Since this thread started I've moved house and renovated two more bathrooms and this "step" issue is definitely becoming a headache. You know, we are such slavish followers of trends, I just have to wonder at times how much we are becoming victims of them too. When I built my first house over 50 years ago, most homes were built on piers with timber flooring and concrete was only used in bathrooms and laundries, but the levels were adjusted so when tiles were laid in wet areas the transition was minimal. Floor tiles were also thinner than today's tiles, in most cases they were smaller tiles too and not these great slabs we use today that obviously need to be thicker for strength. Now we are building more slab on ground homes, no provision is being made for the thickness of floor tiles to ensure a more seamless transition between areas. My front entrance is tiled and has a 2cm "step" down to the lounge and family room areas and even that 2cm I find people constantly tripping over. I plan on removing these tiles and replacing the whole entry/kitchen/family area with vinyl planking. Carpet in the lounge room helps offset that step a little but I was told recently by people who have addressed this issue this way that putting an extra layer of underfelt within the doorway area works very well to help offset this problem. When I renovated the ensuite I now have this step issue but the tiles had been glued down with an unknown product of super strength that gave my bathroom guy a lot of grief trying to jackhammer up - took him 2 days to remove them and screed the floor to his standard - and he decided he could not do the main bathroom in a realistic time frame to meet the price he quoted me, he felt he could not even guarantee the standard of work he wanted to achieve so his suggestion was to tile over the existing tiles and when he got to the doorway he would add an extra part tile sloping to down to the floor level similar to what pucciplan described with his timber. He assured me he had done it with many other renovations, it was barely noticeable and would solve the issue much easier and cheaper for me and far less time consuming. In the meantime as I have carpet in the hallway we heard of the idea of using an extra layer of underlay and I've chosen this option. My laundry is right opposite the bathroom and those tiles will be replaced too. On close inspection of the original construction, we discovered no waste drain was put into the laundry, the tiles were drained towards the external door, which is apparantly acceptable .............EXCEPT, they then put a dam across the floor inside the doorway to stop rainwater coming in under the external door!!!! Now the laundry tiles will be laid over the top of the existing ones as well to allow for any possible accident needing drainage. Fortunately I've had no weather issues but we will put a rubber flap at the base of the door, just in case, and I will again do the extra layer of underlay under the carpet and hopefully will achieve a satisfactory result. At least the two doorways will match. Quite frankly though, I'm finding so many design issues these days, I really think the whole home building industry needs a thorough overhaul. I think as I age too, so many more issues are coming to light BUT they are obviously issues that could affect anyone of any age. I think we need to forget "trends" that don't consider the big picture of things and come back down to basic commonsense. HU - I'm really at a loss as to how your builder managed to get a 6.5cm step to the bathroom, that is absolutely ridiculous. The only thing I can think of is there may have been a slope issue for drainage, but surely it could still not have been that much, anything that much out should have been picked up when the building was inspected during construction. "Normal" is a good excuse for laziness or shoddy workmanship. I think from reading your posts, you are in an apartment?? You would then have slab floors?? Therefore I can't see the need for the step to be above 2cm. Definitely take this further - Fair Trading should be able to help you, the standard heights for steps varies according to location and use - it is a bit of a minefield to work out. Good luck. Amanda - how did all your renos go in the end? Sounds like you are still sane. :)

Schots have heritage style pencil tiles in black, dark green and burgundy https://www.schots.com.au/tiles-parquetry/ceramic-tiles.html#q=&idx=schots_production_default_products&p=0&hFR[categories.level0][0]=Tiles%20%26%20Parquetry%20%2F%2F%2F%20Ceramic%20Tiles%20%2F%2F%2F%20Bullnose%20%26%20Pencil%20Borders&nR[visibility_catalog][=][0]=1&is_v=1. Blue might be tricker to find.

Hi annb, it wasn't meant to be rude I have wonderful Amercian friends and they agree that things are out of control there, if you look at someone the wrong way you're likely to get sued, Australia has started do do similar. I'am totally against compensation in this situation as it will never make you like it, if the tiler has changed what he agreed to then he has to make good.. When you are doing reno's you need to be there if possible or a written duplicated plan of what has been agreed to needs to be done. I feel very sorry for Kylie that this has happened and is causing so much distress, it needs to be fixed.

Hi squirrel30. I ended up, on a professional's advice, having the whole bathroom stripped and redone. It actually worked out cheaper than any of the seemingly more innovative solutions. It seemed a shame to discard a lot of stuff that was in good order, but to get the result we wanted it proved the best approach and I'm delighted with the result. We had the floor pulled up and replaced with 600 x 600 textured grey tiles and 900 wide tiles in the shower with a grate at the end so in a very, very large shower we have only 3 grout lines and they are dark grey. We used slab tiles on the walls in the shower with dark grey grouting and 600 x 600 tiles elsewhere. Again resulting in very few grout lines, and no glass at all! I posted pictures of the main bathroom at Bathroom reno done! Thanks for the suggestions | Houzz AU The ensuite looks similar but has a twin vanity and larger shower with a tiled nib wall rather than glass. I'm still interested to know more about microcement but I can't get anyone to answer inquiries. I've responded to a dozen or so ads but nobody has ever bothered to contact me. Not sure I would trust a supplier who is that disinterested in potential customers!!