Advice please...!!!

[mbcmultitrade]

Hi all.

I have recently been to look at a floor tiling job, where somebody has fitted a bathroom for my customer, and the floor tiles have all lifted. All of them. The floor in question is situated in an old cottage, very concave. The previoius tiler, has laid 18mm ply wood onto the joists. There is then an underfloor heating coil on top of the ply, then the adhesive, then the tiles. Myself and the customer popped a few of the tiles up and the adhesive has stuck really well to the floor and underloor heating, but not the tiles. It has just left the adhesive print on the back of the tiles. The customer has had the previous tiler over to assess it, and also the adhesive manufacturer, and they have both walked away from the job, both claiming innocence. I have since been asked to price for re tiling the floor. The customer tells me that the tiler in question cut all of the tiles inside the bathroom, and im just wondering if the dust from the cutting has somehow worked its way onto the back of the tiles, and resulted in the tiles not adhering properly??

The questions i have are:

Do i price to:


1: lift up the floor tiles, hack up the underfloor heating and adhesive, leaving the original ply down and lay new underfloor heating and tile onto the exisitng ply after re-priming

or

2: do the same as above but lay new ply too

or.... the million dollar question:

3: is it possible to prime the adhesive that is already down, so as not to disturb the underfloor heating, and tile directly onto the original tile adhesive? I have never done this before, and my instinct tells me it shouldnt be done. however, I was just wondering if it can be done, and if i could save the customer a few quid?

Can you please provide as much advice as possible.

Thanks guys.

Matt Carrott
MBC Multi Trade Services.

 

[StevieBoy]

Hello - option 1 but prime first, then use a two-part adhesive like the one from Topps.

Do a search on their website for item no: 012639

It sticks to most things mate, and wear gloves.

Oh and flexible grout is a must also.

 

[Two-Trowels]

If just the tiles have come clean off and everything else is solid would it not be possible to go over the floor with SLC and re-tile on that?

 

[Time's Ran Out]

I think it would be relevant to know the type of adhesive used and the type of tile attempted to be fixed to try and gain some answers as to the de-bonding of the finished material.
Not sure what a 'concave cottage' is, or why both adhesive manufacturer and tiler would claim innocence and walk away without any recourse. The failure is in the last stage of the contract (tile fixing) so it does narrow down the field of errors, however the UFH may have introduced a customer influence which is beyond their involvement.
If the base material as it stands is solid (and only you will know that) a flexible cement based adhesive may be your answer either direct or onto a suitable self levelling screed.

 

[mbcmultitrade]

timeless john:

I obviously wasnt clear..... 'concave' - relating to the contour of the floor, ( it is far from level) which is inside the bathroom - in the 'cottage'.

The customer says he never turned the UFH on for over a month after job completion. The guy that did the job is now saying that he is not in business anymore and cannot fix the job. The supplier states there is nothing wroing with their addy, as per usual.

SLC may be the answer, but would like a few more proffesional opinions onm what the best solution is.