Bathroom Remodel; Tile laid, now told floor is unlevel?

Question

I hired a contractor to remodel my bathroom. They ripped out the old tile that was in the bathroom; underneath was a wood floor. I’m not sure what happened after this, all I know is that now, the new floor is installed (porcelain tile) and my floor has a gradual slant to the right. They installed the vanity on top of the new tile; it’s not level, using a leveler to judge and the naked eye it's obvious. I was not told any of though, I had to bring it up to the contractor the following day; that's when he acknowledged it, saying that my floor must not have been level prior to all this, but I just didn’t notice it because I was used to it (been in house for 3 years). He’s going to try to make the vanity level, I assume by way of shims.

I’m suspicious of this, thinking maybe they screwed up and are blaming the floor not being leveled? I’m not an expert but I’m pretty confident my prior bathroom was NOT unleveled. I’m paying a lot of money for this remodel on a super small bathroom (10ftx5ft); I feel it should be done right. Shouldn’t an unleveled floor have been realized before laying the tile? Shouldn’t something have been done to fix? Or is this normal for a contractor to lay the tile THEN realize the floor isn’t level?

Answer 1

Yes, the contractor should have noticed that the floor was not level. At which point they should have had a discussion with you about how to proceed.

Answer 2

In all fairness, maybe the contractor did not notice just as you did not initially.

I was a master tile setter and I do not like using gaps larger than 1/16" and with that, I always make sure the floor is level. The smaller the area the more important level is and the larger the tile the more chances of a seesaw effect.

I do not think they were purposely negligent based on what you both saw after the fact. In all honesty and respect, you should have paid more attention to the job site. Few things could have been done to correct it, such as liquid level, then placing backer board down, or floating it with thin set first on top of backer board.

In regards to shimming the vanity. He should be shimming it for anything over 1/16 of an inch, especially since water is involved. Meaning if you were to get water on the counters you do not want it to run off or if the sink is filled, it would be quite noticeable. I honestly can not say I ever say a job where shims were not needed when installing/hanging any type of cabinets or vanity.

Answer 3

Shoddy job!! Shoddy contractor!!! A good contractor should make sure the floor is level to begin with. If he does not do it, THEN HE IS A SHODDY CONTRACTOR. No quesion about it. Your contractor should rip out the floor tile and install it again PROPERLY.