Tile Woes

This was my pinterest inspiration for our bathroom remodel (photo credit:  designmag.fr, August 31, 2015):

Mind you, we have essentially a 5' x 7' bathroom + a small niche for open shelving where the laundry chute access is, so some obvious modifications were in order, but I loved the grey, white and wood scheme.  

The wood was easy:  use up the white ash boards we had milled over the summer.  I made a prototype mitered corner floating vanity box, learned a lot and then made the rugged real thing.  That's a subject for another post.

The thresholdless shower base was found online and ordered.  No glitches there.

I shopped for tile and found something with a beautiful sheen, subtle color variation, and suitable for both wall and floor.  The product was ordered--quantities calculated by the tile shop (and NOT verified by me...oops!) with 10% extra added in--and delivered as promised.  

The day of delivery was a comedy of errors:  shower base and tile showing up at the EXACT same time.  That meant that two large trucks were jockeying for position in our crowded, narrow, muddy driveway.  The drivers were vying to be the first one unloaded and en route to their next destinations.  I mention this because it's one of the lessons I've had to learn over and over again in life:  festina lente (make haste slowly).  I did not do a thorough job of inspecting the product; this unconscious decision came back to haunt me.

Anyhow, the shower walls were tiled up beautifully.  Then work began on the floor.  About half way through the craftsman said, "I'm sorry.  There isn't enough tile to finish the job."  That's when we opened the last box of tile and discovered almost all the tiles therein were broken.  Ugh.

Bathroom shower stall in progress.

But I was on the phone to the tile store pronto.  Not wanting to be caught short again and having to pay the outrageous shipping charges again, I ordered two boxes, then a third box.  To the store's credit, before placing the order, they phoned the manufacturer to verify that tiles were in stock and from the same dye lot.  They were, or so the manufacturer said.  Once the order was placed and TWO WEEKS had passed, we got a different story:  no tile in stock, and the next batch might not be manufactured for another 6 weeks.  About two weeks later, I was notified that the manufacturer had no actual plans to make more of this tile--ie, it's been discontinued--but that they were able to locate 10 intact tiles at the warehouse.  So, with any luck, we may have the exact bare minimum number of tiles to creatively finish the bathroom.  Oh, and in the meantime, the tile store found some sort of accounting error and refunded me money.  When I examined the paperwork more carefully, it turns out they simply canceled the third box of tile I ordered.  Ugh.

At some point in this muddle, I sat down and recalculated how much tile we should have ordered in the first place.  I came up with at least one box more tile than was originally ordered.  Really, shame on me for that oversight.  I'm good at math and could easily have gone prepared with these figures.  I made the mistake of assuming the expert (the tile shop) should be competent in these calculations if I provided the blueprint.

To make the whole situation a bit more over the top, the kitchen backsplash tile (ordered from a second supplier) was delivered when I was not here.  When the craftsman went to install it--I had left the sample grey glossy tile out for display--he came back to me, "I'm sorry. The tiles are all the wrong color."  And indeed they were all a glossy bone white.  Ugh.  This supplier returned all my money and gave me the white tiles.  I guess that's a bonus.  I'll be making a trip to the local building materials thrift store soon.  Anyhow, my daughter and I made a fly by trip to Floor & Decor and picked up a bunch of similar grey glossy tile and, voila, kitchen backsplash is up!

Lessons learned:

1.  Double check calculations.

2.  Obtain more tile than you think you'll need.  I'd go with 20%, more if it's local, and you can return it.

3.  Where possible, go with the local supplier, rather than special order.

4.  Inspect product carefully upon delivery.  Do not be pushed into hasty acceptance just because the delivery guy is in a hurry.