My bathroom tile job just hit 3/8 inch lippage and I'm stuck

I was trying to save money retiling my shower in my 1950s house. The walls are so out of plumb I didn't catch until I was halfway done. Now my level shows some tiles are off by over a quarter inch from the neighbors. I used a cheap 12-inch trowel from the big box store. Do I tear it all out now or is there a way to fix this without starting over?

3 comments

3 Comments

adam_young312mo agoTop Commenter

Man, that's rough but let's be real. A quarter inch is actually 1/4 inch, not 3/8. Still a huge problem though. Your walls being that far out means your thin set bed was way off. That cheap trowel probably didn't help either. Honestly, you need to pull those tiles. It's gonna suck but it won't get better. Lippage that bad will catch on everything and hold water.

noah_singh812mo ago

Yikes, that's not lippage, that's a cliff.

riley8601mo ago

Listen to adam_young31, he's right. Pulling them is the only real fix because that lip will trap water and rot your wall. Next time, check the walls with a long level first and use a better trowel, the cheap ones flex too much. It's a hard lesson but starting over now saves bigger problems later.