going to have to pay for this. We certainly are not. We know we are in for a battle! The GC has turned out to be a huge bag of wind, failing miserably on his promises and so called "talent!"

kat, how unfortunate; good luck in resolving this and thanks for posting back.