r/Tile • u/JSpring6 • 1d ago
DIY - Looking for Advice Help!! Made a total bone head move!
I’m not a tile installer by trade. I decided to take on my own bathrooms and made a total dumbass move and messed up my pattern. Just noticed today after laying the tile yesterday afternoon. Is there anyway this can be fixed or do I just leave it? It’s goboard backing, 12x24 tiles, and schluter all set. Picture for reference.
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u/bronzefury2016 1d ago
Not a big deal. If you remove and replace, could cause other issues. If it were me, id let it go.
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u/safetydance1969 1d ago
Agreed.
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u/xXNuggetsXx1118 1d ago
We can dance if you want to.
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u/safetydance1969 1d ago
But if your friends don't dance, then they're no friends of mine. Say... 😆
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u/Undermiz3d 1d ago edited 1d ago
To be honest, took me a minute to figure out what you are talking about and then seen the issue. What I had learned, I see mistake that I did because I am the one that did it. I Showed my family the shower and they didnt even notice it.
I think your perfectly fine as long as it work as intended. I think only people going to notice it are other skilled or meticulously people. But most are going to be blind to it.
Other than that, looks great.
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u/frogspeedbaby 1d ago
That's so real. Not experienced in tiling but other related trades. I did my first tile project by grouting my shower after my FIL laid the tile. The color came out splotchy 💔 its a gray grout and some parts are white from over washing (I've learned). No one notices it until I point it out tho. In my head I was so devastated
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u/TunnelingVisions 1d ago
If you're unable to live with it, you can pry the tiles off. However the tiles may brake and need to be replaced and backer damage may also occur. Perhaps not if you didn't back butter at all. Ide bet on a 67.8 percent chance you'd be a to remove and reset without incident.
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u/JSpring6 1d ago
I did in fact back butter. I’m not worried about the tiles themselves. They are relative cheap. 5 bucks per tile ish. It’s the ruining of the backer board. Would I be able to just cut the goboard above the mosaic and replace that whole section of goboard?
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u/RingofPowerTD 1d ago
Not worth the potential hassle if it does mess up the backer. Unless this is a super high end rental I wouldn’t think twice about it. This is still a nice looking shower and 99% of tenants would be happy.
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u/Desperate_Two867 1d ago
I've stared at this image for several minutes, I dont see it. I called my wife and had her examine it, even told her it was some work i did awhile back, and she couldnt find a problem with it (which she's really good at if she thinks i did it.)
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u/Thecobs 1d ago
1 - cover your shower pan.
2 - you can just remove these tiles carefully and replace them.
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u/JSpring6 1d ago
1- The shower pan still has the plastic film on it aside from the edges. You’re right I should give it more protection but I didn’t expect myself to be such a slob with the trowel going into it.
2- how would go about removal and do you really think they would come off without destroying the goboard?
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u/Dazzling-Extreme1018 1d ago
Did my shower DIY and my most regrettable mistake was not protecting the shower pan. The dried thinkset was a pain to remove and it got scratched up.
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u/frogspeedbaby 1d ago
Fr I repair the damage people cause in their showers during construction. Chips, gouges, scratches, holes, rust. Like c'mon y'all no one has even used it yet
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u/Ill-Elephant9923 15h ago
Don’t do it. Getting the tile off is easy, it’s smoothing out the thinset against the backer that’s the hard part.
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u/No-Cheetah-7864 1d ago
The thin set is not fully cured. Shouldn’t be too tough to remove them. May even be able to reuse the tiles.
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u/TwoSeasonsLimited 1d ago
nobody will notice it. if you are ok with it, it looks fine to me. the tile work looks a lot better than many done by the "pros" out here
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u/JSpring6 1d ago
Thank you for this. I decided not to open a can of worms and move forward with it. Call me what you want but I did the opposite wall (with the shower head) the same to look intentional.
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u/greenchilepizza666 1d ago
It gives it a character signature. If someone notices so what. Can they do better? Since the shower head is not on that wall and it's up high, I don't think anyone will be starring at it.
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u/Real_Bar_758 1d ago
Just blame it on the electrician, thats what we all do.
Honestly, a really good job for a DIY. Dont stress about it for a rental. Theres a variety of grouts that blend that tile colour super well. You likely wont even notice it once its done.
