What do we do about a new tile shower cracking apart?
by
Carrie
+20
The grout is cracked the whole way in one corner, all along the bottom, and part of the way of the other corner. The contractor refused to even look at it until finally in December he said he would after the holidays. After the holidays he said he closed his business at the end of the year. This is the same contractor who did the horrible job with the windows in a new room he built for us. He said the cracking drywall is our fault because we didn't let him frame around the windows, we wanted the windows to look the same as all of the other windows in the house. The contractor installed the shower door himself and caulked OVER grout, mortar, construction dust. There are globs and smears everywhere. Water leaks under the door now. Please tell me the fix isn't as bad as I think it might be. Thanks for your help!
one corner, the one with crack the entire way vertically
the "caulk" job on the door, yes the entire door has caulk smeared everywhere. The problem is they placed the door caulking over the grout, mortar, construction dust without cleaning them off first
top corner where grout crac ked top to bottom
20 answers
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That is a pretty nasty caulk job...did he use his elbows to smooth it out? I hate to ask but how did you come to "find" this contractor and select him for your work. Most shower door assemblies have a groove along the back of the metal frame, One inside and one out. If a healthy bead of caulk is applied to these "channels" the frame will be sealed from both sides and a "second" caulk application is not needed inside or out...the seal is "hidden" under the frame. You may have some limited success removing all of the crappy caulking and re-applying a tidy bead along the inside edge.
KMS Woodworks
on Apr 04, 2011
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Hi Carrie, Sorry for your luck here and with the windows. Please don't let your experience with this terrible contractors give you a bitter taste for the rest of us. As to your bathroom here, you are going to have to redo the entire thing. While it is maybe repairable, were it me, I would not touch the repairs as a contractor with a 10 foot pole. Once I did that, any future problems that you may have (even from this first contractor) could be attributed to me having done the repairs. To cover my own rear end, I would insist that the entire thing be done from scratch, and that's the only way (again as a contractor) I would touch it. I'm sure most other contractors out there would agree with that viewpoint. Save these photos (and the window ones), there may be a legal battle in your future with this contractor.
Dan's of Central Florida, Inc.
on Apr 04, 2011
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was there a permit pulled? if so and there should have been, call the building dept and file a report/ greivence. hopefully he was licensced..
Kathi
on Apr 04, 2011
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This person, and I use the term advisedly, probably uses this stratagem regularly to put off people he has done work for. It is hard to believe this person was a licensed contractor. You need to report this person to the proper state authority for action. Don't let this person get away with this. Pursue redress from him. This is the worst shoddy work I have ever seen. As for the shower, it is hard to tell from the photos, but at the very least the shower will have to be regrouted, if not entirely replaced. The problem is, if there is so much terrible work visible, how can you be confident about what is behind. Is the waterproofing adequate? Is the pan going to leak?
Paul Slayton Contracting
on Apr 04, 2011
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I have reported the contractor to the state since his license is still active. We contacted an attorney but she said that if everything was done in his business name we will have no recourse. We sent him a letter saying he had 30 days to fix things but he has ignored it. A permit was pulled for the sunroom I know but not the shower because he said we were just changing out a fiberglass shower for a tile shower so a permit wasn't necessary.
Carrie
on Apr 04, 2011
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I hadn't thought about reporting him to Clayton Co, I'll do that. He doesn't do much work in this county. We found this contractor through Service Magic on Better Homes and Garden's website. What a mess.
Carrie
on Apr 04, 2011
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now you know why many contractors dump service magic,,, referrals are still the best method to find good guys - good guys don't work cheap & they're always busy
Itsreally C
on Apr 05, 2011
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Use Angie's List. So far I have been satisfied with any service providers I have hired. They may be the higher cost companies, but I am a firm believer that you get what you pay for when it comes to having work done on your home (or business). Just so everyone knows, I have no association with this service financially -- I'm just a member that moved to a new state and had no idea where to start to find reliable and good contractors/laborers.
Donna R
on Aug 10, 2013
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I, too, use Angies' list and have been very satisfied with the vendors.
Sherrie S
on Aug 30, 2013
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Sounds like you're doing all you can legal wise. As for the shower, from the pictures and comments with leaks etc. I fear it's a do over. Correctly.
Paul Bove Ceramic Tile
on Sep 08, 2013
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Carrie.....most of the very best contractors don't use any of the sites like Angie's List, because they don't have to. They get their work by referrals/ word of mouth. One suggestion is to stop by a couple of tile shops in your area and ask them for references. They won't recommend anyone they don't trust..... Even sites like Angie's List can be manipulated.
