My bathroom tile job went sideways when I cut the last piece too short

I was setting subway tile in my guest bathroom here in Phoenix, feeling pretty good until the final piece. I measured it at 4 inches, but my wet saw blade must have wandered because it came out a solid quarter inch short. I stared at that gap for a good ten minutes, totally stuck. Ended up pulling up the two tiles next to it and recutting all three to make the spacing look even, which added like two hours to my Saturday. Anyone have a better fix for when a single tile cut goes wrong?

2 comments

2 Comments

james5332mo ago

Oh man, that sinking feeling is the worst! I've been there, staring at a gap that just mocks you. Once I cut a whole set of baseboard tiles short because my pencil mark was off by a hair. Ended up having to mix a new batch of mortar just to reset a few pieces, and the color match was never perfect. Your fix of redoing three tiles is probably the right move for a clean look, even if it eats up your afternoon.

the_thomas2mo ago

Gaps happen, it's tile work. Sometimes you just grout it a bit thicker and move on. James533 is right about color match being a pain, but is anyone really going to get on their hands and knees to inspect that corner? Perfection can waste a whole day for a fix nobody notices.