Would you accept this? It looks awful. Too much work to start again.

[Fatfreefatball]

I'm creating a new bathroom upstairs from a small box room. The floor was totally uneven widthways and lengthways so the old boards have been replaced with a subfloor then ply on top ready for vinyl. Yesterday the tiler told me that because the floor was still sloping lengthways, the tiles would get narrower along the length. I asked why they didn't level the floor lengthways. He said that it would have created a step up into the room.

I've come home tonight and am gutted at the way this looks. Measuring from the top of the black tile to the floor, there is a difference of 1 inch along the length.
What do I do? Tiles have been stuck on but not grouted yet. The grout will make it more obvious.

Obviously, it would be a huge job to have to rip up the floor and rebuild it, as well as remove the tiles on the offending wall. I don't think the tradesmen would do it anyway. The door is being replaced by a bifold door and there's a column rad going under the window, so my options are:
1.Put a large freestanding cupboard by the door to hide the narrower tiles.
2.Rip the tiles off and put tongue and groove cladding there (this would piss off the tiler). This would mean wasting the materials I've bought.
3.The nuclear option of starting again.

I'm so pissed off because I have been waiting years for an upstairs bathroom and spent time and money planning this. Their previous work has been great for other customers and the finished job will look good apart from this. I just don't know if I can sit on the toilet and see those tiles everyday.

I am someone who stares at things even slightly out of line constantly - and I honestly can't see it.

I don't think there is a perfect answer.
If the flooring is a very similar colour to the white tiles and grout / sealant is a similar colour to the tiles and floor, the difference will be less obvious.
If a radiator is also going to be positioned there, again it will be less obvious.
As others have suggested a skirting board painted a similar colour to the tiles may also help - with the top running parallel to the tiles.
I would get the job finished as planned and see what it looks like before changing anything.

I agree with this. It looks absolutely fine to me. It's barely perceptible. The room's not even and the tiling has to reflect that somewhere.

I am pretty uptight about this kind of thing and honestly this is probably the least annoying annoying thing that could have happened in a wobbly Victorian house.

I wouldn't bother trying to hide it with a linen cupboard if the slope of the floor is more or less continuous. You can't hide the whole wall...

I agree that having a floor the same colour as the bottom course of tiles would be the best way to visually minimise it.

Agree with this.
The design you have chosen highlights the lower part of the wall.
However, I don’t think this would bother me particularly, the tiles look good and it’s unlikely that anyone will ever notice the sloping floor, and if they do, why does it matter ? The black tiles are all level.
I live in an old house where everything is uneven, replacing a picture rail was a challenge, as the floor, ceiling and walls are all uneven. Just needed to be done by eye.
If it will always bother you then I would remove the lower strip of black, and or have a floor colour that is the same as the tiles. But honestly I don’t think it looks bad at all, it looks like excellent tiling.

Why are you shouting in your post? The plumbing is on the side of the room opposite the window that will have a radiator underneath and not shown in the photos.

We have an old house- there's not a straight wall or floor or 90 degree angle in the place.
Once you get your flooring and everything else in you wont even notice.

What flooring are you putting down ? It would look fine with a solid colour floor

I don’t think the tiling is awful - but I would have had the floor properly levelled before starting and - dare I say - the plumbing/drains/sinks/bath/showers etc installed beforehand [the first fix]. Had 5 bathrooms/en-suites fitted in my home over the years and the wall tiles always done between first and second fix.

No room is perfectly straight, whether it's the walls or floor. Tiling just highlights that. I wouldn't worry about it. Take your phone to the bathroom so you can focus on something other than the tiles

This will be less noticeable once the grout is done...
Assuming you are having white grout. It's really not that bad.

PERFECT IS THE ENEMY OF GOOD

An old expression which is so true. We should focus on the whole picture rather than concentrate on miner flaws which cause no harm.

It looks fine. Houses are not always laser level perfect

hardly noticeable. Now you circled it I can see what you mean. The tiler isn’t the one to fix this. The floor needs levelling. If you just leave it as that’s a whole re-do job of everything. Why wasn’t the floor leveled? Oh yeah…step. So I think this is the best that can be done. Coming from someone with cropped tiles too. It hurts my eyes initially but you really do get used to it

Sorry but I think you're overreacting.

You have the upstairs bathroom you wanted. That is what's important - not the (very nicely done, from the photos) tiles.

It's just a quirk of the house. Things are rarely perfect.

By all means re-do it all if you want but in my opinion it would be a complete waste of time, effort, and money.

Agreed! A tapered skirting board would be less obvious.

When the job is finished it will look better. After a few weeks you'll forget about it. Very few houses are perfectly level. Tiles do have the problem of showing this up.

I think the tiler has done a good job. A skirting board would help make it less obvious.

I can see what you mean … but I do think this is a case of you looking too close .
In an empty room that’s all you’ve got to focus on.
That’s not a criticism- I’ve had many a breakdown over the same sort of things over the years.
One I recall was the oak style karndean floor planks having a different colour/ grain. I was all for getting it ripped up and relaid.
I didn’t and now I don’t even notice it .
But what I’ve learnt is, when it’s all finished and there’s so much more to see you won’t emphasise on this “fault” so much.

With the room painted , flooring laid , blind fitted, towels laid out and the odd ornament and plant dotted about you really won’t see it as much as you do today.

I’m sorry you’re so upset.
Its not as bad as you think , and as I said I’ve done the same and it always works out ok in the end.

I agree with Gatekeeper that having three rows of black tiles on the left and two on the right doesn't look right. I would take the black ones out altogether and put one line of a patterned tile going around at the same height, just above the wash basin and loo. My husband and I tiled our bathroom right up to the ceiling, but if you didn't want to do that you could finish it off by using something with a more subtle colour than the black.

I have this a bit in our new en-suite, but it’s as the tiles get closer to the ceiling (so vertical). I tried having it fixed (cost an arm and a leg to have the wall built out) but it’s still not right. I no longer notice it though. If you’re going for white grout I think the grout will make it less noticeable.

Having seen your pictures I think it looks fine. Better than fine, it's quite lovely!

But you could if it bothers you remove that lowest black row and replace with white. Although I think it looks fine.

Something I would say, is are you having white grout? I think that would be better than black grout, as black would add a line again that is close to the floor and would catch the eye and draw attention to the narrowing of the bottom row of tiles, whether or not you removed the lowest black band.

What colour vinyl are you having, dark or light?

@Fatfreefatball the floor slope should have been discussed with you but I don’t think the solution was unreasonable. That discrepancy in the tiles really isn't significant, would suggests not using dark grout though. I honestly don't think it will bother you after a while though. Our house was rewired and not one socket was put on straight. Hated it at first but don't even notice now.