Can someone help before i lose hundreds

[White Room]

Joist's normally have a gap of 14-15inch's, Like I stated previous the ply screwed down and the insulation there's seem to be some tension in the floor and if the battons are loose there's probably bounce on the ply, The heat in pipe's could be causing expansion, All probable causes but no definite outcome IMO

 

[faithhealer]

It's a different ball game now that they owe Mike 1600 notes. Another lesson Mike, material costs up front. Good Luck mate

 

[craig t]

You say he is in the "building" trade well I find this hard to believe as he would know not to buy materials from a d.i.y. store. I believe the materials were substandard and that the floor is suffering from some vertical movement. If you re grout you may find you need to return at a later date to replace cracked or de bonded tiles. I would prob have gave this job a miss. You could have contacted a adhesive company for advice before commencing asking if a 2 part flexible adhesive such as fast flex would be more suitable. If they say no then, pass on the job. Hope this helps as itss my 1st post!

 

[tfs]

In my opinion they should never have tried to lay a floor over that mess. If they are going to build a floating floor they should do it right. A better alternative in my opinion would have been to constuct the frame of the floor with joists at 400mm centres. This would be laid of=ver a DPM and they would fit insulation board between the joists. The next step would be to sheet out the floor probably with chipboard and then ply over this prior to tiling. Floating floors are not always ideal at the best of times for tiling but, the way described would be best in my opinion.

Another option would be to screed incorporating a DPM.

The kitchen fitting should be entirely different and if your having trouble getting the cash then you need to bite the bullet or take more drastic measures!

why do you think your having difficulty getting payment?

 

[Branty]

Are the battons fixed to the concrete? and is the ply fixed to the battons, all at 300mm centres?
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Hi all thanks for all the input.

Any ways guys what do i do now, they wont answer my calls "apparently there's a letter in the post from them" I've offered to re do the grout, and they still owe my £1600 for the cost of the kitchen i fitted, which i owe Howdens joinery for.

Thanks

Mike

I smell a rat here.
Make sure you get to fix any issues they raise. You're entitled to by law. You don't want any of this, 'we had to get another tiler in to repair your grout, he charged us £600, here's £1000 for your kitchen'.
If there's a problem with your work, there has to be a site inspection for you both to come an agreement.

 

[grumpygrouter]

In my opinion they should never have tried to lay a floor over that mess. If they are going to build a floating floor they should do it right. A better alternative in my opinion would have been to constuct the frame of the floor with joists at 400mm centres. This would be laid of=ver a DPM and they would fit insulation board between the joists. The next step would be to sheet out the floor probably with chipboard and then ply over this prior to tiling. Floating floors are not always ideal at the best of times for tiling but, the way described would be best in my opinion.

Another option would be to screed incorporating a DPM.

The kitchen fitting should be entirely different and if your having trouble getting the cash then you need to bite the bullet or take more drastic measures!

why do you think your having difficulty getting payment?

Why would you go to the trouble of laying chipboard then over board with ply? Just use decent ply in the first place!

 

[tfs]

Why would you go to the trouble of laying chipboard then over board with ply? Just use decent ply in the first place!

Hi grumps,

the chip board would be the standard way for a floating floor and as the guys chose initialy to lay wood this wood have been fine. As they then later decided to tile the next step would have been to ply over idealy.

 

[Fekin]

Sounds like a right holy mess :huh2:

 

[mikephillips]

Oh fekin it is lol if i don't laugh i'll probably will cry, lol again.

ok then, assuming the worst case senario now, the batons are not secure.
and there's about 1mm to 2mm movement, will flexible grout cure this problem as the tiles are now fixed well.

This is a worst case senario, as i've put down the floor and i know everything is tight.

so what can i do now, only 4 tiles are showing cracking grout around them.

Mike

 

[Branty]

If the floor is moving up and down the grout will crack, and the tiles will fail.

 

[grumpygrouter]

Hi grumps,

the chip board would be the standard way for a floating floor and as the guys chose initialy to lay wood this wood have been fine. As they then later decided to tile the next step would have been to ply over idealy.

Thanks for that mate. Reading your thread I got the impression is was a suspended floor not a floating floor, hence the reason I asked about chipboard first!

 

[Fekin]

If there is upto 2mm movement in the floor I don't see anything being able to cope with that amount of movement.

 

[tfs]

Hi Pete,


The client seems to think it's the batons moving as he put some down in the living room where the wood flooring is still going, and hey presto the ones he put down are rocking a bit.

And thats it really


mike

seems like the floor may not have been builty correctly too! if it is rocking then I would assume that it was not built level to the ground. The timber battons should be packed whereever neccessary to ensure a level finnish, as an extra security it is wise to gripfill around packed areas to keep a tight secure fix. (small cuttings of ply are ideal for packing and peices of old roof slate are a great alternative too)

I noticed you mentioned about the insulation board being 3mm above the battons. I think they should be finnished flush with the battons so as not to cause any problem when it come to sheeting, there would idealy be a gap between the underside of the board and the ground too. They should perhaps have used bigger battons to overcome this.
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my spelling etc is terrible, I think we should have spell checker incorporated into this!:lol:

 

[Cliff Anger]

Just to add my 2 penneth

Sorry Mike - You cannot solve this problem with a "flexible" grout. With only 3-5 mm joints and up to 2 mm movement your looking at over 50% movement which means even a soft Silicon joint would fail.

The only solution is to stabilise the movement in the wooden sub floor.

 

[Perry]

seems like the floor may not have been built correctly too! if it is rocking then I would assume that it was not built level to the ground. The timber battens should be packed wherever necessary to ensure a level finish, as an extra security it is wise to grip fill around packed areas to keep a tight secure fix. (small cuttings of ply are ideal for packing and pieces of old roof slate are a great alternative too)

I noticed you mentioned about the insulation board being 3mm above the battens. I think they should be finished flush with the battens so as not to cause any problem when it come to sheeting, there would ideally be a gap between the underside of the board and the ground too. They should perhaps have used bigger battens to overcome this.
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my spelling etc is terrible, I think we should have spell checker incorporated into this!:lol:

There is a spell checker available with this site mines a lot worse ete