showerstonetile
We had a stone floor installed in our shower. The stones came on 1' x 1' "sheets". The installer kept the stones on the backing, and now you can clearly see lines in both directions where each 1' section meets.
I've seen other showers where the stones are randomly placed so they don't look like tiles.
Is it reasonable for me to have the installer re-do it, or is it normal for those tiles to be installed that way?
Here is a photo (ignore the wet part):
I would probably use unmodified thin set to cover the gaps and give a good base for applying the tile.
Could you do something a little decorative and use a border tile around the repaired area, sort of like a picture frame? Then use a different tile to fill in the area. The border would make the change in depth harder to see.
Ok, those aren't paving stones, those are wall stones (as the Lowes page confirms) - as in retaining wall stones. The lip is designed to hook to the stone underneath and prevent slipping when pressure is applied from the rear.
Which isn't to say you cannot use them, but you'll find removing the lip much easier if you use a good masonry/stone chisel, like such:
Put the cutting edge of the chisel at the base of the lip, holding the chisel near parallel with the brick surface, and strike the other end firmly with the hammer. The chisel will create a very focused point of pressure which will chip the lip away.
Finally, since its a simple fire pit, use stone adhesive to fix the blocks in place. You shouldn't have to worry about the kind of back pressure these bricks are usually designed to withstand.
Best Answer
You normally want to leave the stones on the backing as they are much easier to handle and lay like this.
I think this is a case where the sheets haven't been installed as well as they could be - if you look at the bottom of your photo the joins here are a lot less noticeable. I'd say that the tiler has simply left too much gap between each sheet.
You can make them easier to butt up to each other by trimming the mesh closer to the stones.
The other thing to try is to dry lay them and rotate the sheets so you get a more "natural" look before using the cement.
I'd have a word with your tiler to see if they'd redo the work.