Hewitt Remodeling Services LLC
on Sep 08, 2013
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I have seen this type of quality from both licensed and unlicensed contractors in the past. Having a license and even an inspection is no warranty that cracking and poor workmanship will not happen. The reason for the cracks is the framing that supports the walls and the floor was not properly supported. Vertical cracks are caused by the swelling and shrinking of the wood frame members. This can be caused by incorrect fastening of the wall boards, Incorrect tile install, Moisture getting behind the wall system, and not just from the shower area. The fix, grind out all the grout in the corner and use a sanded grout caulk that matches the grout in the rest of the shower. This will allow flex and prevent the cracks from occurring. The floor however is another issue all together. did they use a mud pan? how and what did they fasten the floor tile to? Undersized floor framing that appears to be sturdy enough to hold tile may be to flexible to support the floor when all the weight is applied. The correct fix is to pull the tiles up and redo the floor with the proper materials and supporting framing. From what I see, I would have refused to pay until it looked right. I hate to say, but I think part of this issue belongs to you for allowing such shoddy workmanship. Most people do not realize that they really can tell if something is not right. They just do not trust themselves. If it does not look right, most likely its not. Tell the contractor to fix it before you pay them. Not sure, get a friend or neighbor to look at the work and give you their opinion. Or simply hire another contractor to look at the work. On the how to choose front. I got to tell you I have had great success in using contractor referral programs. My prices are fair, but I will walk away from a job if I feel the client is not willing to pay. I have seen horror stories where the client badmouths the contractor when it was really their fault in hiring them. There are guys that try hard to do the job right only to have the owner choose low quality products, want to cut corners and are not willing to pay for the job to be done right. And once the job is done and fails later on blame the guy for doing shoddy work. The old saying garbage in, garbage out. Angie's list, service magic and all the rest, are simply a clearing house for contractors. Quite frankly Angie's list is the worst. They want contractors to pay to become part of their service so their names come up on top of the list. This is no guarantee that your getting a good contractor, Only that he or she paid to become listed. As a consumer its YOUR job to understand what your getting and how its supposed to be done. Have the contractor explain how he or she is going to do the job and do your homework. Fancy truck does not mean anything. Just that he paid more to get it that way. If after several estimates everything seems the same, then choose, but if every guy comes in and wants to do it different. You need to do more work to get the right person in. Permits, forget about that. While you should be using licensed contractors when its required. Do not rely on the building department to warranty your work. They are there simply to look to see if the pipes and or wires are proper, and if the insulation is put in and that they put a finish on the final job. Lipstick on a pig is still a pig they could care less if they properly caulked the floor or if the framing was correctly sized unless it was part of the renovation. They do not warrant work, simply check to see if its done to code standards. And code is not necessary a warranty that you will not have issues with the quality of the work being done.
Woodbridge Environmental Tiptophouse.com
on Oct 02, 2013
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@Woodbridge Enviromental -- you must know something that I don't because the only lists I see on Angie's list is compiled by rating. I have never received any list that recommends any company -- only one's with special deals and lists by rating.
Donna R
on Oct 03, 2013
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Contractors can get listed by paying a fee. it is not that they recommend anyone, but depending upon the program and money spent firms can listed higher. I do not use them, this has been told to me through other professional boards that I am a member on. And most of them have nothing nice to say about that rating service. In any case, although you may get a better contractor using one list or another. The bottom line with getting a good job is the communication between the client and the contractor. Way to many clients are quick to pull a trigger and blame shoddy workmanship on a contractor but when the gloves come off in the courtroom it turns out that the client did not want to pay, or kept changing things, wanted to cheep out against the advice of the contractor, only to put on postings that the contractor cannot dispute and have their side of the story told that they were poor and do not hire them. Look at one of their ads, the contractor walked their dog... who cares! I want the contractor to do the job I hired them for. If my dog needs to go out, that should not be his problem. So he gets a good rating because he walked a dog? What would have happened if the dog got off the leash and got hit by a car? Do you think for one second that that contractor would have had a good review. Even if he did a bang up job on what ever it was he was hired for. There is a saying in the trades. And those who read this will know it very well. No good deed goes unpunished. If your not charging them for what ever it is your touching, It will come back and bite you hard. So do not tighten that one screw that is loose on that kitchen cabinet. You will own it for a very long time when you do. I run into clients like these all the time. Having been in the trades for over 40 years. I get clients insisting that they want something that I know will not work, yet they demand to have it done their way or the highway. It takes a lot of effort on some contractors part to walk away. It sometimes becomes a personal challenge to some to try to convince the client that they are wrong. And when they do, they get bad mouthed as a company that will not work well with other people. I had recently had a sort of poor review from a person that I have not even done any work for. I sell only certain manufactures brands of heating and cooling equipment. My product line although quite popular in the south west, they do not have quite as much as a recondition up in the north east area of the country. She wrote on my rating board that I was insistent on using just that brand. Which she was correct, but the wording she used made my company look as though I was selling inferior products. Yet she went on to say that I was informative, knowledgeable, and taught her a lot about making her choices. Yet she has yet to have any product installed by anyone. Even though I can provide 10 year warranties on both labor and equipment, much better then the so called Name Brands she was comparing my equipment to. I politely told her that I am no longer interested in doing her job. It was then she posted the negative comment on my rating. And seeing I had a 5 star rating for the past 12 years on this particular board. It sort of tweaked me when my rating went down to a 4.95. The bottom line is, regardless of who you get to do the job. He or she needs to be properly vetted out before they are hired. And that contractor must also properly investigate the client. Because of no matter how hard you attempt to please someone, if they are unreasonable, think they know everything, yet do not want to do anything correct, and will say to everyone elses face that the contractor had no idea on what he or she was doing, when in fact they would not spend the money to do the job properly and blame the contractor. The contractor always ends up looking bad. This is not of course any excuse for the contractor to do the job wrong. But its then the good contractors will prevail as they work through the difficulties that their client presents them and then go quietly to another job without looking back.