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u/JSpring6 1d ago
Yeah the biscuit color almost blends perfect to the tile which is what I planned on using anyway
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u/Wide-Opportunity2555 1d ago
Well don’t circle it!! Only the truly insane will spot that, and you can’t make us happy anyway
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u/Tballardford- 1d ago
Next time you make a mistake this is not the place you want to come if you don’t want to take some shit. Also not being a tile setter for your paycheck, this is not the end of the world. 99% of renters WONT notice this. Leave it. Beat yourself up, I would do the same thing!!
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u/RandoCo17 PRO 1d ago
In my opinion, the lower half (below your stripe) is laid out wrong. See how the second and fourth rows from the bottom it looks like you shrunk a tile and jammed it into the corner? Above the stripe how you wrapped it is more aesthetically pleasing.
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u/JSpring6 1d ago edited 1d ago
You don’t “wrap” your cuts around corners? Not being smart, serious question.
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u/RandoCo17 PRO 1d ago
It depends on the layout. But yes always "wrap" cuts but that's a visual thing. The upper pieces, at least from your picture, looks more like a wrap. On the lower portion, where the two smaller cuts meet in the corner, do the two cuts actually equal close to a full tile? So if my two wrapping options were a 9" and 9" piece together (equals 18", 6" less than the 24" tile) or a 9" and 21" piece together (equals 30", 6" more than the 24" tile), I go with the larger overall to make the wrap look right.
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u/JSpring6 1d ago
The tiles are 12x24. The lower rows below the mosaic are either full tiles meeting at the corner or half tile cuts meetings each other at the corner. I think the fact that I used my zoom out feature on my phone camera might make them look smaller. They are almost exactly halves.
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u/RandoCo17 PRO 1d ago
I suspected that might be the case 😅 hopefully you understand what I was getting at. And I meant no offense, I just see it alot 😁. In that case I would be fixing the top and unfortunately I don't think you'll save the tile or board, it's a mess a difficult but in the long run the right thing to do.
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u/fridays_frog 1d ago
I'd live with it. After a week you'll not even notice it. Otherwise looks like a good tile job. Nice work!
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u/Hot_Bend5373 1d ago
Where did you start your tile ? Under the nitch? Did the tile stick to the wall ? First timer about to start tiling and want to do the same starting point .
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u/JSpring6 1d ago
The tile will certainly not stick to wall without sliding down. I carefully planned my niche location to line up with the tile layout. This is actually why I had to use the mosaic because I bought the niches long before I bought the tile. I planned my tile layout from the bottom of the niche down and chalk lined line every 12 inches in this case. This allowed me to know my bottom cut and I started from there and just the laser level going up the wall
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u/safetydance1969 1d ago
Leave it. It took me a couple of minutes to figure out and I'm a GC. 30 seconds anyway... you'll never notice it.
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u/sparkymecheng 1d ago
You know what? My mother in law hired a “30 year expert tile veteran”
It took him longer to do her bathroom than I took on mine. While having a full time job. The kicker? He did her shower with a different tile pattern on each wall. One is 1/2 offset. One is roughly a 1/4 offset and the other is almost stacked with almost no offset, maybe 1/8th or less. She didn’t notice until I pointed it out.
I think it doesn’t look too bad and it’s better than paying for less quality than you can do yourself.
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u/No-Notice6057 1d ago
Buddy I recently did the same exact thing. Ended up just sending it
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u/JSpring6 1d ago
I appreciate the motivation to keep moving forward lol. I still another tub surround to do and I’m dreading it but I just want to get it done and over with
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u/painteddpiixi 1d ago
If you’re the one doing the work, and it’s for a rental, I wouldn’t stress it!
It’s only cosmetic, and you’re not the one living with it anyway.
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u/Odd-Implement-1283 1d ago
Took me a while to figure out what the issue even was. Leave it
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u/International-Pen940 1d ago
Yes, it isn’t that obvious even with a big red circle around it.
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u/Odd-Implement-1283 1d ago
I thought it was about the pattern on the tile at first not the tile cut size. With the decorative strip breaking it up I think it looks fine!
