Can someone help before i lose hundreds

[mikephillips]

I've just started on my own, and i've been a bit over whelmed with my first job.
I've sinned twice.
The first one, i let the client buy their own materials.
The second one, i did'nt read the insructions properly.

Trouble now is the grout is cracking as it was not flexible.

The tiles are on 15mm ply, and there's a slight bit of movement with the ply.

The tiles are fixed solid, as i've tryed to remove one and it just broke in to little bits.

The grout used was wicks wall and floor tile grout.

The adhesive was wicks flexible tile on wood adhesive.

What can i do now, as they want me to pay for a more experienced tiler

I could just walk away and say stuff it, but they owe my money.

So how can i fix this problem.

I Hope someone can help :mad2:

TIA

Mike

 

[Holohana]

re grout with flexi as supplied by you. Who put ply down?

 

[Deleted member 1779]

Sounds like a bit of a problem.

Just being nosey but how much do you stand to lose? IE I assume as they paid for everything material-wise then all it cost you was your time.

Sucks if you have to pay for a tiler to come in and do the work.

 

[Spud]

this is a common problem when tiling on wooden substrates you need to take the tiles up and strenghen the floor use a cement backer board/uncoupling system over the newly strenghtened floor and retile it. dont walk away from the problem, all you will gain by that is a bad reputation if it is any comfort to you all tilers get problems from time to time try to learn by this good luck

 

[White Room]

I would regrout with bal super flex wide joint in the first instance and hope that will suffice, If that cracks then do as recommended by garythetiler.

 

[brundlefly]

yep i would regrout for starters and see what happens

if you get a good grout rake with a good carbide blade it will fly thru the grout with some elbow grease, then regrout with flexible

http://www.tilersforums.com/redirec...ng_Grout%2ehtml%23agrout_2drake#agrout_2drake

 

[GazTech]

I would regrout with bal super flex wide joint in the first instance and hope that will suffice, If that cracks then do as recommended by garythetiler.

If re-grouting to try to sort this problem, I would strongly recommend Bal wide joint grout with added GT1....this will give far more flexibility....and where did you manage to buy some 15mm plywood mike ?....Gaz

 

[cam_low]

Can I butt in and ask, what is the reason for not using flexible grout on every piece of work ?

Surely that would be overkill and avoid cracking ?

 

[hillhead]

Definetly rake it out and re grout it all.a fein multimaster would rip it out for you if your careful.
I normally use mapei grout which is suppose to be flexible right all???
good luck anyway and try hard to sort yourself and pay no one else.

 

[Perry]

If re-grouting to try to sort this problem, I would strongly recommend Bal wide joint grout with added GT1....this will give far more flexibility....and where did you manage to buy some 15mm plywood mike ?....Gaz

it may be more of a bugger to get off lol but this man is correct a admix will give you more flexibility ete

Gaz u been back to school lol

 

[mikephillips]

Hi all and thanks to all that replyed i will let u know how i get on with it

Once again Many thanks

Mike

 

[Fekin]

Can I butt in and ask, what is the reason for not using flexible grout on every piece of work ?

Surely that would be overkill and avoid cracking ?

Flexi grouts more expensive and if your tiling ceramics then floors are the main time you need flexi grouts, but a bog standard ceramic wall tile for a full bathroom then normal grouts the way "microban" as a wall tile isn't subject to the stresses and strains a floor tile is asked to cope with.

Obviously if your tiling walls with Porcelain then flexi grouts the way then.




I was wondering about the 15mm ply too Gaz :huh2:

 

[tfs]

Hi mate,

You mentioend that you recently started up. Did you inform the customer of this or that you were not a tiler by trade?

Rather than walk away or pay for someone else to do the job, I think that it is reasonable to alow someone to try and correct there work if anything should ever go wrong (unless doing so would make matters worse)

You could perhaps tell the customer that you will regrout or whatever you feel would rectify the problem and would not consider getting in someone else unless you had at least had the chance to correct the work yourself.

A tip is to inform the customer that you are new to the trade, et them know that you may be a bit slower than ana experienced tiler. You should reassure them that you can do the work to a good standard(if this is true) and even offer your services at a cost lower than experienced tilers untill you become more knowledgable and experienced.

AN ABSOLUATE MUST! = Do your research before starting any job, read around the forum and ask questions if unsure. You should have all angles covered sub floor prep, correct materials etc, etc, etc.

This bad experience is down to lack of knowledge and experience in the trade and I am sure you will learn from this. I have been on a few job were I have underestimated the scale of the work involved and it is depressing when you miscalculate or overlook what seem to be minor details. The best thing to do is 'bite the bullet' get on with it and learn from your experiences.

good luck with the customer mate, dont let it get you down, instead use this to motivate yourself and learn more about the trade to better yourself and be the best you can be.

kris

 

[mikephillips]

Looks like i'm gonna need a soliciter guys, as they wont even reply to my calls.
Oh i did have a text from them saying the grouts not the problem.
the problem lies with the batons the ply is on.
They say they must be moving.
I put the floor down and as far as i'm concerned everything is tight.
----
Thanks for that kris

They were aware that i'm not a tiler by trade

Thanks to all

Mike

 

[Holohana]

how do they know that?