Woodbridge Environmental Tiptophouse.com
on Oct 03, 2013
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Did you file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau in your city? When we had a problem with a furniture store, I filed a complaint; they helped resolve the problem very quickly. It's certainly worth a try. I am really sorry you are having problems with the tile work. What a disappointment!
Janet Smith
on Nov 06, 2013
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Looks like you're in a real pickle Carrie. As many of the contractor's here stated, there are some obvious problems detected and some could be underneath the tile... Most times (depending on the area) a permit is not needed for a tub or shower job when it's not within a complete overhaul of the room. In taking a situation like this to court or BBB you may or may not have success. The cracked grout can be fought as a sign of other problems that may have created the cracking, however, the sloppy caulking job is a cosmetic issue and you should have not paid the final balance due until that was fixed. In planning to pursue legal action, you may have to pay an expert tile contractor (or someone associated with the NTCA) to provide a full written report, inspection etc... of any failures of the shower that need fixed or a complete replacement. In that case, it's best to be up front with the contractor by letting them know you need a report for legal purposes and not a free estimate because an estimate is normally not as detailed for what you need. Hopefully you can get this resolved.
Alone Eagle Remodeling, LLC.
on Nov 06, 2013
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This is why we are afraid to hire someone else to do a job and do so with the greatest of angst. With the Internet for research and some practical skills, we have found that we can tackle MOST projects ourselves. So sorry for your predicament. Looks like a do-over.
90258
on Jan 19, 2014
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Hi Carrie, Grout cracks can happen for several reasons. Sometimes it's a cosmetic issue and other times a structural one. As a licensed tile contractor in CA, I see a lot of this and have been using a method that actually works amazing! A little bit of prep work and some epoxy grout will make those grout cracks go away permanently. Watch and see how I do it on my YouTube channel. Thank You!
CeramicTilePro LLC
on Jan 20, 2014
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ATTORNEY!!!!! Call your attorney NOW!!!!!!!!
Lynda Nichols
on Oct 10, 2014
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It is not uncommon for grout to crack in bath or shower corners. Grout is basically colored concrete and it cannot expand and contract with temperature changes. Go to a hardware or big box store and get sanded grout. It may be called something else, but it is in the tile section with the grouts and it comes in a tube like caulk and there should be several colors to choose from. If you know the name of the color of your grout, get that name. If not, they should have color charts. There will be a grout removal tool in the tile section. Get it and remove most of the grout from the corners that are cracked. Replace it with the grout/caulk. Did your finger in water and smooth it out and let it dry completely before using the shower or tub. Make sure your shower is dry before you start this repair. The clear caulk is silicone caulk and it is very sticky. It is not water based and can only be cleaned up with solvent. It is used because it resists molding. The person that used it in your job was inexperienced as evidenced by the smear of it on your vanity. The silicone caulk can be removed with a straight edge scraper and replaced with a siliconized caulk. Siliconized caulk is not prone to mildew and is usually much easier to work with. It is too bad this happened to you. It gives a bad name for us contractors who really know what we are doing. The best way to find a professional is word of mouth. People will gladly tell you if they've had a good experience or not. By the way, a contractor is responsible for his work for 1 year from the date of the work, but if this guy closed his business it may not be financially feasible to pursue it. Good luck & hope that helps.
Bruce N Dala Anbuhl
on Oct 12, 2014
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