On Nov 19, 1:14*pm, "chaniarts" wrote:
Alex wrote:
Hey Guys --

Last week had the laminate flooring pulled from our kitchen and entry
hallway (one larger area) and replaced with 18" porcelain tile which a
local flooring company put down for us. *After the tile was done we
noticed the tile was very unlevel and the installer didn't use spacers
so the grout lines were uneven in some places, at time as much as 1/4"
difference between perpendicular lines. *Also we chose a darker brown
grout color to match our laminate flooring and the tile which also has
a brown color, but the grout is very blotchy being brownish in some
areas but other areas almost gray to dirty white.

After running a level across the floor I marked about a dozen tiles
that were way unlevel, which the tile guy came out and replaced, but
in one or two places there just was no way to level the tile on all
sides since the neighboring tiles weren't level with each other. *But
I can live with what's there now as far as the levels go.

As for the grout color the manager at the flooring place said it could
take up to a week for the grout to cure and for the color to come out,
but if it didn't look right they could come stain the grout to match
the color we chose.

So my biggest question is whether or not it's common for spacers to be
used. *I've read spacers can't be used if the tiles are odd shapes,
but the tile we chose is perfectly 18"x18" with no variation.

you don't need spacers if they lay down a precise grid of chalk lines first,
and they work to the grid. i did about 2000 sqft of tile laid diagnonal that
went around multiple corners, walls, the kitchen island, and came out
correctly when it rejoined the field on the other side that way.

How do you use the chalk lines after the mud is down? I know pros can
do tile without spacers, but obviously a lot of skill is involved and
I would wonder how many guys installing tile today have those skills.
Obviously the guys doing this job didn't.

wrote in
:

On Nov 19, 1:14*pm, "chaniarts" wrote:
Alex wrote:
Hey Guys --

Last week had the laminate flooring pulled from our kitchen and
entry hallway (one larger area) and replaced with 18" porcelain
tile which a local flooring company put down for us. *After the
tile was done we noticed the tile was very unlevel and the
installer didn't use spacers so the grout lines were uneven in some
places, at time as much as 1/4" difference between perpendicular
lines. *Also we chose a darker brown grout color to match our
laminate flooring and the tile which also has a brown color, but
the grout is very blotchy being brownish in some areas but other
areas almost gray to dirty white.

After running a level across the floor I marked about a dozen tiles
that were way unlevel, which the tile guy came out and replaced,
but in one or two places there just was no way to level the tile on
all sides since the neighboring tiles weren't level with each
other. *But I can live with what's there now as far as the levels
go.

As for the grout color the manager at the flooring place said it
could take up to a week for the grout to cure and for the color to
come out, but if it didn't look right they could come stain the
grout to match the color we chose.

So my biggest question is whether or not it's common for spacers to
be used. *I've read spacers can't be used if the tiles are odd
shapes, but the tile we chose is perfectly 18"x18" with no
variation.

you don't need spacers if they lay down a precise grid of chalk lines
fir
st,
and they work to the grid. i did about 2000 sqft of tile laid
diagnonal t
hat
went around multiple corners, walls, the kitchen island, and came out
correctly when it rejoined the field on the other side that way.

How do you use the chalk lines after the mud is down? I know pros can
do tile without spacers, but obviously a lot of skill is involved and
I would wonder how many guys installing tile today have those skills.
Obviously the guys doing this job didn't.





Again, prefaced by that I'm not a pro at it, I just put two nails at
opposite ends with taught string, lay the first row and everything is
relative to that using Tavy spacers. It works.

Yea I cheat. I lay a lot of tiles dry with spacers to make sure cutoffs
at edges are where I want them and I don't end up with some
unmanageable/eyesore small pieces.

Call it compensating for not being a pro tiler but it gets the same
result. Usually better IMO because it's what I want and not what an
installer says is just the way it worked out.

wrote:
On Nov 19, 1:14 pm, "chaniarts" wrote:
Alex wrote:
Hey Guys --

Last week had the laminate flooring pulled from our kitchen and
entry hallway (one larger area) and replaced with 18" porcelain
tile which a local flooring company put down for us. After the tile
was done we noticed the tile was very unlevel and the installer
didn't use spacers so the grout lines were uneven in some places,
at time as much as 1/4" difference between perpendicular lines.
Also we chose a darker brown grout color to match our laminate
flooring and the tile which also has a brown color, but the grout
is very blotchy being brownish in some areas but other areas almost
gray to dirty white.

After running a level across the floor I marked about a dozen tiles
that were way unlevel, which the tile guy came out and replaced, but
in one or two places there just was no way to level the tile on all
sides since the neighboring tiles weren't level with each other. But
I can live with what's there now as far as the levels go.

As for the grout color the manager at the flooring place said it
could take up to a week for the grout to cure and for the color to
come out, but if it didn't look right they could come stain the
grout to match the color we chose.

So my biggest question is whether or not it's common for spacers to
be used. I've read spacers can't be used if the tiles are odd
shapes, but the tile we chose is perfectly 18"x18" with no
variation.

you don't need spacers if they lay down a precise grid of chalk
lines first, and they work to the grid. i did about 2000 sqft of
tile laid diagnonal that went around multiple corners, walls, the
kitchen island, and came out correctly when it rejoined the field on
the other side that way.

How do you use the chalk lines after the mud is down? I know pros can
do tile without spacers, but obviously a lot of skill is involved and
I would wonder how many guys installing tile today have those skills.
Obviously the guys doing this job didn't.

when you use the toothed trowel, you can see the lines where the thinset has
been scraped off.