Does anybody know much about tiling kitchen counter tops?

[twuoo]

I won't bore you all with the "long story"....*sigh* Suffice to say I'm getting my counter tops retiled by a contractor.

On Sunday morning, I had bought another sink, the first one he said would work, didn't.

So I offered to bring the sink in from my car so we could fit it into the space of the original sink and see how it's going to look. The contractor said it wouldn't be necessary. So what do I know, I let it go and let him work.

By now it's 9pm at night. He is done tiling the areas all around the sink. Tells me to go get my new sink. It's just something I grabbed off the Lowes shelf. Single bowl, stainless steel sink.

Low and behold the sink is just a tad to big.

Contractor starts telling me he can't cut the tile because the chance of it cracking is very high. What's he done so far is use liquid nails to glue tile pieces on top of the existing counter top.

I am really pissed. Had he taken my advice to try out the sink in the spot before it was tiled, it would have been no big deal to cut the sink hole just a little bigger.

Now I'm calling all around town and nobody seems to have the size I need! The closest thing I saw from Home Depot online was a sink for $900! I'm sure as hell not going to spend that kind of money for a friggin sink, nor do I have it to spare!

Anyway, for those of you who might know, how hard is it to cut the counter top tile that's now already laid and glued on top of the old counter?

There's lots more drama, but I won't bore you with that. I just need this guy to finish and get the hell out!

[Trixie007]

What does your contract with the contractor say? He is responsible to make sure that the counter is tiled in such a way that your sink fits, so that's not really your problem. Probably what he needs to do is remove the tiles that are incorrect, measure the sink, then re-cut & re-apply the tiles individually (new tiles). Not really a good idea to cut them in place. Hopefully you haven't paid him yet...

[fltoo]

I renovated an arts and crafts house years ago and had to put in a black and white scheme tile countertop and backsplash.

I decided to do a drop in cutting board later and guy started by drilling little pilot holes all around. Then he just "connected" all the little dots with a tile saw. Did the pilot holes to prevent cracking the existing tiles.

Just a question. Couldn't you just pop off the original tiles with a chisel or were they glued on with something other than tile set? And if they were tough to get off, he could have just made a new countertop with plywood and then tiled, or was that too expensive?

[BKOnce]

He did it wrong originally, maybe you've hired a hack or a cheap, unlicensed contractor. The proper step/way for Do-It-Yourself is:

1. Remove all old tiles.

2. Check for wood board/surface damages (by water)? If not good condition or warped, must removw all old wood & replace whole board by dimension. (3/4 inch thick). Glue/nail/attach down it to the standing cabinets.

3. Put/layout the new sink upside down (on the center area where sink should be). Use pencil to draw the sink edge outline/border on wood surface. take the sink out. Draw another pencil borderline (but 1 to 1/2 inch smaller inward (smaller rectangle borderline)

4. Drill 4 pilot holes at four corners on the smaller borderline, and at four center points of four line/edges. Starting at each holes, cut/saw by sawzall device (reciprocating saw) on that smaller borderline & going around, or at least use a 3-4" circular saw on the edge, etc.

3. After hole out, put back board or cement board on top of wood board (same dimension), also cut same sink hole size in the top cement board. Screw/secure it on top of wood board.

3. Now tiling all tiles on backer/cement board with thinset mix.

4. After dry, put sink in, secure all nuts & screws at sink's bottom to woodden board beneath it.

5. White cauk around sink edge and let it over night till dry.

6. Connect all faucets, hoses, etc. for water line.

If you have no contract, expect nothing in return, take it as a lesson learned & moved forward!!

Life sucks sometimes.

[Catia]

http://www.thetiledoctor.com/howto/countertops.cfm

Try the above link to get a look at the proper way it is supposed to be done. There are pictures that show in detail.
Some people skip the screening stuff.

Personally, I might've just thrown the SOB out of my house for attempting to set tile on my countertop with liquid nails. That is NOT a product that should have the ability to weep / off gas it's chemicals or cure around places in contact with food too much risk of contamination--every read the label--tons of toxic chemicals in that product. Even if grouted over--I'd worry about the contamination since counters get wet a lot--chems would even weep into the grout to some extent (if he used grout). Get rid of him!

And unless he gave you specific dimentions for the sink ahead of time-and you did not purchase the size he indicated--it's his problem to fix--unless you paid the guy under the table w/o a contract.

It is so hard to find good help. Good Luck--I've had more than my share of shady contractors. Been ripped off many times. I do it all myself now.

[twuoo]

The contractor never measured the sink area.

Ugh, Catia, now you've given me something else to worry about.

I got another one for ya....

I was at the store on Wed to specifically look at sinks cuz the store had some odd sizes that I thought the contractor could use.

Coming out of the parking space, I got hit in the bumper of my 2009 car! Collision shop wants $800 to fix it. My deductible is $1000.

By Thurs, I had something happened that completely torqued out my neck. Thurs night left me agonizing in pain. I almost couldn't get out of bed Friday morning.

Man, life is the shits sometimes!