I just got a whole house porcelain tile install. I'd chosen this over Lowes, despite costing about…read more1.6 times as much because I had heard that Lowes doesn't screen nor pay contractors well. Because tile is expensive to rip out (ie. it's permanent and mistakes are worse than nothing), I wanted to get good tile and a good install and have something nice that would last. Floors Outlet is helpful about selecting flooring and supplies. For install services, they don't know their contractors and don't know what they are selling. I got a mediocre install, and now have a permanent shoddy install.
Before contracting, Brian told me Scottie Williams would do the install and told specific local businesses he had done floors for, which I went and looked at.
In reality, Brian scheduled Caleb+Shannon, who I do NOT recommend.
Pros of tile install:
Didn't take the deposit and go out of business.
Thinset application looked ok. When Caleb spread, it seemed consistent thickness and raked to straight lines. He did not backbutter. His assistant spread in a fan pattern which can mean bubbles.
Tile *mostly* aligns with other tile in a consistent grid.
Didn't clog the sink dumping grout+thinset.
Cons of tile install:
Tile misaligned to walls. Throughout the house, the tile is slanted to the wall so that it's off by 1/4 inch per 3ft run of tile. That same 1/4 inch per 3ft run misalignment is in every room and hall. It's noticeable throughout. It doesn't photograph clearly, but I put a pic to show it. It makes me sad bc it would have been the same supplies and effort to install it straight.
Caleb used a 4 inch handheld tile saw/angle grinder. No tabletop wet saw. Using a bad saw destroys materials which is what happened to my full price tile. Hundreds of tiles chipped up rather than cut.
I wanted a good install because tile is permanent. I asked and Floors Outlet charges $5 per sq ft to remove tile. Install was $5 per sq ft. I have a very permanent shoddy install. It's not fixable.
Grout and thinset smeared everywhere. Handprints on walls. Globs dripped on kitchen and bathroom counters. Smeared so thick on the baseboards that the quarterround installer said he couldn't finish and wasn't paid to clean. He said caulk won't stick to the grout smears, so he can't finish install. Quarterround install was $900.
Expectation for you to get grout off the baseboards and you caulk the quarterround.
They broke chunks off the kitchen cabinets.
You have to move all furniture: Brian at Floors Outlet said if furniture was empty and uncluttered they will move it, will disassemble beds, etc. They won't. They drag rather than lift. Before they arrived I had gotten most things out. No boxes, nothing small. Just 4 sofas, a bed, a small microwave stand, 2 tables, and a cat tree. That's all. W/in 24 hours, I disassembled the bed and dining room tables, and got what I could out. If it's in the house during install, it will get dragged, joints loosened, finish ruined, and repairs needed. You need to move it out before they get there, or else you will be scrambling to move it out before they break it, drag it, slam tools on it, and smear thinset on it.
Put sofa cushions on the floor in a puddle. Stepped on them.
You need to remove+install doors: They do doors, but it's less work if you do it. They broke chunks off doors, left doors overnight in a standing puddle of water, lost hinge doorstops+put a doorknob through a wall.
Damage to the walls is not permanent like the misaligned and jagged tile, but cleaning up after is like cleaning after a drunk trashes a place. Stuff smeared on walls, counters, and appliances, drywall to patch, and if you don't paint the damage will be noticable until you do. Think if someone drunk at a party goes crazy for 5hrs destroying things and no one who is there ever invites or dates them ever again. That level of damage to your walls, doors, and place.
Add extra install time for you to patch drywall, paint, clean grout off walls,+caulk quarterround. You can't unpack or move furniture in until that's done.
Left 5 cups of chaw spit around the house.
Holes in grout.
Took ice tray out of the refrigerator, put it in the sink, washed hands into it, dumped flooring stuff into it.
Threw flat undamaged 12x12 tiles in the trash.
Caleb asked me to pay him directly, rather than Floors Outlet.
Tiles are with one tile higher or lower than the next tile at edges and corners and catch my feet.
It's hard to find skilled work, and maybe any other place would do the same, but Floors Outlet can't do ceramic/porcelain install. They don't know their contractors. I didn't want to DIY. Now I have to DIY repairs+paint+caulk. I have a permanent shoddy tile install that's crooked to the walls with visibly jagged edges.
Beyond housing, this tile floor is the single most expensive purchase of my life, and they did a bad job. It cost $16,700.
