Latest master bath rescue in Suwanee, GA

Back at it again, with a real doozie this time around. This one was a rescue, in that it was completely done by another tile guy, Chattahoochee Glass came in to install the glass door, and they weren’t able to because of the mediocrity (to say it kindly) of the tile job. They recommended a flood test, the customer did so, and surprise surprise, it LEAKED!

So, the homeowners called us and we went out to take a look. Man, was it awful! One of the worst examples of atrocious craftsmanship I’ve ever seen. The homeowner had said she had been reading my blog, and said they had broken every rule in my The top mistakes homeowners make when hiring a tile installer: How to not be a victim of construction malpractice. Here are some before pictures to give the situation context:

The photos say it all! I’m constantly telling people on my websites to beware of hiring the cheap guy, beware of the “cult of personality hire” beware of the builder business model or as I like to call it, The blow and go, minimum standard builder special. I advise: LOOK FOR CONTENT! Photos, videos, credibility, reviews! Bathroom remodeling is a skilled proposition, so don’t be afraid to judge harshly!

We booked this job and here’s what we produced:

Hard surface curbs that we were ONSITE to supervise. You may say, “My granite guys are good, that’s not necessary” Short story, the stone on top of the curb was initially made IN ONE PIECE. Granite people had no problem with that, until Jason said, “How are you suppose to slope that to the inside of the shower if it’s in one piece?” They looked at him like he had two heads…You would think that granite people from a large company would know that that wouldn’t work out! We’re never surprised by the general incompetence of folks in the trades. We had them take the curb back and make it into two pieces so we could successfully slope the curb to the drain. That’s why you should pay extra for the pros at Hamilton Tile.

Ended up having to straight set this tile because these 12”x24” tile were so brutally warped, no way an offset would work out, lips would be noticeable. This customer trusted our expertise and we were able to set these straight set and get a nice, flat floor. To be frank, our finished product depends on the material we get. There’s ways to disguise imperfections in material, but we need your trust and confidence to utilize our skill and experience. We will always have your best interest in mind.

Notice, no clips on top of the curb holding the glass panels. They are simply NOT NECESSARY and the only thing they do is provide water a place to potentially escape. Pay attention to this.

Also, ALL 100% Silicone sealant in the corners and plane changes. THIS is what separates the pros from the amateurs. We don’t grout our corners or use cheap latex caulking. It’s national standards, SO THAT’S WHAT WE DO!

We always install a REMOVABLE panel beneath these tubs. It’s so 20 years down the road if something happens to the plumbing beneath the tub, you just remove the panel and your plumber can go to work. We did a job recently where we had to demo the panel beneath the tub because of a plumbing leak. It happens!

Pretty easy to see the difference!

We steered them away from natural stone. Unless you’re ready to spend BIG BUCKS on quality material, most natural stone is junk! It’s brittle, cheap and packed with filler. The maintenance is a nightmare and you’re better off always, always, always going with porcelain.

I like having the before pictures so blatantly awful. The main thing that I say regularly, in private, is if I could bring a customer to one of our jobs and then bring them to the competitions jobs they would 100% of the time hire us, for more money. This contrast proves my point.

I would also like to proudly display our Five star Review:

Jen Murray:

I can’t say enough wonderful things about Jason and Ben at Hamilton Tile. They were professional, friendly and extremely knowledgeable! Our master bathroom looks amazing! Would recommend to anyone and will use them for any other tiling jobs we have!

What more to say. This is our bread and butter, a customer that has been bamboozled and jerked around by another company and we come in to clean up the mess. That’s who we are. I’m not surprised by anything these days. It’s a throw away world, things are perceived as ‘easy’ so our trade has lost value in the eyes of the masses. When I do talk to potential clients though, I know exactly what our people sound and look like with a very small margin of error.

If you are here, if you have read this article…you care about quality, longevity and functionality. You are a person who values what our small company has to offer. I would like to directly say to you, we want to work for you. We want to exceed your expectations, we want to guide you through this process and ease your mind in knowing you will get a far above standard finish product that will last the life of your home, something you can be proud of, we can be proud of…that will provide you years of comfort and impress your friends and family alike. That’s what we’re about, if you value substance above style, tangible craftsmanship over volume and production…call us today, we would love to book your next bathroom remodel.

The best bathroom remodel in Marietta, GA

Back again with another tile update from Hamilton Tile! This bathroom for the Mayhew's in Marietta, GA was a tile emergency. Their previous shower was built so incorrectly it leaked to the point of rotting out their house. The old shower was your basic, builder grade, minimum standard, blowout special that we see so often:

So, looking at the photos can you understand why I'm so hard on builders? This is why when you find a good builder you should keep him around. It's not as if they don't know that a shower has to be water proof, a shower sees more water per year than your roof...A LOT MORE. Shoddy building all over Atlanta creates a living for us, but this degree of obsolescence is unethical. Many builders are just plain shady. There I said it!  This is why I put this information out there, because ultimately when hiring a contractor you have to watch out for yourself! If the price seems to low, it probably is. If your contractor can't tell you why he does things, he probably doesn't know. If he doesn't cite ANSI or TCNA standards...He probably doesn't care and he's making it up as he goes..

This shower leaked enough to rot out this engineered beam. It could have been much much worse than this. We ended up doing some creative framing and plating the beam with 2x10's. You can see the mold and the damage this improperly built shower perpetrated. It had no pre-slope and the tile was set directly to sheet rock. It was a real GEM!

Nothing we couldn't handle:

In this video we get to putting things back together....Not below standard, or minimum standards...but LIFETIME standards. Schluter Systems, Trade school graduate, 20+ years experience.

We ended up eliminating the tub and building a wall for the fixtures. Notice the cleanliness, getting a high end finished product starts with the basics that we learned in shop class. Keep your space clean and organized, that way your customer is happy and you get to keep all your fingers and toes because you're going to have an accident free job.

I see many of the 'pros' using ledger boards for their first row...Here's a note, If you're pan is level all the way around from the start...you don't have to cut your bottom row of tile. They all go up the same size all the way around.

Using a leveling system for large format helps get a lip free install! The leveling system is the green wedges you see in the photo. You embed a clip in the thin set under the tile and insert a wedge to pull everything flat.

A big difference from start to finish. This was a rewarding job for us not only because we're pursuing a passion but because we got to work with people that were invested more than monetarily in their project. We had done work in this house previously and from the start of this job the Mayhew's were involved and excited. Just the fact that they visited this website makes all the work I do on it worth it. Some guys dread working around intrigued clients, mostly because their work is not above board. We love the engineer types because they care as much as we do which adds a whole other level of satisfaction. Like we always say: "If you care about how your project is built, WE WANT TO WORK FOR YOU!" Thanks to the Mayhew's for having us.

Be sure to check out the positive review:

Hamilton Tile Google Review

Hamilton Tile Houzz Review

 

Be sure to check out my process video!

New to video making, but it adds a new wrinkle so you can really get a taste of what we do. I'm sure the hundredth one will be ready for Sundance. As Scott Adams says, it pays to have a good talent stack and videos are now just another piece to the puzzle. Enjoy!