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I recently got my floor redone by a contractor and have some concerns regarding the install. I had porcelain tile installed. I just want to make sure that my concerns are accurate and not me obsessing over small details.

  • Chipping. There’s minor chipping on the edges of the tiles. Not all of them, but a fair amount. I had him remove some chipped tiles and put new ones in. It seems like he also chipped new tiles in the process. He said it’s common for this tile

  • Uneven tiles. It seems like there are areas of the tiles that are uneven. Want to make sure if it’s a significant concern or not.

Images

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    Its likely that the floor was not level, the tiles were crooked or your contractor is an idiot. So, VTC. We need better pictures of the unlaid floor, knowledge about the floor/sub-floor, knowledge and origin of the tiles, a photo of an unlaid tile etc etc. Imported tiles marketed as Italian are often under-fired and crooked.
    – Rohit Gupta
    Commented Sep 12 at 6:48
  • You're really asking for opinions on quality, though, and that's off topic here. See the help center.
    – isherwood
    Commented Sep 12 at 20:08
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    @isherwood - so now questions about materials and expectations on how the materials should work/look are off topic? I completely disagree. Also on a comment like yours you should be 1000% sure it is off topic before a snappy response to a new user. I think you are wrong and your comment is also wrong.
    – DMoore
    Commented Sep 12 at 23:30
  • That's not at all what I said (and it's no surprise that you disagree with me; you seem to have made a hobby of it). I said opinions on quality are off topic--product reviews, in essence and opinions on how much out-of-level is acceptable. Try not to distort my words, please. This question only really asks what's "a concern". That's 100% subjective, regardless of whether most think this is unacceptable.
    – isherwood
    Commented Sep 16 at 13:13

3 Answers 3

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Tiles should not have chips like this on manufactured edges. They weren't even cut. No offense but your installer is a joke.

A normal way to handle this would be for an installer to come to the owner and say "Hey these are chipped. Do you want to hold off on this or let's go through which ones we can use to see if we have enough?"

I really don't know what to say. Either the guy just wanted to get the job over to get paid or he is just totally oblivious. From your picture it does not seem the tiles are flat but that is a different question.

Edit Note based on new comment about uneven tiles: In the small sample picture they look rather uneven. If it were a large floor and that is the only issue then it is mehhh (not good). If the whole floor looks like that it is pure crap.

And a note to the note: There isn't a reason to have bumpy tiles on a floor. Yes there is going to be 1/32-1/16" variance sometimes unless your subfloor was prepped perfect and you had a master installer. From what I see, it isn't the tile depth but it is the mortar was installed wrong/uneven.

If your subfloor was uneven, even terrible, that is still on the tile installer. Step 1 is to get the subfloor to minimum suitable level for an install. And if the tile installer doesn't have experience evening flooring using a large trowel... then the subfloor needs to be pretty perfect. I consider myself a 6-7 out of 10 installing tile (for my standards - I have no artistic eye/ability). My first install at under 20 wasn't this bad.

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  • When I say tiles should not, often in certain batches they do. I remember getting some expensive shower tiles from Tile Shop... Got a box with nicks in the just like this and these were not wood grain tiles you could touch up. Got another two boxes for same job that had a "dot" on the edge of each tile... Set back the install 3 weeks.
    – DMoore
    Commented Sep 12 at 15:53
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I would be more concerned about the uneven tiles because those will get chipped in no time. Tile that size needs to be installed using a 1/2" trowel to allow for slight unevenness in the subfloor. This should be fixed by the installer.

If the installer provided the tiles, it's on him to use tiles that are not chipped. A few tiles will normally be chipped in a large lot but those are usually singled out and used where tiles have to be cut and the chipped part not used. If you supplied the tiles and didn't go through them, then it could be on you.

I have repaired chipped tiles with a dap of acrylic nail polish. There are hundreds of colors to choose from so matching the tile colors is pretty easy.

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To address your concerns in order of the pictures:

Crooked tiles.

Tiles should be flat, with edges "perfectly" aligned (+/- 1/32 of an inch). Its a sign of poor skill/laziness on the side of your contractor that they aren't. Does it affect the tiles strength/durability? As long as the tile bonds to the floor its okay. Ugly but okay.

What I am more concerned about is that it is a sign of poor craftsmanship. Done on something that is visible to the customer, and it doesn't take that long to do it right (especially now a days where they are self leveling systems that one can use to make certain all tile edges line up perfectly).

If they did a bad job leveling the tiles, which is visible to you the customer. What did they skimp out on that you cannot see?

Did they put cement board down under the tiles? have you done a void test to see if their are air bubbles underneath your tiles that will lead to them cracking?

Chipped tiles.

Is it common for porcelain tiles to get chipped edges? Absolutely... Is it common for a tile installer to install tiles with visibly chipped edges into a floor? I haven't seen anyone do that. This once again is a matter of poor craftsmanship. Your tile installer doesn't appear to take pride in the work and making certain that it looks good.

Though to be fair to your contractor. if you are the one who supplied the tiles and you didn't buy any spare tile/inspect the tiles after you bought them, this is on you. If you do have spare tile left over this is on the contractor.

Does this matter?

Not really, its ugly, but doesn't significantly affect your tile besides being ugly. However it is a sign that your contractor does a bad job. If he did a bad job at things that you the customer can easily see and complain about. How bad of a job did he do with things you cannot see? I would test all of your tiles for voids.

Lesson to learn

You get what you pay for. Based on the quality of this install I would guess that you went with the cheapest tile installer you could find. And are now surprised that they did a bad job.

you should have gone with the more expensive contractor if you wanted it done right.

My credentials:

I have made tile counter tops, and tiled floors. Its not hard to keep all your tiles level, even doing it old school like me (no leveling systems), with crooked floors. A little bit of floor prep goes a long ways.

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