39sqm of Travertine in 6 days.

[Sean Kelly]

I was given a job to overboard 29sqm of kitchen floor with ply or backerboards. The room was bare (i.e. no units). 3 doorways and part of the floor was concrete.

Then I had to prime & tile in travertine (Opus Romano / French pattern). Seal & grout & seal. Some of the room also had upstands (pre cut ones).

I was given 5 days to do this.

Then the spec changed and another 8sqm of hallway was added (again it had to be overboarded and it had upstands & 5 doorways.

In total I was given 6 days to complete the job.

I don’t have a helper, but when I went back to the boss and said it would take me nearer 10 days he said 6 days is plenty time to do it.

What do you guys & girls think? Natural stone and all that cutting. Would you use ply or backerboard? I thought I could have used thermal board, but there is too much bounce in the middle of the room. Also, would a decoupler be required?

Cheers
Sean

 

[Alan.P]

I can't understand your tense. is this a job you've done or are wanting to do, reading about the bounce concerns me if you've already done the job and not fixed the issue first, then, if given the choice, a backerboard over ply would have been my choice.

As for time, hard to say without seeing the job but say a day to sort out the bounce and overboard 2 to 3 days to fix and seal ( approx ) and a day to grout and seal again ish imho

Oh yeah a bit more time for the de-coupler, a deffo for me.

 

[nybor62]

a decoupler will not help with the bounce in the floor ,
you will need to put extra noggins in to strengthen floor and eliminate the bounce other wise imo this part of the floor will fail
backer boards instead of ply every time

 

[Sean Kelly]

Alan, It's a job for the near future. Cheers for your thoughts & timings. Sean

 

[Alan.P]

a decoupler will not help with the bounce in the floor ,
you will need to put extra noggins in to strengthen floor and eliminate the bounce other wise imo this part of the floor will fail
backer boards instead of ply every time

If it came across hat I meant it as such then sorry, of course it wouldn't, I added in an edit about using a de-coupler as he had mentioned it in his post mate

 

[Sean Kelly]

At the moment there is a wood overlay over the floorboards. When I bounced on the floor in the middle of the room, the bottles in the fridge made a noise! Cheers for your vote on Backerboards Nybor62,

 

[Alan.P]

If the monies in the job the floor needs sorting out otherwise it will fail, if it's not in the job, walk away from it, it will fail. If they want it done right, lift the lot, put extra noggins and struts to cure the bounce, once the floorboards are gone board with 18mm ply and backerboard over that, prime the ply underside and edges as per usual.

 

[Sean Kelly]

Alan, Cheers, I'm on a day rate, but 6 days hard slog moving all that weight (backerboard, tiles, addy etc) plus a 50 mile round trip every day and all that wet cutting does not sound attractive @£150 a day (i.e. £900 labour for a 11-12 hour day). The bouncy part is the new (probably 10 years old) extension. I know it needs sorting and I won't tile until it is. Cheers Sean

 

[John Benton]

£150 for 11/12 hour day, is that actually working or including travel time?

 

[Perry]

Where is it Sean hope its not across town anywhere 50miles from Ruslip is a hard drive lol

 

[Sean Kelly]

pjc It's High Wycombe!!

 

[Ian]

Not long enough mate, I'd say 8 days minimum with all that prep. If it goes well and you do it in 6 then that's great but, I think you're right to think it will take longer.

 

[Sean Kelly]

John, 11 hours working and hopefully 1 hour travelling. It's actually 40miles round trip. SatNav took me the wrong way today!

 

[Alan.P]

pjc It's High Wycombe!!

In Pete's backyard, oh dear lol

Not long enough mate, I'd say 8 days minimum with all that prep. If it goes well and you do it in 6 then that's great but, I think you're right to think it will take longer.

Absolutely right, depending on how far the prep goes, could turn out to be a dossiey

 

[Sean Kelly]

Thanks Bri, It is a lot work work for one in the timescale. Maybe PJC could give me a hand!

 

[Perry]

Where in high Wycombe ?

 

[Sean Kelly]

Whats a dossiey?

 

[Sean Kelly]

Graham Drive just off New Road.

 

[Perry]

You might get mugged in that area lol wouldn't thought they could afford you is it a new build? If so who's the builder ?

 

[Sean Kelly]

When I drove up the owner said not to have any tools on show! It's an old bungalow.

 

[John Benton]

John, 11 hours working and hopefully 1 hour travelling. It's actually 40miles round trip. SatNav took me the wrong way today!

Thats the equivalent of £13.60 per hour and it's back breaking work. They're asking a lot of you to do it in 6 days. Like Bri said I would have been looking at about 8-9 days if it all go to plan.

 

[Perry]

Yes mate it's very close to the worst area in Wycombe he is right about your tools not far from me l live 3-4 mins away but in Florida till the 21st April or else would of given you a hand

 

[Sean Kelly]

Thanks for the info Pete. Have a good holiday.