Renovating a shower and about to tile with a cheap 5mm ceramic 300x300mm tile. Already having issues cutting envelope floor tiles to size due to cracking - should I change tile now? Worried about cutting holes for taps and drilling for shower screen causing cracks once they’re on the wall. Also any advice for angle envelope cuts, should I just stick with a mosaic haha ?

Not sure what is going on. House built in 2021
Started lifting small and now has tracked across the floor. But nothing shows below the tile.
No signs of cracks in the foundation or footer around the house.

How difficult of a repair is this? A drywall guy came in after and patched the holes that were cut from the other side of the wall, so there is some drywall behind it. The snotty plate they slapped on was too small. I tried ordering a larger backing plate but the holes didn’t line up for the valve handle and the spout. Is there a cheap and effective way to fill this in or will I need to cut out several tiles to repair correctly? Fun fact our drywall tested positive for asbestos.

First Time trying to DYI a tile job and ran into this issue with my kitchen backsplash install. I started from left side and tried my best to keep the tiles level, as you can see from the green laser leveler line on the tile. I didn't realize my window frame is sloped until I reached the right side of the window. There is a 1/2" inch gap between the tile and window frame on the right side where that gap is less than 1/8" on the left side of the window. I was forced to lower the position of Schluter trim piece on the right side ( was planning to put it 1/2 inch higher when I cut it, similar to the location of the trim on the left side of the window. )

What's my best option at this point to hide that large gap and the ugly transition to the bullnose trim piece? Just fill the gap with white Grout , fill it with Silicon Caulk or should I find some white wood trim piece or try to do a pencil cuts with the tile and push that into into the gap?

Evidently came with bullnose ones, shits hard to find anywhere for me. Would like to carry on the tile as there’s a random gap

Hi All. Getting close to tiling the kitchen floor for my kitchen renovation. I’ve never installed large tiles to the point where I ever had to consider the floor levelness. I’m using 10 x 48 tiles for this project and I’m concerned about the variations in the floor height. I included one picture of the overall kitchen layout, and a video showing the height differences throughout the kitchen with a laser level set up. Looking at about 15 7/8 on the low end and 16 1/4 give or take on the high-end. Does anyone have a chance to review this video and share their suggestions if this floor shall be leveled or not?

I’m going to be using Ditra, along with all set, following the manufacturers recommendations and a half inch trowel for setting tile and using the leveling clips. For the floor variations will I be able to get away with the help of the leveling clips and maybe introducing a little bit more thin set on the areas that are lower vice versa?

If it ends up needing to be leveled, what do you suggest using a trowel type where I spot level areas or go all out and use a liquid leveler on the whole floor? Really not looking forward to either of those options, but need opinions here. Thanks.

Our contractor just installed grout. Brand is kiesel, the tile store recommended it as a higher end European grout. The tiler has never used this grout before. Most of the grout lines look stark white, but we picked the color (pergamon) specifically to match and blend in with the warm neutral porcelain tile. There is one section where the grout lines look as expected (circled in black), but everything else is too white. Is this an install issue? Possibly using too much water? What do you think?

They are suggesting a grout sealant to darken the color but to us this is patching something up when it may have been bad technique. Pictures attached: red circled areas are the white grout lines, pic with black circles is the expected color.

Hi I have a transolid FTT6034R ready to tile shower pan. The website lists appropriate thin set. One of which is Mapei ultraflex 1 white. It’s my understanding that the material for the shower pan is an smc sheet composite and the recommended mapie ultraflex is not designed to adhere to that type of material. Does anyone have experience using these types of shower pans? I called them and they gave me the same information as the website. Any help or advice would be appreciated thank you.

I've been on my own for a little while now and my neighborhood Facebook group was great for finding work this summer. I always try to do a great job and hard work pays off!

this shower is in decent shape but I am remodeling the whole unit. it appears drywall was used as a backer (see 2nd photo). also looks like water was seeping through at one point, I can’t really tell. framing is in good shape but I know this would be the best time to replace the shower

1950-60’s old tub and shower in a 125 year old house. When showering water would leak down into the basement. I attempted to caulk along the tub but found that the tiles were very loose and water had gotten behind them. I know that the correct solution is to rip it all out and start over, but our primary bath also has issues and I need to hire that out first. I need a DIY fix that will last a year or two.

The back wall. I removed one row of tile. Wall tiles are 4 ¼”. The first row is only 3 ¾”. Under the tile is ¼” of some sort of plaster bord and under that horsehair and lath in so so shape. My amateur plan is to leave 1” of the old material and cut out 2 ¾” beneath it. Patch in a strip of ½” thick goboard. Seal the seam between the new goboard and the old material with goboard sealant and reinforcing fabric. Put the tiles back. Grout and then silicone caulk between the tile and tub.

