Advice on a previous poor job.

[ocall1919]

Hi all,

I have had a nightmare job I probably shouldn’t have took on. Called to a customers house and the previous bathroom installer has laid on a basic wooden frame. Mosaics on the bath panel and tiles along the top around the bathroom as a surround. 1 tile has broken and sunk slightly. It is also leaking.

I explained to the customer, that unless they wanted the entire bath ripping out and new frame fitting. That we could tank around the bath. Used Bostik shower adhesive and bostik grout, designed for swimming pools.

The edge of the bath was so out, I couldn’t lay the tiles flat properly even with packing the tiles out. It’s not my best work and I feel terrible as a result. They have used large format ceramics 60x30 to cover the old mosaics.

When I got advice from home (as you do) my dad said a more experienced tiler would never take on a repair job as you can’t really polish a t••d.

how would you guys of handled this please?

 

[bsc ceramics]

Have you used a tubbed adhisive ?

 

[judge]

Rip out and start again with sturdy frame and waterproof boards.otherwise I would of walked

 

[ocall1919]

Have you used a tubbed adhisive ?

Yes I have. The bostik adhesive says it can do this tile type.

 

[ocall1919]

Rip out and start again with sturdy frame and waterproof boards.otherwise I would of walked

Yeah I thought so. My gut feeling for next time

 

[ocall1919]

Have you used a tubbed adhisive ?

With regards to tugged adhesive versus bagged. Can you pack bagged adhesive out further? this is more for future reference

 

[bsc ceramics]

The tiles are to big for tubbed addey and also no good on timber. the tiles will
stay on that for about 3 months tops
Should have used a flexable bagged adhisive and grout.
My advice would be to say that you tried to fix the problem
but you dont feel happy that because of what your tiling onto
and advise them the only way to get it right is to rip it all out
and start again. But use the right materials if you do it again

 

[ocall1919]

The tiles are to big for tubbed addey and also no good on timber. the tiles will
stay on that for about 3 months tops
Should have used a flexable bagged adhisive and grout.
My advice would be to say that you tried to fix the problem
but you dont feel happy that because of what your tiling onto
and advise them the only way to get it right is to rip it all out
and start again. But use the right materials if you do it again

I genuinely appreciate your reply and not bashing on me.
I have explained to the customer so far that I’ve done the best I can for them to date. I think I’ve stopped the leak by tanking and will Silicon it properly, which was a concern if theirs.

But I did say this wasn’t a long term fix as to get this done properly it needs the entire bath doing properly. As ideally I should of been tiling onto aqua boards. But they’ve never been used.

shown them using the laser level the previous guy has done none of that. I’m just gutted I couldn’t fix it better.
But I appreciate your reply, why would they only last a few months?

 

[bsc ceramics]

The adhisive... dont use tubbed adhisive on anything
its no good on large format tiles and you cant tile on wood
it just wont last always use a good flexable bagged adhisive
If you explaned it all to them then you did all you could
learn from it and move on there's always another problem
to solve around the corner..🙂

 

[ocall1919]

The adhisive... dont use tubbed adhisive on anything
its no good on large format tiles and you cant tile on wood
it just wont last always use a good flexable bagged adhisive
If you explaned it all to them then you did all you could
learn from it and move on there's always another problem
to solve around the corner..🙂

No I’ve tiled on top of their old tiles.. which were on a basic wooden frame. As I said taking them off, if their new tiles didn’t fit they would basically need to start from scratch. Which they didn’t want to do for obvious reasons.

 

[bsc ceramics]

Ok but i never use tubbed not even for that, its just no good!!!
but thats just my opinion and that of most compatent, experianced
tilers

 

[ocall1919]

Ok but i never use tubbed not even for that, its just no good!!!
but thats just my opinion and that of most compatent, experianced
tiler I just thought it being a small job it would save time and mess.

Thought maybe it would be quicker and less mess. But there is a lot that say the same as you. I appreciate it. Thanks for replies! Mike

 

[JackyyBoy]

Thought maybe it would be quicker and less mess. But there is a lot that say the same as you. I appreciate it. Thanks for replies! Mike

how long have you been tiling for mate?

 

[ocall1919]

how long have you been tiling for mate?

Officially… a few weeks. Done bits over the years. Had a basic idea. Then completed a course to learn how to set out etc.

 

[Kevbos]

With regards to tugged adhesive versus bagged. Can you pack bagged adhesive out further? this is more for future reference

Hi all,

I have had a nightmare job I probably shouldn’t have took on. Called to a customers house and the previous bathroom installer has laid on a basic wooden frame. Mosaics on the bath panel and tiles along the top around the bathroom as a surround. 1 tile has broken and sunk slightly. It is also leaking.

I explained to the customer, that unless they wanted the entire bath ripping out and new frame fitting. That we could tank around the bath. Used Bostik shower adhesive and bostik grout, designed for swimming pools.

The edge of the bath was so out, I couldn’t lay the tiles flat properly even with packing the tiles out. It’s not my best work and I feel terrible as a result. They have used large format ceramics 60x30 to cover the old mosaics.

When I got advice from home (as you do) my dad said a more experienced tiler would never take on a repair job as you can’t really polish a t••d.

how would you guys of handled this please?

View attachment 123882

I would of looked at the room , and said unless you want to start again , I'm not putting my name to this !! Just the boxing round the bath is just always going to be a problem .

 

[eddcottee]

I've tried putting someone else's **** up right before and it's a nightmare! I wont even go near anything like that now, unless its agreed that a full rip out and re-fit happens. It's just not worth the hassle and it's also not proffesional, tiling onto something when you don't know what's underneath.

Tubbed adhesive is ok for metros on kitchen splashbacks and that's about it. Also, tiling over tile particularly on walls is a bad idea as most likely the substrate will not hold the weight of the tiles. Always best to strip things back in my opinion so you can see what's underneath and can try to ensure you are taking the correct approach.

I think the advice you've had already above is good. If you've only been going a few weeks (i've only been going a couple of years), I would suggest starting off with small, simple jobs, researching all you can and taking on more complex stuff as and when you feel you can. I did a couple of complicated jobs far too early on and the stress it caused just wasn't worth it! Be confident enough to say to the client that you need to go away and double check the best approach to their particular job as you want to make sure everything is perfect. Then come away, do your research and go back to them with a proper plan of action and an accurate quote. People will only see that as professional and you'll probably win more work, but also, you will be happy you are doing the right thing.

 

[Etherglide]

If I could offer a little advice and its only because Ive been doing this for years is, get out of the habit of using tubbed adhesive. For anything. It might seem easier to do so but in the long term its just *****. Because I haven't used tubbed adhesive for years means Im always set up right to do the job. Buckets, mixer, etc,etc. Also, top tip. Never ever use grey powder adhesive. It just gets everything filthy. And the white stuff is only a pound dearer anyway. Good luck.

 

[macten]

Agree apart from never use grey adhesive. If your going to be using a dark grout then don’t use white adhesive.

 

[Etherglide]

Happy to disagree with you. I just find no benefit of using grey adhesive. As tilers were all different.

 

[eddcottee]

🙂
I generally buy the Palace stuff from Topps, and the grey mixes up completely different to the white. They grey just seems to mix up stiffer, so thats my go to. If using light tiles and light grout then ill use a white addy. Generally Biogel.

I brought a pallet of the Topps stuff (grey) and it worked out at £9 per bag.