Advice on how to tackle shop on miss sold adhesive

[mmmadman]

Hi all

I'm on with my full bathroom re-fit.
Laid quartz floor tiles on no more ply with powdered flex adhesive, no problems at all, fab in fact.

The walls, using 20 x 50cm ceramics with a couple of mosaic borders. The shop gave me Granfix tubbed flexi adhesive. I queried this & they said it would be fine & it was for professional use.

The tiles went on fine and looked great. I did most of the room on Sat/Sun & was vey pleased with the result.

On Monday I was working from home & heard a loud crash (you all know where this is going) a tile had fallen off.

The adhesive was all still on the wall and still damp. I checked an adjoing tile & it came off too.

Three days later I can still pull the tiles off & the addy is still damp!

Looking on the Granfix website it says max tile size 30 x 30cm for that addy!

I'm going to have take them all off now and scrape off the addy, the tiles are mostly reusable so far!

I tiled onto existing plasterboard that I tanked with another Granfix product...!!!

Just wondering how I should approach the shop and what I should be looking for refund & compensation wise?

Sorry for the ramble, I'm absolutely fuming about this & want some advice before I go to the store & throw it all through their window, lol...!!!

Many thanks, cheers...

 

[Perry]

would be best to get them round to see it rather then remove the evidence.

 

[Chalker]

Like you found out, no bigger than 300x300! But! If tiling onto tanking tubbed adhesive should not have been used on Any tiles, no matter what size. How long did you leave before grouting as this is an air dry product.
Don't think you'll get far with the tile shop. We are meant to know what we are doing.
Best would be to remove the tiles and start again as the adhesive has no chance of curing onto tanking.
sorry.

 

[IHB]

Did the shop know that you were tiling onto tanking? Otherwise 200x500 isn't significantly different surface area wise to 300x300 & probably a better shape (narrow) to facilitate drying.

 

[mmmadman]

Hi Chalker (in Taddy, I'm from York)

I've not grouted yet, I bought all the stuff from the same shop, the tanking kit, everything!
I'm not a tiler by trade but I told the shop this & asked their advise when buying, that's why I queried the tubbed addy in the first place and they said it was ok to use...!!!

Am I best going with BAL powdered flexi addy or similar make as I have used this before...?

I should of listerned to myself & not the bloody shop...!!!

Cheers...

 

[Time's Ran Out]

1 Ring Granfix and ask their advice - so you have the technical knowledge.
2 Citizens advice centre - so you have your legal rights.
3 local tile shop - so you can resolve your issue.

No idea how far they will compensate ( new adhesive!) but I'd be looking for some lost quality time and ££'s.

 

[Chalker]

Hi Chalker (in Taddy, I'm from York)

I've not grouted yet, I bought all the stuff from the same shop, the tanking kit, everything!
I'm not a tiler by trade but I told the shop this & asked their advise when buying, that's why I queried the tubbed addy in the first place and they said it was ok to use...!!!

Am I best going with BAL powdered flexi addy or similar make as I have used this before...?

I should of listerned to myself & not the bloody shop...!!!

Cheers...

Which shop did you get them from ?
If you have used the bal powder before, that will be fine.

 

[thompsonbrown]

Listening to a guy who is a sales rep in a tile store, probably isn't the best way to find out what products will work for your tiling project. There are blokes out there who make there living from selling tiling materials who have the experience to give good advice.
The only bloke who springs to mind would be Dave from Tradetiler.com. Being an ex tiler himself is probably the reason on why his online store does so well.
Your in-stinks were right, If it seems wrong double check.
Personally, its up to the guy fitting the tiles to say what products should and can be used on installation.
I don't think there's anything wrong with you going down to vent your frustration on what has happened with your tiling problem, and hopefully they will give you some sort of compensation on bad advice given. New adhesive and some extra tiles as a minimum.
But like I said before, Its down to the installer who uses there products, not the supplier.
Just pleased for you that the tile that fell off didn't land in your new bath or basin.
Hope you get sorted out.

 

[judge]

Id burn the shop down !!!

 

[The D]

Hmmm I have used that size tile lots of times with gran fix tubed adhesive and not had any problems. What was the background ? What prep did you do ? And what was your method of fixing ? Also what was the bed depth and what size area did you fix ??

 

[J Sid]

Tube adhesive would not have been my choice, but say that sounds like the tiles weren't back buttered and possibly need bigger notched trowel. If that had been done and left 4 or 5 days then grouted i think it would have been ok.