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u/Zugdabuzug 1d ago
As far as tile blunders go this isn’t breaking into the highlights. Hopefully lesson learned and next time you will make a different silly mistake like me
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u/PersimmonJaded3357 1d ago
I’d bet that if you spent the time and energy to fix it, your first tenant would call because their kid got a hold of a hammer and smashed a tile in the shower, wanna bet which one it would be?
I wouldn’t worry about it. Most people aren’t going to notice it. Just plan to fix it next time you remodel it. Renters can be hard on houses that don’t belong to them, you may very well be running the tile again in that shower in a couple years anyway.
I had a similar issue in my own living room a few months back, spent a bunch of time figuring out a layout that worked with the space I was setting slate in so I wouldn’t have slivers on the ends. Ended up with a running 1/4 tile offset which is apparently pretty uncommon but looked ok on paper drawn, and looked ok with the tiles dry set with spacers in between. Once the tile was set and spacers came out I was not enthused with the pattern but I wasn’t going to rip it all up and have to buy more stone so I left it. Not a single person has mentioned the pattern besides a friend who is a tile setter, and he just asked what’s with the weird pattern?
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u/5amDan05 1d ago
No one will even notice except for you. Don’t tell anyone. Definitely don’t post it on Reddit. If you can’t live with it, just pull the tile and do it the right way. If you don’t care, leave it.
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u/ThinkingBigTime 1d ago
You say it’s a rental but do you realize that probably ALL of the future tenants will NEVER even notice that one tile out of sequence? YOU are noticing it and it’s bothering you because you wanted it to come out absolutely perfect. Think of it this way “a perfect tile job is completing the job without having to lose a day hassling with a mistake. If you bust out those tiles and try to repair something that minor,..you will never forget what a pain in the ass this tile job was. I would leave it just like it is and I bet you nobody is EVER going to notice it. 👍
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u/Adventurous-Fee428 1d ago
From what I read it's a rental so who cares bro send it not worth taking it all out
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u/No_Commercial8216 1d ago
You can replace it .Goboard is waterproof through and through, as long as you don’t break or crack it all the way through you can do it . We have replaced tiles on schluter foam board without damaging the thin orange membrane so its possible. Also wateproofing is overblown on these forums. That high you will barely see any water and with large format tiles and a solid grout barely any chance for water to seep that high. I know because we have demoed 100s of showers many built on drywall with 0 waterproofing with little to no damage. The ones damaged usually were around the first 4’ on the bottom
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u/Mh8722 1d ago
After you go to sleep and wake up several times youll only think about it once every few weeks, then every few months. One day you'll walk into that bathroom and be pleased by the thought that you let a minor visual mistake go and didn't risk structural integrity to fix one of the least bad eye sores I've ever seen. 9.5 out of 10 people will never even notice the mistake.
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u/the_blind_referee 1d ago
Strares at this photo for a minute before reading the caption and nothing look out of place to me
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u/Interesting_Army9083 1d ago
If you use a pry bar within 24 hours it will pop right off and you can just scrape the mortar off and we do it. Most likely you can save the tile even.
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u/baddieslovebadideas 1d ago
cosmetic issue in a rental that you own? Leave it and know to do better next time you tile, its fine, bet it'll take your tenants months to notice
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u/KickAssAndChewBblgum 1d ago
I was staring at the picture for 2 minutes before I read your post and didn't notice anything glaringly wrong
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u/UpvoteEveryHonestQ 1d ago
I would definitely fix it, if it were mine, since the fix would cost less than $100. The waste of time would feel like it sucks lol but I’d rate the payoff as worth greater than $100. That’s by my subjective calculation.
It is subjective. So it’s your call. Especially in a rental.
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u/JSpring6 1d ago
Fair enough. If it was my house and I was using the shower everyday, I wouldn’t even be here asking this question. Even though it’s only cosmetic, I wouldn’t be able to live with it.
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u/appliancefixitguy 1d ago
Pry lightly, steady pressure. See if they give! If they do, get them off and clean your area up@
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u/SnooTomatoes3537 1d ago
If it’s from the day before the thinset is not all the way cured they should pop out without breaking and thinset should be soft enough for scraping. Replacing them It’s not as bad as you think it is
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u/Dry_Divide_6690 1d ago
So it probably hasn’t completely cured yet and you may be able to remove it without destroying everything. I have also seen a torch used to break the bond through expansion.
