Kelly Anderson of Bond Tile & Stone, Inc. did not obtain a permit from the City of Forest Lake which he was supposed to do and then said you don’t need one after the project was started. He applied a glob of thinset behind each 12 x 12 tile and stuck it on the durock, rather than troweling thinset all over the durock as it should be done. This left large gaps around each of the tiles. I pointed it out and he said he had to do that because the wall wasn’t straight which wasn’t true. The studs in the wall need to be straight before the durock is even fastened to the studs. The thinset is then supposed to be troweled over all the walls. He didn’t correct it and instead had a worker called Ted finish grouting around the tiles. I asked Ted about it and he said he has never seen tiles applied like this before. I believe he did this because he wanted to cut corners and thought I wouldn’t know the difference. I spoke to four reputable tile companies who stated that thinset should not be applied this way. It needs to be troweled on the durock. They said he saved time and materials by doing it this way. Now, heat and cold will cause contraction and expansion, weakening the adhesion of the tiles and ultimately causing failure of the tile wall. Gaps behind the tiles create spaces for water to settle in which can cause future mold problems. Kelly said he will warranty the shower for only a year and that’s because he knows it will ultimately fail.