Bad Tile Job

AAPaint

I went today to do some painting work for a frequent repeat customer that are extremely great people to work for. Anyway, I am doing the trim in the bathroom because they just had tile layed. The floor is beautiful. The tile guys cut it in extremely clean to the point quarter round is not necessary.

However, they also tiled the shower. The homeowner paid for expensive tile, payed extra for decorative inserts, etc. The price wasn't cheap, the contractor came recommended, licensed and insured.

The shower is horrible. I mean horrible. There is extra grout everywhere, the grout lines are uneven lumps with pools on top of the tiles. The corners are stuffed full of grout. All the floor tiles have grout haze across them that won't hardly come off with a fingernail.

I have laid a few tile jobs in my days, and this is beyond amatuer work. The tile worker told the customer it would wash off.....that's supposed to happen as soon as you float it out.

Is there any way to either a) help this customer remove the grout residue and even out the grout lines or b) help this customer get the contractor to fix his work?

It saddens me to see work like that. My ten year old boys could have done better. There are fingerprints of grout all over the tiles and everything....it's almost sickening.

Any and all advice on how to help these good customers of mine would be greatly appreciated.

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-AAPaint

AA Quality Painting & Pressure Washing LLC
Jacksonville Painters
Jacksonville, FL.

Downeast

never mind . .......

Mike Finley

The haze can come of pretty easily depending on what the tiles are made of, especially if they are glazed. Any home store will carry a decent product for removing grout haze. The thinset finger prints and lumps come off pretty easily too. I use the unsharpened end of a carpenter pencil to knock off the big stuff and then just a wet sponge back and forth to remove the rest.

I don't see how the grout lines can be evened out, unless you are talking that they are starved for grout and you could add the proper depth. If the grout lines are off because of the laying of them, short of removing all the tiles and starting over would be about all that comes to mind.

The corners need to be caulked, not grouted, they will crack within a few days to a few weeks.

If they have thinset showing in the grout lines where it came up between tiles, a sharp razor knife to scrape it out and some more grout to replace the displaced grout would do it.

They should have all the grout sealed and the tile if it is stone. I can't imagine anybody who did what you are describing took the time to seal it.

AAPaint

Thanks Mike. I will see what I can do to help them clean it up. The grout lines I'm talking about are over and underfilled almost everywhere. It's like they ran the float across the tile joints and left pools above the joints on top of the tiles. All corners should be caulked? Wall corners, ceiling/wall corner, floor/wall joint? I am sure this means the grout needs removed from these areas?

I was aware that it needed sealing...I mean, it's a shower. Oh, there are also some cracked grout lines on the floor of the shower already. This will take a lot of scraping and cleaning. Isn't there a tool you guys use to cut out a grout line so you can replace a cracked tile? Wouldn't that work to fix the grout lines here?

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-AAPaint

AA Quality Painting & Pressure Washing LLC
Jacksonville Painters
Jacksonville, FL.

R&D Tile

tgeb

You can get a grout saw.

They have them that can fit a sawzall and they have the type you can use by hand. HD and Lowes carry them.

What kind of tile was laid in the shower?
Are the walls different than the floor?

Some tile can take quite a bit of abuse with out showing it, and others can be scratched just by looking at them.

Good luck on this.

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Tom

www.gebcon.com

Jonesey

Last time I had something like that to deal with I put a peice of carpet on my sanding pole, backing facing up. Keep it wet and just run it like a sanding pole. Pulls the big stuff off and smooths out the grout lines quite easily.

__________________
Steve Jones
steve@jonespaintingonline.com
Jones Painting Feel the difference service makes

Mike Finley

When you say cracked grout on the floor of the tile, do you mean on the flat surface of floor of the tile or in the corners? If its on the flat surface it's time to get the contractor back for certain because there is a defect. If its the corners not such a big deal.

Seal the floor too not just the grout in the shower.

There are tools you can buy just for getting out grout, but if this is pretty fresh and sanded grout I find it just as easy to take my utility knife and start basically "cutting" it out and scraping it out, you don't need to remove it all by any means, just get some of it out so you have a nice rough surface to bond to, then regrout over it. Hopefully you don't run into any color mis-matching. The shallow parts will be easy, just scrape them a bit, vacuum up and they are ready, the high with spillage will be more of an issue and take a lot of cleaning and scraping.

For the caulking, you really don't need to remove the grout, you could remove some, but the idea is to caulk over it so it can expand and contract minutely without showing cracks. Any 90 degree meeting of surfaces needs caulk instead of grout, the connection of the walls to the pan, etc...

I hope you really like these customers, because it sounds like you have $300-$400 worth of work there if not more.

AAPaint

On the floor it looks like in some areas the grout has completely chipped out basically, and yes, none of the corners are caulked at all, nor is the tile sealed. They finally got him to agree to come back over, but he was going to send his guy that goofed it all up in the first place. They had to insist he come see what was up.

Hopefully when he visits it will all work out. If not, I have a referral for them that is a much better tile guy and business man. We finished up there today with our repairs, but it looks like I'm going back to finish out the rest of the trim in the house here soon, so I'll get another peak at it then.

__________________
-AAPaint

AA Quality Painting & Pressure Washing LLC
Jacksonville Painters
Jacksonville, FL.

Double-A

I hate to get in the middle of a client and another trade, but you might carefully suggest they take some photos before any repairs are made.

If he just does more of the same, only prettier, they will not have a leg to stand on when the crap hits the fan later. I think I'd be tempted to email the photos to this guys boss or recommend they insist he come out with this goof ball.

His pecker is in the vise. I'd be tempted to take the handle, hand him the hacksaw, and light the garage on fire.

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"My clients’ wishes are the center of my attention." -- David Guido, a contractor in Woodstock, N.Y.
New York Times, July 20, 2006