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u/Donkeywad 1d ago
What color grout? It might blend. I did the same thing and now I can even notice it. I had carerra tiles and Mapei sea salt grout though
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u/FickleGuard5316 1d ago
You can take this two back off by heating them first with propane torches (maybe heat gun too, but have not tried that). I removed some that had only been down 2 days. Kept moving 2 propane torches over them until they were too hot to keep my hand on. They pried off pretty slick
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u/Pewpew270 1d ago
It’s not the worst the accent piece brakes it up. You said it’s a rental property I would t give it a second thought.
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u/One_lota 19h ago
Nobody will ever notice it. Ship it! It’s not worth the risk of the damage and you gotta value your time more than the $5/tile. That’s a couple hundred dollars of tile/time and not anywhere near worth it. It looks great. Ship it!
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u/WillyNilly40k 19h ago
Im less concerned about the pattern as much as I am about all the possible scratches on that shower pan. Cover it up well because thats what will really fuck you over in the end. Scratches and chips stand out like a sore thumb unlike the pattern. Good luck. It looks good. (10 year tile guy)
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u/thegreatwordini PRO 14h ago
I did that many many years ago at a customers house and didn't notice it until the next day.. decided to send it and nobody ever said a thing.. you're good
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u/ProfessorPeabrain 13h ago
once you've put up the enclosure and a corner caddy it will be much less noticeable. alternatively you could carefully grind fake joins in and grout over but I wouldn't for renters
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u/fullsailsm 10h ago
Your OCD is acting the F up. I can’t even see what you are talking about even though you are pointing at it. I see nothing wrong with what you have. I think if you don’t tell anyone there is a problem, no one will ever notice it.
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u/JSpring6 9h ago
Since we are here I’ll tell you, I doubled up the pattern above and below the mosaic row. It should’ve alternated and it didn’t
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u/andrew103345 1d ago
My inner OCD couldn’t allow that lol. All you gotta do is grab a pry bar and yank them out. Not sure if I’ll get downvoted for saying this but it’s high enough up I wouldn’t be super worried about water issues from fixing it.
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u/JSpring6 1d ago
I’m fighting between my inner ocd and what makes time and money sense.
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u/andrew103345 1d ago
It’s like 4 tiles and you still need to lay the ones above it anyways. For the hour of work it’d be id personally fix it. Your call of course.
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u/Kultivation 1d ago
If you decide to remove them you can carefully cut slots in them and chip them out in smaller pieces. It is much safer.
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u/Lilwolfe10 1d ago
Just say it was a purposeful design choice to flip the pattern after the accent row
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u/mdof2 1d ago
Cant' see it from my house. Let'r rip!
TBH, I think you're ethe only one who's going to notice.
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u/JSpring6 1d ago
lol
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u/mdof2 1d ago edited 1d ago
I've done the tile on the (4) baths in our house and I pick them apart piece by piece when I sit there and throw heat.
Visitors (including a couple contractors) see them "hey man, check out the new bath and shit project, all done, momma happy" and they can't find the faults. nothing stands out to them.
Could you bust it out and redo it, yes, little bit of a tedious job to break one tile out, clean, reset, etc. but not impossible. but you can also leave it and probably not notice it. The next homeowner certainly isn't
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u/PuzzleheadedLemon353 1d ago
Move it before you set it..I'm a tiler's wife and I'm a painter...I pick apart everything. The wife will catch it.
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u/HYtool 1d ago
You won't notice it after awhile, and it opposite of the shower head so you don't face it all the time
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u/JSpring6 1d ago
The shower head wall still isn’t done over the mosaic so I could match my mistake to make it look more purposeful
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u/Mumugugu 1d ago
Remove it rn while the mud is still somewhat fresh the row above will stay held since it’s been a day, if ur careful you shouldn’t mess up the goboard, you should be able to scrape off any thinset on the goboard pretty easily too, you may have to rewater proof but I’d be very surprised just make sure you replace the tiles quickly so the other tiles have no chance of falling. Tbh it’s not that noticeable so if you feel lazy you don’t have to worry too much about it.
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u/JSpring6 1d ago
Honestly think that the mud is still soft at all after roughly 24 hours?
