Is this tiling as bad as I think?

[stgermain]

Hi All
I'm looking for some advice from the experts and hope you can help. I've just had a shower room built as part of an extension project. It hasn't been cheap, I haven't cut costs and the building firm - a small local company with a good reputation - have been good so far (building works rather than finishing). Tiling in the shower enclosure has just finished and while I'm no professional tiler, I've done a lot of DIY and am sure I could do a better job than they have. Hopefully the photos show up what I think are some obvious defects:
-poor cuts and chipped edges
-poor grouting
-uneven spacing
-poor mitring of the trim
You probably can't see the lippage on quite a few tiles. They're planning on using mastic on the corner which I think won't look good owing to the size of bead required to cover that grout and the chipped edges. The tiles are Cabana, by Claybrook, and weren't cheap. The tech spec is here https://www.claybrookstudio.co.uk/media/wysiwyg/pdf/Cabana_Technical_Sheet.pdf
I'm meeting with the builder in the week and have expressed my dissatisfaction but he's told me some tiles were longer than others so the alignment strays the further you go. Even if some tiles in the batch were longer, I'd expect these to be used for the cuts and longer tiles don't account for some of the layout errors. At the least, if they'd warned me in advance about differences in length (which I'm not sure is true as the product sheet looks to state very small tolerances in this respect), I could've made an informed decision on whether to progress. Please tell me if I'm being fussy as the only solution I can see is for the whole lot to be taken out, new tiles ordered, a proper tiler brought in to do the job and everything made good. Needless to say the builder isn't keen as it will all come out of his pocket. Any thoughts or advice much appreciated.

 

[Tile Marble Granite]

Agree, it s called poor craftsmanship. looks bad

 

[Dan]

The tiling looks a bit rough. The grouting does too. And so does the cutting.

The grout needed a bit more attention at washing off stage.
The cutting needed to be slower on a wet cutter with a better blade maybe.
The tiling needed a better setting out option maybe. Not sure on that one.

 

[Boggs]

Not too bad if I’m honest...





If it’s his first attempt at tiling.

 

[Bill]

It isn't good at all especially the cutting and grouting.

Re the tiles being different sizes...this is a common fault with batch numbers (tiles made on different days etc) and it can indeed make the job look awful for the type of layout you have chosen - even .5mm difference will show on a project like this.

Villeroy & Bosch used to sell tiles like this in the late 70's early eighties and were bang on for size but you had to take care when tiling as most jobs were set out like yours is and the vertical plane has to be spot on. This type of tiling can't be rushed.

I hope your builder will agree with us that it is poorly done.

 

[stgermain]

Thanks for the responses guys.
Yes, I suspect there was little or no planning to avoid the issues obvious in the photos. I may go with different tiles if we agree the remove them (not sure I see another option) and the general opinion is differences in length makes it impossible to get decent vertical and horizontal lines.

 

[Dumbo]

Also you have grouted corners rather than silicone so you have no allowance for movement

 

[stgermain]

I mentioned the grouting of the corners (I was always told sealant, not grout then sealant as proposed, at junctions subject to movement) but he said this was how it's done.

 

[Dan]

It's not.

Internal corners always silicone. And not to fill the joint, just to seal the two surfaces and allow an expansion gap.

To be fair some do just grout it. But it'll crack eventually and it isn't meant to be like that.

A qualified tiler will always silicone. Somebody who's winging it won't.

 

[Dave]

Certainly isnt the best. Hope you get it sorted.

 

[Bathfix Bob]

Is the shower tanked (waterproofed)? if not ask him why he hasn't done it.

Lazy, sloppy, rushed tiling.

 

[tommyzooom]

It's not great.
Fugly tiles didn't help either

 

[CJ]

Oh dear. 🤢

 

[stgermain]

They're lovely tiles but I suppose there's no accounting for taste.
Thanks for the responses all. Will let you know how I get on with the builder next week.