Acceptable tiling or not?

[Michelle M]

Ooops yes just cos the walls are the same length doesn't make it square. Agreed. 🙂

The adhesive is this tub.

Wickes have contracted all the work out to this bloke - so he has done everything. Tiling, new wall, fitting the suite, shower etc. I had to pay wickes a standard installation price and then he is charging me for the tiling, the new wall, plastering of the ceiling. I have paid half so far. However he was supplied by wickes.

I can see what he says tomorrow, but from the general feeling on here the workmanship is not good in parts.

Thank you!!

 

[Michelle M]

another point whilst we're at it. I asked about the tiles to be as close together as possible to leave as little grout line as possible. He said he needed to do a minimum of 2mm to stop any damp getting behind the tiles. However this is about 4 mm - so not happy about that either. He said that if i went for 1mm then he wouldn't guarantee his work as damp could get in by the shower. The grout was supposed to be the same colour but on the picture it looks a lot darker. It's not too bad in real life but i am disappointed with the gap size.

 

[Ian]

The recommended minimum for walls is 2mm, that should be more than achievable with porcelanosa tiles, they are top quality. Not sure why he thinks that a 1mm joint would cause a damp problem, the grout will absorb water regardless of joint size. We're the walls waterproofed/tanked prior to tiling? Not the whole room needs to be done, but it is advisable in wet areas such as the shower.

 

[Michelle M]

Bri....i don't know whether he water proofed the walls or not. I'll ask tomorrow. I think he just wanted to do a certain grout size no matter what I wanted. He is quite intimidating so when he said he wouldn't guarantee his work if i went for 1mm I felt i had no choice.

Anyhow I'll let you all go to bed. I'll update you tomorrow on what he says.

Thanks everyone

Michelle

 

[The D]

He is talking rubbish the joint size is nothing to do damp it is to do with expansion. As bri has said with porcelenosa tiles he should have been able to achieve a 2mm joint with no problems A 1mm joint is achievable using a perimeter expansion joint. If a 2mm joint was agreed then why has he used a 4mm spacer IMO that is a hideous joint size on a wall and totally unnecessary. Again it is just my opinion but the tiling is shoddy to say the least the miss matched joints the chipped tile and the lipping tiles on the trim should have been rectified before the job was grouted the fact that he was obviously aware of the problems and did not rectify them speaks volumes.

 

[John Benton]

I would also be getting Wickes to come and look at the standard of tiling their sub-contractors are willing to accept and see what they say. As Deano and Bri have both said, there is no excuse for the mismatched joint sizes, I fit Porcelanosa regularly and the calibration tiles is excellent and 2mm is easily achievable. No excuse for chipped tiles. Is he saying that he never saw a chip like that? If he can leave something that is visible in that state I would be worried about what you can't see as well!

 

[gamma38]

I agree with all the above, it definately is not the worst job i have seen on here either. That said if wickes have supplied/recommended/employed/etc this guy for you then you may have some comeback with them also, some of these big chains/stores do not like bad publicity like this, go and see the manager for a chat and take some pics with you as well. The quality of the tiling is not up to scratch that cannot be argued, I would say the setting out was this guy's main downfall in this case, either he doesn't set out or he doesn't know how to. I think your right to be upset with the grout lines as well, they do look too big, and you should not have to learn to live with it either, it is not what you told him you wanted. Intimidation is absolutely not acceptable in any way shape or form, make sure you take that up with wickes also that could go very well in your favour.

 

[enduro]

Put the Webcam on when he turns up so we can see what he has to say!! :lol:

 

[afright]

I think your tiler knew he has messed up as Doug has said floor should have been done first,I expect he done walls first so that he would not get the floor messy sometimes this does not work out which imo has happened.the only thing to do is to make him take wall tiles of and retile.

 

[Dan]

As Doug has said the walls/floor needs to be square for your to achieve a perfect joint match on all walls all the way around. You'd need to end up with square cuts (as in 90 degrees not squares with 4 sides per se) where each floor tile meets the wall to guarantee the joints would match. It's normally possible to do quite easily on 3 walls but then one runs out, the one you choose to be the least square (so in effect you go off the adjacent wall to that one first and the two sides should then match with a little skill, and the final wall nearly always wouldn't) so in your case I'd have made the bath wall the one not square and then perhaps it wouldn't have been so obvious.

As for the chipped tiles, corners not matching height-wise, quality of adhesive used. Not good for a "professional" tiler IMO.