Hi Micshak, No, you're not argumentative at all - your frustrated and understandably angry about your experience and are coming from that place. I didn't say that there weren't minimums, I said that rectified tiles allowed finer than traditional grout lines. Happily for me, I've had a similar issue to Stacey and were fortune to have great building team who ensured that my problem was fixed as soon as I raised it with them and they covered fixing the issue and resulting damages from their pocket - it wasn't even a conversation topic - what I got was "absolutely, yeah, that needs to be fixed, no worries" - the difference between great people and the guy you sadly got. Your story almost bought me to tears but did bring home the advice I had from more experienced family members on personally checking license and trade affiliations such as HIA and checking the trades insurances as well as being on site every day and only paying when I was happy for the job. It goes to show - just because you're a good person, doesn't mean that everyone you meet is a good person. Know that I believe that poor tradesman and badly behaved tradesman who don't produce reasonable quality work should be publicly flogged and branded because of the heartbreak, stress and financial hardship they put people through. Stacey needs to be able to give the option of having the problem fixed and the tiler/builder the chance to regain his reputation before trying to fix things yourself - despite your horrible experience, most are tradies are hardworking good people and want to do great work for you to keep good will for their business. Sadly for you anyone who is going to prohibit this man from getting work/money isn't going to do much except be background noise. Davco, the tile supplier etc aren't able to stop him from getting work - but you sure can and I'd encourage you to go after him with unrelenting vengeance) - go to the appropriate licensing board and talk to them. Go to HIA if your tiler is a member and the Fair Trading body in your state as a matter of course - they should be able to force compensation. I would threaten to get on every website, blogsite (including TrueLocal), the local paper and social media to tell as many people as you can about your experience with this tradesman naming names and showing what appalling work was done if you don't receive a refund/compensation/a first class quality fix within 14 days - and then if you're not happy follow through with the shaming and make sure he knows about it by sending him links/snapshots/clippings naming him and his business and let him know you're so upset that this will continue to be refreshed on a monthly basis until you receive satisfaction or he's out of business. If he indicated any businesses or people that would recommend him or gave you a list of previous jobs, I'd be sending letters to them (with photos and supporting correspondence) letting them know - and copying him. Builders all talk ;) Oh - and you could always do what a friend of mine did - have friends ring the gentleman in question to book work then cancel at the last minute after you've done your shame campaign siting the fact that they heard that he was a shameless, substandard tiler and their going with a more reputable tiler. Evil, but no more than than deserved. Stacey - I honestly hope you have more my experience than poor Micshak's. Let us know how you get on.

Lovely area! You have done a great job! Just a thought i would have put decking to one side and only had one side with stone and plants as putting the decking in the middle looks like a runway. Just my opinion. Black stone would look great instead of white. And painting the back bricks would have been better with a darker colour to make timber "pop" like the colour of your fence or black like the posts. Loving your ideas and transformation is fantastic!

What a beautiful tile! Rule of the tump - always match the grout to the tile. Specially with such a strong patterned tile, otherwise the grout also becomes a clashing pattern. I'd pick light grey to avoid pure white cleaning issues. I have these type of tiles in my patio, you will have to be seal them with penetrating sealer after installation, but other then that you will love them forever

had various outdoor spas including a 5m "portable" saltwater swim spa for many years but as we were hundreds of metres from nearest neighbours it could be used at any time of the day or night without disturbing anyone else...ours was installed directly on the concrete floor of a converted garage so we could open the roller doors for gorgeous bush view and close for heating in cold weather...given the choice i would never have one in the suburbs because the noise restricts times that it could be used but newer models, installed below ground in a lockable enclosed shelter could solve those problems..check with manufacturers and keep in mind that they need proper pool security and more chemicals than a swimming pool to maintain safe water in the smaller volume of constantly heated water and can be easily damaged by rough use but nothing better than a warm swim on a cold night