The end wall. The tub falls short of the wall so someone built a ledge. It failed (see photos). I think here I can replace the ledge with goboard curb and tile over it?

Is this plan good enough or is it doomed to fail. 😊 Suggestions appreciated.

I am redoing my bathroom and had honed marble installed. The cabinet installer came in to put the cabinets in, and a few days later I noticed some scratches all over the marble from him dragging by cabinets along the marble. Can these scratches be repaired or will I have to replace the marble? The scratches are not as noticeable on the white.

We're kind of stumped on how to finish this. The tile guy ran his thinset past his schluter edge onto finished painted drywall. How do we cover it without ripping a bunch of stuff out?

Hey Everyone! First time poster looking for advice. We hired a tiler that came highly recommended from one of our tradesmen and we were happy with the work he was doing. My father in law (he is a general contractor) came by the house and said the grout lines are way too small (under 1/8) and we should not allow this guy to do anymore work cause he should have used spacers. FIL's approach offended this guy and we kinda lost some negotiation opportunities so now the tiler doesn't want to return.

Info on the tiles used:

Beveled Edge

FIL is claiming we have to rip out all the tile and find someone else to redo it. The guy that did this work was affordable compared to other tilers we spoke to because of the connection with our other tradesman and he insists no water will get behind his tile. He claims he will come back and redo everything if there is any water damage. We feel this is too much of a risk because by the time we find out there is water damage we are already screwed.

Edit: we asked a few other tilers and they said it's not bad but they would redo it. Most of these contacts have been obtained from my FIL. One of them was a tiler we spoke to that was out of our price range but was available to consult us on it for free. He also said he would get his guy to redo it.

Edit 2: no pictures of waterproofing unfortunately. No membrane layer was put on. It's denseshield, mortar and then tile. The niche is pre built drop in that is already water proofed. Tiler said no membrane layer needed for this tile

Edit 3: the tile contractor we hired was not the cheapest quote. He was reasonably priced. Not the cheapest quote, but also not the most expensive. He was recommended and agreed on a medium ranged quote.

I could use advice on a few random questions regarding my bathroom remodel that have eluded me:

1. Shower Niche: Why are pre-bult shower niches not sloped (1/4"+ per foot) on the bottom horizontal? Is the slope achieved using just thinset and tile? Yes, I can make my own, but would still want to know if the bottom needs to slope.
2. Sheet Membrane" I'm planning on using Nobleseal TS in place of the other major brands in my sealed drypack shower. I like how thick it is, has a 0 perm rating and comes in 5 foot widths. Why is there zero interest/discussion in r/tiles on Nobleseal?
3. Curb: A custom cement shower curb is easy enough to build and seems to have good benefit over 2x4 or foam... other than the time it takes, is there another reason not to do this?
4. Floor: I need 13/16 to 7/8 floor buildup over my plywood subfloor. It seems that I should expect near zero (1/16 max) height adjustment from the bonding or tile thinset, and all adjustment must come from the underlayment/decoupling and tile choice. Is this correct??
5. Walls: I need to shim (out) a few of my wall studs between 1/6 and 3/16. I don't see retail shim strips for sale... and ripping 1/8 strips out of a 2x4 seems like a bad idea. How do you do it??

I’m looking to do a bit of tiling in my kitchen with white subway tiles. Think I should tile up to the red line or blue line. Or if there are other options that would look better ?

The photo’s are just the parts I’m unsure about. The rest of the walls are self explanatory.

Hi all, I’ve run into a part of my shower tile that needs to be replaced. When I went to replace it, the plaster behind the tile came out with the tile exposing the brick wall behind it. I called a contractor to fix it and they said they’d fix it by repairing the plaster then adding the tile back on top.

Has anyone done this before and can recommend what plaster or material to use to build up the space between the brick and tile (about 1/2 to an inch)?

Also, Im not looking to rip out the entire wall to redo the tile with backboard behind it as it would require moving pipes which seems like a lot for a small repair to a couple tiles (this seems to be the advice from google)

I used 3 different tiles for this project. The floor tiles were somewhat a pain because the crosses were thinner and smaller in overall size than the stars, and the stars were cupped upward at the pointy edges. I did it difficult to use spacers so hand laid them. We also received a crap load of them cracked due to poor shipping. Won’t name the store since they replaced them and made it right.

