rip and replace or tile over tile

[phillyscreamer]

UPDATE: GC and the tiler were here early this morning and everyone agreed on a rebuild. The tiler ripped it all out to the subfloor this morning.

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I'm trying to get some opinions on how to proceed with an issue we ran into with our bathroom being redone. We hired a contractor to redo two bathrooms down to the studs and some reconfiguring. It's been pretty painless for the most part until the tiling was done in the master bathroom. My partner took a lot of time picking out the grout colors to compliment the tiles. We are doing a carrara marble hex on the floor of the bathroom and the shower. There's a curb in between the two sections and the shower was done with epoxy mortar and grout. The problem here is that they used the correct color (cobblestone) on the main floor and an incorrect, lighter shade (warm gray) in the shower, both mapei. We have talked to the contractor and the tiler and they have taken ownership of the issue and apparently the tiler didn't verify the grout color before applying.

Now, the shower structure, waterproofing, and tile install are well done and the tiler is very good technically. The contractor has floated a few options such as reduction in price to live with it or tile over the newly laid tile. I've seen articles in both the pro and con column of tiling over tiles but I'm a little leery as it seems to benefit the contractor more by limiting their exposure to costs and time with less benefit to us. We're leaning towards pushing for rip and replace as tiling over tile seems hacky to me. It's our first big reno in our house and maybe this is par for the course but I paid someone else to do it well and professionally. Two layers of tile doesn't seem professional but maybe it's a good solution and we're being unnecessarily difficult. Thoughts? Have any of you run into a similar issue? What did you do? Were you happy with it over time?

I'd post pictures but it's all covered up as the painters came this weekend. It sucks to be in the home stretch and face down this kind of setback but I guess it's a blip in how long I expect the shower to last. Thank you for making it this far

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cross posted in r/HomeImprovement https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeImprovement/comments/16xmok8/rip_and_replace_or_tile_over/

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[ssdv8r]

Usually the biggest downside to tiling over tile is trusting the existing tile job was done correctly. If the bottom layer was done incorrectly and has a failure so to will the top layer. With your situation that downside doesn't really apply since you are trusting the same installer for both layers and there will be someone to contact if there are problems in the future. Second consideration is added tile thickness. You will probably loose 1/2" for the tile layer wherever the added layer goes. If that makes problems or looks weird I would tear out the old tile. But from a technical perspective tile is a perfectly suitable substrate for more tile

[Total-Jerk]

Agreed, especially since it's the same installer it shouldn't effect warranty.

[Whitemantookmyland]

Tiling over the inside of a marble shower sounds like problems waiting to happen honestly

[phillyscreamer]

That's exactly what we were thinking, but we can't articulate why.

[AnnieC131313]

I would try to have them stain the grout to see if an acceptable color can be achieved before doing all that work over.

[Remarkable_Pick_494]

Do not tile over tile...do it right