My father-in-law swore by using a level on the floor before tiling... I laughed, now I get it

He came over last weekend when I was starting my kitchen backsplash and told me to check if the counter was actually level first. I thought it was fine, just get the tile on the wall right? Turns out my counter slopes like a quarter inch over 4 feet. If I started tiling from the counter edge without shimming a row at the bottom, the whole thing would have looked crooked. Has anyone else had a project get saved by just checking something simple like that beforehand?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_sam9d ago

My buddy Mike helped his sister install a bathroom vanity last year. She had already cut the granite top to size based on her wall measurements, but he checked the floor first and found a full half-inch dip in one corner. Saved her from a nightmare gap situation that would have meant buying a whole new slab.

coleman.seth9d ago

Got a buddy named Dave who did almost the exact same thing on a kitchen reno. He was helping his cousin put in this butcher block countertop and she measured everything from the walls. Dave was like "hold up, let me check the floor first" and sure enough there was a solid half inch slope across the room. He said if they had cut that wood to the wall measurements it would have looked like garbage with a huge gap on one side. They ended up shimming the cabinets flat and then everything fit perfect. Honestly that floor check saved them like 400 bucks and a ton of frustration.

the_olivia9d ago

I mean, is a quarter inch over four feet really that noticeable once you've got tile and grout up there? Seems like people get real dramatic about small gaps that probably no one but you and your father-in-law would ever spot. Idk, maybe it's just me but I think some of these "saved my project" stories get exaggerated a bit.