The blue tiles are from Edward Martin. They were packed well and on a pallet. They charge flat rate shipping based on price of tiles. Now this isn’t always terrible but for us it sucked. The pencil tile was ordered afterward when I decided I didn’t want to miter or use schluter around the windows and niche. A 2 pound tiny box with bubble wrap and pencil tile cost me $150 dollars in shipping. See picture. I also had to order more blue tile because of a math error and again had to pay another $150 for shipping for a box (no palette this time). Customer service said too bad. I will be avoiding Edward Martin going forward.

Overall happy with the results. I tend to start off meticulous but lose patience as I go and get a bit sloppy so it’s not perfect. Trying to enjoy the bathroom now but as with my other bathroom remodels I’m always worried about leaks!

When banding over the screws/washers, is the 2" overlap measured from the center of the screwhead, or is it from the outer edge of the washer (because the backside of the washers do have those two little teeth which partially puncture the membrane)?

I did call Schluter and they didn't entirely seem to understand what I was asking.

The reason I'm looking for a ruling here is that 2" from the screw head would minimze band buildup at a couple places in my project.

I have no clue if this is the correct place to be asking this but…..
My granite is hazy even after 6000 grit and mb20 with a hogs hair pad

I tires to fix some deep scratches is my granite countertop, I do paint correction for work so I thought this would be a walk in the park but I was wrong.

I started with 100 grit, then 200, 400, 800, 1500, 3000 and finally 6000. After that I cleaned it well and hit it with mb20 and hogs hair, and it’s still hazy, feels very smooth but doesn’t have that luster to it

Looking for install advice, got my demo completed. Old floor was ceramic tile, concrete thinset on 1/4" wonderboard that was thinset and nailed to the subfloor.

Subfloor in excellent condition 3/4" plywood and floor joists are engineered ibeams 16" on center.

Transition is to 3/4" oak hardwood.

Installing 12x12 - 3/8" natural slate tiles

AI says i need to glue and screw down 3/8" plywood, Schluter DITRA system and then thinset the tile.

Seems like overkill, but wanted a professional opinion.

TIA

I have this deck tub set inside a shower that has a pony wall. I realize I want to bring out that pony wall out a bit so it's not flush with the apron of the tub (make it more proud). It would just make it easier to use quartz for the tub deck and tub apron, and just tile the pony wall separate.

Is there a good way to do this without having to redo the hot mop?

I am soliciting bids for my home to be tiled with 12”x60” rectified tile on an 11 year old slab. I requested that a decoupling membrane be used because we have a clay gumbo soil (texas coastal region) and i‘m comfortable paying the extra cost for potential extra insurance on tiles this large. so far two contractors I’ve spoken to are saying they won’t use it with one making it seem outright silly to use.

Where i get uncomfortable is the first is leaning on their lifetime warranty and claiming that because they use a modified thinset, there will be some give there and if i have cracking, they’ll fix it under warranty. the problem is that their warranty verbiage only covers installation defects. obviously my hypothetical moving slab would not be an installation defect and i question how much a modified thinset will actually absorb any movement. The second hasn’t gotten back to me yet when pressed further. Obviously if there is major movement, the tile is going to crack anyway…i get that.

the slab is in good condition. there is a hairline crack in the middle of the house, but it is very thin and most likely from the initial cure, we think. no sticking doors or windows or cracked drywall to indicate movement on the inside, however there is some hairline cracking through exterior brick (straight line, no stairstep) in one area that we have been told by a mason is from the soil expansion/contraction and most likely not a concern, but to keep an eye on it. similarly there are some areas where there is a horizontal crack between the bottom row of brick and the foundation, but no evidence in those areas on the inside of any issues yet and we were told to seal and keep an eye on it.

i feel that the extra cost of the decoupling mat is worth it, but this is apparently not often done in the greater Houston area. another thing I’ve run into, is they won’t do mock ups with grout colors. i get that the tiles are large, but i assumed they could cut some slices and show me a few color options between two slices of tile; is this not typical for floor tile? I’ve not found the grout sample chips to be particularly true to the finished grout product and this is a big job, so i want to make sure I’m making the right selection. ultimately i will just buy the grout and make the samples myself, but i thought that would be standard practice.

for flooring in the Houston area, given the soil type and frequent wet/dry cycles…would you forego a decoupling membrane? or would you consider it a non-negotiable. Would you consider the attempted reassurance of the modified thinset to be outright dishonest in a way that would warrant seeking other outfits, or is there some truth to this claim?

Thanks for any help you can provide!

Should I install this tile vertically, running with the length of the room? Or horizontal since the shower wal tile will run continously to the end of that wall you see tight in front of you, ending at the end of the vanity? Client can't decide!