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My neighbor's tile spacing advice had me ripping up a whole bathroom floor
The guy next door who flips houses told me to use 1/4 inch spacers for my subway tile to save time. I laid about 40 square feet before I realized the grout lines looked like canyons compared to the sample board at the store. My wife pointed it out after she tripped over a raised edge near the doorway. Cost me $60 in new spacers and a whole Saturday to redo it all with 1/8 inch ones instead. Has anyone else gotten bad advice from a DIY expert that set them back?
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river_wright15d ago
That 1/4 inch thing is actually a trick some flippers use to hide uneven tiles. If your wall is slightly wavy or the subway tiles have any warping, bigger grout lines mask the mistakes. But nobody tells you it also makes the floor feel like a cobblestone street to walk on. You probably saved yourself a lot of ankle pain in the long run by redoing it.
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the_patricia15d ago
Funny how that works - the shortcut that seems like it should save you time ends up costing way more in the long run. In my experience, people who flip houses are usually on a tight timeline and budget, not necessarily thinking about what looks good for the long haul.
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