Supporting Documents for Claim Against
Daniel Rodriguez’s “Professional Tile Installation” in San Antonio

This page contains the supporting documentation for our credit card dispute against Daniel Rodriguez, a tile installer located in San Antonio, Texas.

Around August of 2018, we hired Daniel to install tile in three bathrooms in a house we were remodeling. The installation was of very poor quality, and much of the work had to be ripped out and re-done by a combination of us and a professional installer. (I have a construction background, formerly worked at Home Depot in the flooring department, and have done six full tile installs)

As of February 25, 2019, we have hired another installer to demo (take out) the shower pans that were installed by Daniel’s installer, Frank. The cost to demo and replace the incorrectly installed shower pans was quoted between $2,500-3,110 plus the cost of tile and grout, which was another $500.

Interestingly, you’ll noticed that Daniel claims in his ad that he specializes “in tub to shower conversions and fixing leaky shower pans.” He also claims that you pay once, not twice. He added the last paragraph about Craigslist horror stories, drugs, smoking, and alcohol after we told him our horror story.

In the image to the right, you’ll see a picture of the demolition of work performed by Daniel’s installer, Frank. After not using this shower for almost two months, we tested the moisture with a moisture meter, and it showed a moisture reading of 100%. In short, the shower pan will not dry.

After researching this problem online, and talking with other tile professionals, we have learned that our suspicion about the installation of the shower pan liner was correct. Frank placed the shower pan liner flat and directly on the plywood subfloor, which doesn’t allow the water to drain. According to the manufacturers’ instructions (from two companies, Sioux Chief and Oatey, maker of the drain and the PVC liner, respectively), a sloped mortar bed is required UNDER the PVC liner, with a second sloped mortar bed under the river rock. The “pre-sloped” mortar bed ensures that water is channeled toward the drain. Additionally, both companies recommend using pea gravel around the drain in the second mortar layer.

Frank did neither of these.

This article from Houzz discusses another homeowner’s problem with river rock that does not drain because of the liner being flat on the plywood.

UPDATE: We had the shower pans removed and replaced at a cost of $3,000, which included labor and materials. They were replaced with custom fiberglas pans. We attempted to reverse the credit card charges paid to Daniel Rodriguez, but we had waiting too long to resolve the issue. If we had acted earlier, we would have easily been able to prove our case.