Dot & Dabbed Porcelain tiles - job in progress

[garybadger]

re: Dot & Dabbed Porceliain tiles - job in progress

Sorry to read this thread - incredibly similar to the fiasco that took place in our house last weekend, as reported and documented on this forum. I'd seen enough after 3 hours and sent him packing. Thankfully, we hadn't paid him, but we lost 60-70 floor tiles in the process which ended up in the tip and we will now have to replace, not to mention the adhesive mess that was left everywhere. The 'tiler' we hired looked the part, talked the part and acted the part - until he started tiling. He even has his own website! I'm not stupid, but I'm not acquainted with any people in the trade and we are just punters needing a job done. It is really hard to find a good tiler if you don't know where to start. I thought this guy was genuine. I couldn't find any online reviews of his work, but there will be some now! If I can prevent him doing this to anybody else, then I'll be happy. Ironically, I think we may have found a good local tiler now as a result of this farce, which I guess is how a lot of people find one - when it's nearly too late. Good luck

To be fair, I live up in scotland, and I get calls all the time from companies that are looking for a tiler in my area. I'll be the only one in their directory, so i can get all their work blah blah blah.
All are an utter con. When I started up for myself, being young and naive I sponsored a children's charity calendar and even that was a con. Supposed to be sent out to so many places of work, school's colleges etc. Doubt even 1 was sent out apart from my one.
Best form of recommendation if you don't know a good tiler is go to a tile shop, they will have heard about every tiler worth their salt, so could point you in the right direction.
Even some of the website's I've seen, some of the work on them is not their own work. They take random photo's from sites and add them to their own.

 

[adventureboy]

Some really interesting info there, Gary
particularly the bit about going to a local tile supplier for a recommendation, never thought of that. May be a good idea to have a sticky section on this forum for Joe Public looking for some starting points like that, like a basic checklist - ultimately, that can only result in the right person being hired for the job.
The guy that trashed my floor has pics of 'his work' on his website and I said to my missus last night there is NO way that the work on those images has come from the same hand, no way. He must have lifted them elsewhere.

 

[Mike]

Some really interesting info there, Gary
particularly the bit about going to a local tile supplier for a recommendation, never thought of that. May be a good idea to have a sticky section on this forum for Joe Public looking for some starting points like that, like a basic checklist - ultimately, that can only result in the right person being hired for the job.
The guy that trashed my floor has pics of 'his work' on his website and I said to my missus last night there is NO way that the work on those images has come from the same hand, no way. He must have lifted them elsewhere.

why not put a few pics of 'his work' on here, maybe one of the pro's on here may recognise the job :lol::lol:

 

[tfs]

The scenario of pics has happened to me on a few occasions! People must think nobody elses uses the web.

Last guy to use my pictures was a joiner advertising on edinburgh gumtree, you think he would at least have the common sense to copy and paste pictures from someone who didnt live and advertise in the same area.

 

[arc]

Re: Dot & Dabbed Porceliain tiles - job in progress

Afternoon, quite a few issues you have there. The PVA is a big no no, an acrylic primer should have been used.

Sorted!

Afternoon, quite a few issues you have there. You also really need to have an expansion joint where the two different substrates meet as ditra only helps with lateral movement, this can be done using a Silicon to match your grout so that it is not noticeable.

Sorted!

Afternoon, quite a few issues you have there. Finally dot and dab is not a recommended method of fixing tiles, I'm being a bit polite, it is a totally unacceptable fixing method. If you do decide to take the tiles up there is quite a high chance that the SLC will come with it, possibly the ditra also.

Sorted!

Well the tiling is done now. Bought a few tools and put these tiles down over the course of a week. Took about five days straight to get all the mess up off the floor & ready to start again. Hired a clipper wet saw for £25 and it did a tidy job. Glad I didn't try to use the B&Q ProPlus cutter or whatever it was.
Mapei flexi adhesive & grout. Taped glued & screwed Hardi board over floorboards. All tiles 100% coverage & back buttered. Only problems were due to some tiles being not square (angles slightly off 90) and slightly varying sizes (plus/minus 2mm). But all in all I like the finished job.

Thanks for all the supportive comments (4 pages of replies) when I was having to pull it all up - but just a shame that when I asked for help in another thread I didn't get a single reply or word of support........ heyho.

 

[DHTiling]

Hey, looks much better than before, thanks for popping back on and posting pics..

 

[Del W]

Well done.

 

[arc]

Well done.

Thanks - I'd like to think they're a bit more likely to stay in place than this:


My total loss after this fiasco was two bags of SLC and 16 tiles which were unusable again. Luckily 50 of the 66 that had been previously laid could be re-used. Just proves that dot & dab does have some advantages!