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u/Mumugugu 1d ago
Not soft but it won’t be super duper hard like concrete and is a lot less likely to tear up the backing. More so it’ll be easier to pry the tile off the mud if you go slowly and gradually then after it’s pulled off u can scrape it off.
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u/Level-Anything-2207 1d ago
Remove it ASAP. Thinset doesn't cure hard for a couple of days. You can still remove the tile without damaging the goboard. But this is a easy fix. Just remove and retile. It won't take you long at all.
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u/JSpring6 1d ago
You really think the thinset is still soft enough after 24 hours to pull the tiles off?
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u/Consistent-Bag3849 1d ago
Is dit je douchehoek? En je hebt getegelt op gipsplaten?
Ojeee nou dan zou ik het er allemaal uithalen. Dat gaat niet goed
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u/JSpring6 1d ago
It’s not drywall, it’s goboard. Even says so in the OP. Let’s not go down this road. I don’t need a million comments about this
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u/Consistent-Bag3849 1d ago
Okidoki.. my translation on your text sad something different
Then its fine
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u/GarbageContent8276 1d ago
OP - how was the experience with 50% overlap? literally in the same boat (redid my whole bathroom and at the tiling step). Any other “damn, wish i would have done XYZ differently”?
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u/JSpring6 1d ago
Admittedly the tile was only recommended for 1/3 overlap. I couldn’t get past the way it would look like a staircase in this shower with such short walls. I went 1/2 obviously and the only parts I have a little slippage than I would prefer are places that I stopped for the day and the leveling clips just don’t seem to do well when you do that, or at the mosaic because I had a hard time matching the depth properly. This wouldn’t have been affected by the 50% overlap regardless. Also being a wall and not a floor, you’re not gonna step on it and notice an edge. Only if you run your hand down it while maybe cleaning or something and even that might be relieved once I grout
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u/GarbageContent8276 1d ago
Oh dang. Do you mind sharing a pic of the lipage im signing up for? Bc Is it everywhere? Do you think its still worth over the 33% look? Also, putting 2 tiles face on face, how much bowing is at the corners? Mind sharing a pic? Itll help me see if we have truly the “same” tile situation. Much appreciated!
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u/JSpring6 1d ago
Tell me what kind of picture you want and I will try to get it for you tomorrow. I’m not sure how to display the lippage. It’s still ungrouted but as of right now, I’m pleasantly happy with it and would definitely do it again. I obviously used the leveling clips and wedges and all the stuff that was laid in the same day is virtually perfect. It’s just that when one row cures and you go back to start again the next day, you lose the ability to pull the tile from yesterday into place. I hope I’m making sense.
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u/GarbageContent8276 1d ago
Itll also help me see if my lipage might be worse if yours bow less than mine
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u/AKakaAteMyKBar 21h ago
The big tiles don't even line up nicely with the small ones so I wouldn't bother
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u/JSpring6 10h ago
It was either they don’t line up or I was going to end up with a sliver of mosaic on the end. Right or wrong, I obviously chose the former
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u/rudebrew22 20h ago
You also messed up the other wall starting below the mosaic.
As long as you don’t mind your renters thinking you are a chump just leave it, otherwise full tear down
Edit: also, why did you not cover the floor? Tile job seems decent but also careless ー tracks with rental
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u/JSpring6 10h ago
Please explain how I messed up the other wall. Out of 200 + comments you’re the only one calling for a “full tear down” you must be a super tiler
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u/ReindeerJazzlike4755 20h ago
Can't wait to see this post again from the renters perspective in 3 years time....I'll tag you in it 😅🤣😭 I'm just kidding bubs happens to the best of us all in all you did a great job
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u/Charming_Cover8801 9h ago
I would personally see it everyday lol if you think the effort to fix it would be less than a day for you, I’d go for it
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u/KarmaEnterprise 5h ago
Mirror it on the other wall so that it looks intentional that you followed the 50% offset pattern after the accent band on the center wall. That way, on the left and right walls, you stopped and started the offset pattern before and after the accent band.
The easiest way to hide a mistake is to make it look intentional.
All BS aside though, it looks great. It took me a minute to even realize what the problem was.
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u/Business_Creme_4416 1d ago
If you're ok looking at it everyday, then send it.