Floor Tile on Floor Tile

[kilty55]

lol,:lol:

 

[DHTiling]

OK. Lets draw a line under this.

I dont want this to end up like the Quit smoking thread. :lol::lol::lol:

You mean the lads are right.. :lol:

 

[MartinH]

Just want to say thanks to all who have provided advice .. for me as a newbie Ive really appreciated the guidance given, and on balance, I am going to decline the job , given the subsequent issues that may/could arise ....

....whilst the job would have been good from a financial viewpoint, the potential for a negative outcome is not something I would want as a new start-up, once scarred then it stays ....

Also would like to say, that it is reassuring to have this forum, as my now-taken decision could have been different, had I not been able to seek the advice of people with the trade experience from this forum
- this forum serves as a great sounding board

 

[Ian]

Just want to say thanks to all who have provided advice .. for me as a newbie Ive really appreciated the guidance given, and on balance, I am going to decline the job , given the subsequent issues that may/could arise ....

....whilst the job would have been good from a financial viewpoint, the potential for a negative outcome is not something I would want as a new start-up, once scarred then it stays ....

Also would like to say, that it is reassuring to have this forum, as my now-taken decision could have been different, had I not been able to seek the advice of people with the trade experience from this forum
- this forum serves as a great sounding board

Just to add a personal experience, I have done it once before and the only reason was a) I knew the bloke and b) they were selling the house. If it had been a stranger I'd have run for the hills! 9 time out of 10 there will be no problem but there's always that chance. If you have a sound substrate and use top quality products you can sleep more soundly knowing you have done the job to the best of your ability.

 

[ScottG13]

Why does he want to leave the old tiles down anyway? Have you asked him? It could simply be he is not going to remove them himself and don't want to pay for the extra work? If this is the case you could explain to him why you need to start fresh and offer to remove for free. Provided you have not already given an estimate whack £*** on top of your price for fixing.

maybe he really likes the tiles?! I dont understand peoples reasoning behind keeping the old ones and tiling on top. Height issue maybe? Or the dead body theory. Could be a tricky one to ask!!

Just remember the customer is always right! :mad2: The other week I had 'all the grout on my bathroom floor is cracking and falling out. Its because its getting wet' I asked about the substrate, he told me 'it was chipboard, but you cant tile over that so i overboarded it with ply' good lad I thought. What thickness was the play you used? '6mm' That would be why then. 'No, its because its getting wet'. Thats pretty much as far as the conversation went but on a loop for about 5 mins. I thought stop having showers and bathing then! So he took my advice (that he asked for!) is going to leave the tiles and ply then regrout, then get it wet :lol: I give up

 

[MartinH]

Scott as said earlier, he wouldnt give me a direct answer on that one ......he prb doesnt want to do it himself given his age, and doesnt want to pay to have them removed as its 15sq metres, and when he was asking me the about retiling costs he was dotting all the i's in terms of what exactly was included etc etc....i did say if he would let me provide him with a written quotation, all that info woild be included, but he wanted to know there and then.....so me second guessing, id say it purely financial.....unless of course the body of the local postmistress who went missing 20 years ago is indeed under there !
;->>

 

[Rich]

Good man martin

It is unfortunate that the customer is almost always totally wrong! We all get these jobs and it pains us all to walk away when the wally doesnt listen to what you say.

I would advice you to leave it, it sucks and I bet all the guys that have adviced the same thing above have got plenty of work on but like you said its just not worth the hassle if it goes wrong.

I seem to get more work from turning these sorts of jobs down as strange as it sounds, I hate turning any work away but I have got MOST of my jobs in the last year because I will refuse to tile a room until the prep is carried out (by me or some1 else) and the other tilers go in and say "yeah Il tile that in a day" prob because they really need the work. This seems to work in my favour and my customers want the job done properly.

My long winded point is that if you stick to your guns and avoid work like this like the plague, you might just start to build a reputaion as the tiler who does things right. That would be worth 100 times the financial value of this floor.

I think you have made the right choice

 

[MartinH]

Good man martin

It is unfortunate that the customer is almost always totally wrong! We all get these jobs and it pains us all to walk away when the wally doesnt listen to what you say.

I would advice you to leave it, it sucks and I bet all the guys that have adviced the same thing above have got plenty of work on but like you said its just not worth the hassle if it goes wrong.

I seem to get more work from turning these sorts of jobs down as strange as it sounds, I hate turning any work away but I have got MOST of my jobs in the last year because I will refuse to tile a room until the prep is carried out (by me or some1 else) and the other tilers go in and say "yeah Il tile that in a day" prob because they really need the work. This seems to work in my favour and my customers want the job done properly.

My long winded point is that if you stick to your guns and avoid work like this like the plague, you might just start to build a reputaion as the tiler who does things right. That would be worth 100 times the financial value of this floor.

I think you have made the right choice

Thanks Rich - ive quickly realised the importance of word of mouth recommendation in this trade, and it only takes one bad experience, such as this one, to cause a lot of longer term damage....the old guy strikes me as the type of chap that would go to the local paper and complain about anything (even greenfly on his tomato plants!)....so hardly want my tiling work to be a front page scoop in the village news!

Additionally, as im a brand new start-up in tiling, an early setback can knock the confidence should it end up being a pigs-ear, so for all those reasons and whilst I could do with the money, I've declined the work.