 

[mmmadman]

Hi All

First of all many thanks for all your replies so far...

Here's an update with answers to some of your questions and comments.

1. The room size is 1.9m square and 2.3m high, standard 70's bathroom size.
2. I bought the tiles and adhesive from Tile Depot.
3. The walls were a mixture of tiles and paint on skimmed plasterboard, I removed the tiles, addy and paint and plaster finish down to the cardboard coating on the plasterboard on all walls.
4. I primed the walls using the Granfix wet room system (tanking)
5. I used a 6mm square notched trowel to apply the Granfix Multifix tubbed adhesive.
6. I did not back butter the tiles.
7. When I afixed the tiles to the wall I gave them a wiggle so as to speak to bed them in.
8. I took a lot of the tiles off last night (been on for 4 days now) and the adhesive was still damp and wet in palces, so it did scrape off easily.
9. There was hardly any adhesive on the backs of the tiles at all so they are reusable. This bit I don't understand as when I was tiling on the Saturday I had to remove a tile as I noticed a mark on it and it was difficult to remove due to suction and it had lots of adhesive on it (which is about right I would say).
10. The walls I tilled on Saturday seem to of taken better.
11. The walls I tilled on Sunday were all loose...!!!


I had a telephone conversation with the Granfix technical manager yesterday and he said that I should not of used a tubbed adhesive on the tanked walls.

I hope this answers some of your questions.

Once again, many thanks for you help everyone.

Cheers...

 

[mmmadman]

It's all gone a bit quiet...!!!

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Well I'am on holiday!
Not sure what answers you are after now as until you approach the tile and material supplier you don't really know what their reaction will be! Granfix have told you their stance - wrong adhesive for a tanked surface so armed with this information go back to Tile Depot and ask for compensation.
The sun awaits!
John

 

[Ceramico tiling]

Id burn the shop down !!!

Ha ha ha ha

 

[Ceramico tiling]

If the shop is at fault and invests any effort in to their online presence they would not like the thought of bad reviews..Googe/places review are the worst as they hurt website rankings as well. These bad reviews tend to linger and can really smear the image of a business online. Not a very nice thing to do though,,but if they wont play ball..

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Some comments even in jest are inappropriate ! And looking at some Victorian work on web sites lead a lot to be desired!

 

[Ceramico tiling]

Some comments even in jest are inappropriate ! And looking at some Victorian work on web sites lead a lot to be desired!

I really don't care what you think..buddy.. just like that post where you said you would not like books to be published on Victorian tiling, so as to keep it specialized ..You enjoy being mr high and mighty/big fish in small pond. Whatever it is its pathetic,,so criticize all you want. I put pictures on my site to get more work, not to be absolutely perfect to impress critics like you.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

I really don't care what you think..buddy.. just like that post where you said you would not like books to be published on Victorian tiling, so as to keep it specialized ..You enjoy being mr high and mighty/big fish in small pond. Whatever it is its pathetic,,so criticize all you want. I put pictures on my site to get more work, not to be absolutely perfect to impress critics like you.

You laugh at comments about burning a shop down, you suggest adverse comments to web sites and you quote Henry Ford about producing quality when no one is looking - then I look at your work - now that I can laugh at! :lol:
This thread is about a customer getting the right information to correct an issue and get recourse from the supplier, not about breaking the law or slander.
If you wish to discuss any points outside of this thread as per your post no. 18 you can PM me or start a new thread!
John

 

[AliGage]

Personally, all application uses and preperation instructions are printed on the product. Irrespective of the tile shops advice you should be reading the instructions before use. At which time yiu'd realise its unsuitable.
In my opinion all the tile shop could do is give you a refund on any unopened tubs.

 

[mmmadman]

Hi All

Been away for a few days so not been on here.

I went back to the shop & explained all, with pics & video. They were very surprised and said they would contact the manufacturer & speak to there head office too.

I have since spoken to the shop & they have told me I can have replacement addy (powdered this time) & any damaged tiles plus full replacement mosaic borders that were unsalvageable.

I am happy with the response and cannot fault the customer service I have received so far.

Cheers...

 

[AliGage]

Thats very good of them.

 

[thompsonbrown]

nice to see you got sorted. I was wondering what your outcome was?
Nice to see someone finishing off a thread they started

 

[judge]

Result

 

[WetSaw]

Good result.