tile spacing variations

[hvtrimguy]

New poster here. Found this site through fine homebuilding's forum. I am remodeling a kitchen for a customer. all is going well, had my tile guy come in and set the tiles the owner supplied on a 45 degree layout. owner called me tonight saying the spacing between tiles is inconsistent. tile guy (who'm i've worked with before and respect highly) says the tiles were of varying size (american olean from lowes). I'm not surprised by this possibility but is this a common thing? or is it a cheap tile thing? Also, once grouted will the variations be less noticable ( depending on the grout color I suppose).
Tile guy said he would do anything to make the customer happy but I don't want to let the customer get too anal either. what's your experience on this type of matter?

thanks in advance,

Jason

[Chad Deiter Company]

My advice is to show the customer the tiles lined up with a four foot level. If they are different this will show it. I'm not sure what tiles your talking about or whether there was a joint or were they butt jointed together. Either way grout will hide some of the inconsistancy as long as the difference isn't much over a 16th I would say. Hope this helps there are some good tile guys on here that can maybe help further.

[gwataloo]

The tile guy is right . Most of that tile from Lowes and Home Depot is junk. Some of it ranges from 1/16 to 1/8 in size I have seen 3/16 , and thats just from 1 box. I'm with SevrinJ lay some againt a straight edge and also check some with a square. Grout will hide alot of it.

[Dave Gobis]

Tile shrinks to size as it is fired. Unless it has ground edges, variation is inevitable. The maximum variation allowed is 1% of the tile size.

[scott anthony]

I am exactly working with that product right now and going through hell. But most of my customers want affordability they just don't realize the results.
If your tile guy did the best he could with the materials he had to work with, givr the guy a break, you can't make chicken salad out of chicken @$$#.
The best thing you can do now to match the grout close as possible.
Oleans, I cringe when I see it, it's probably made in America, that's the sad part.

[opiethetileman]

I hear ya on size. last job i did was 24 x 24 rectified water cut tile. the box said 24 x 24 when you measured it it was 23 5/8" tell me about shrinage. Also what size grout joint did the tile guy use??? at least a 3 /16"

[TileArt1]

Hi Jason,

My shop uses American Olean for jobs with which price is a factor. (That's a fancy way of saying cheap) Next to Chinese slate, that is one of the worst products I work with and I refuse to set it anymore. The stuff is horrible. I really like saying this: Your tile guy is right on this one. As everyone else suggested, line some up on a straight edge and show the customer.
And tell your customer to put his micrometer away. You get what you pay for.

[Mountain Tile]

yep, just what every one else said. That most of the tile from home depot and lowes is very, very, very inconsistant in sizing. It is a real hassle to install, what I usually will do when setting that stuff is to use a little wider grout joint and spread them around the best I can, and a matching grout helps a lot too. Another thing you can do is to print out a page of this thread and show them what we all think of "less expensive tile" from lowes and the depot. Lately I have been seeing a lot more of this, even with more expensive tiles.

[scott anthony]

I wouldn't alarm the customer yet. That can be an insult that comes back on whoever sold the job.
This is a tough spot to be in. Match the grout and hope for the best, most of the inconsistencies will go away well be not so noticeable.

[duneslider]

Don't want to leave anyone out, every bit of tile that has the Dal-tile name on it is very unsquare and inconsistent in size, even if you are getting what they call the "high end" stuff.

I have also been noticing that even higher grade tiles have more variation than in years past.

Bryan

[HS345]

Don't want to leave anyone out, every bit of tile that has the Dal-tile name on it is very unsquare and inconsistent in size, even if you are getting what they call the "high end" stuff.

I have the same problem with every bit of Dal Tile I have ever used, the 6x6's are the worst. It's a real shame too, 'cause Dal has some really nice color selections.

Same thing with American Olean, and others. Seems all too comon these daze.

[Northwest Tile Guy]

There are several 6x6's that I have used that are really cut out of 12x12's and those tile always have variances. The cheaper you go, usually the further off the cuts are. I guess you have to prewarn the owner and go from there.

[Raymond S]

Ditto what Bryan and Greg said. Just put some pretty expensive porcelain in yesterday and the variation from tile to tile was very significant, from 1/16 to maybe 3/32. Very disappointed in that, to say the least.

[Davy]

Jason, most of us will pop caulk lines using a size module of two tiles and two joints. We have to stay within our lines to keep the overall floor straight but if we grab two large tiles together, the joints will close up some. Like the others said, they got what they paid for.

[belletile]

I think cheap is coming or way people.
We finished a job on Friday. Client happy, said we were a plesaure to work with, cash is in hand. That's the good part.
Took a day more than I planned. The tiles were unbelievably hard to work with and unsquare and different sizes, and, they just would not cut straight.
When we were finishing up, I ask the owner were the tile came from.
She said, "Oh, I bought them at "Tiles for Less." !!

Need I say more-
Michael