HomeBase metros.

[Stef]

Went to a job today to fit above tiles.
Turned into a right disaster.
The customer, a mate, painted some of the new plaster walls with some paint to help the adhesive, got this stripped & rest of the walls prepped & started to open boxes of tiles.
Out of 3 boxes (75 tiles) I would only have fitted 9 tiles.
They were packaged all face down with no protection between, I never opened any more boxes as I gave up & phoned him & told him to get a refund & pick different tiles.
I've noticed more & more black metros have a lot of scratches on them.
Anyone else had problems?

 

[Qwerty]

Can't say I have Stef. All problems with Homebase metros or others too?

 

[One Day]

I get them from CTD or Porcelanosa (guess which is cheapest?!)
Both come with was squiggles to protect from rubbing.
Guess HB are just cheap cack?

 

[On one]

Nope. But went into the brand new Homebase near me for the first time last week only out of desperation for an unequal sized 9mm pvc tile trim quadrant(had piece in new section and no one within 30 miles had one) Cost £5.99:yikes: for a 6 foot length.....never again

 

[White Room]

The word "Homebase" puts the fear of god in me.....

 

[Stef]

I've had issues with a lot of black metros but none have ever been as bad as these.
You get the odd one or two with marks or scratches on them but these today were truly shocking..
I know what you mean about the words HomeBase, not the greatest place for purchasing tiles..

 

[Ajax123]

The word "Homebase" puts the fear of god in me.....

It also puts the fear of god in my bank manager.... I bought a bag of sand and a piece of guttering from my local one a couple of weeks ago just to finish off a job. It came to nearly thirty quid... Same stuff from my builders merchant would have been less than a tenner.... But it was Saturday pm so hadn't much option....

 

[White Room]

It's criminal Alan:lol:

 

[Ajax123]

And it is....

 

[AKOTiler]

I hate homebase tiles. If they do happen to be clean & unmarked tiles they still barely ever seem to be the same batch. Had 2 customers recently that bought £7 tiles and both times had 3 different batches!! Some were a mm out! I now try to push my customers to tileflair as they tend to look after the tiler a bit more!

 

[John Benton]

It also puts the fear of god in my bank manager.... I bought a bag of sand and a piece of guttering from my local one a couple of weeks ago just to finish off a job. It came to nearly thirty quid... Same stuff from my builders merchant would have been less than a tenner.... But it was Saturday pm so hadn't much option....

Like an old friend of mine who owned a fish and chip shop, had a customer come in and the following conversation took place:-

Owner (O) Evening Sir can I help you
Customer (C) Fish and Chips twice please
O Anything else
C Bottle of tomato sauce please
O Sauce is £2 a bottle
C I'm not paying £2 a bottle when Asda sell them at 50p
O Well get one from Asda then
C I can't they're closed
O Well my bottles of sauce are 50p when I'm closed as well!

Supply and demand haha

 

[Stef]

Haha good tale JB.
These metros weren't cheap, he reckoned that they were £18m2,
I told him to go to TG to start with..

 

[Mr Tiler]

I think its the homebase ones stef these were mentioned to be very poor quality in a post a few months back

 

[Qwerty]

I actually popped into Homebase today and see what you mean about the scratches and no protection :yikes:

 

[Stef]

I actually popped into Homebase today and see what you mean about the scratches and no protection :yikes:

Geoff they are truly shocking, I kicked up a stink years ago about black bricks through CTD & questioned the packing method of johnsons as the least they could do is pack them back to back etc, would save the bulk of them getting damaged.

 

[John Benton]

I actually popped into Homebase today and see what you mean about the scratches and no protection :yikes:

That's why you don't get as much as Deano done in a day Geoff, too busy worrying about how tiles are packed :sofahide:

If you got your head down you could probably do 3-4m a day then :lol:

 

[Qwerty]

Again, I was busy swinging the lead......pretending to do work at a rich old ladies house whilst telling her I had to visit every DIY shed and tile shop in the area for some rare tile spacers. Beats laying 37m2 for a living! :lol:

 

[John Benton]

Again, I was busy swinging the lead......pretending to do work at a rich old ladies house whilst telling her I had to visit every DIY shed and tile shop in the area for some rare tile spacers. Beats laying 37m2 for a living! :lol:

And getting paid the same I suspect

 

[Qwerty]

Yip

 

[Mr Tiler]

Tilechoice stock these for £18 m2 they are good quality too

 

[The Legend; Phil Hobson RIP]

Not wanting to hijack the thread but has anyone got some info I could quote in a dispute? I know that crackle glaze metros should be sealed to prevent water Ingress through the crazing, but standard metros just glazed ceramics do not.

i know this but I could do with some written proof.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Phil - get the mods to start a poll ' do metro tiles ( glazed ceramic) need sealing' and 100% would say no !

As for thread theme - Home base and similar are Diy stores, so let the private customer use them and trade use bona fide tile suppliers.

 

[Stef]

Phil, never in my life have I heard such nonsense about a glazed ceramic metro tile needing sealed.
I would contact a few suppliers of metros & ask them if they could provide you with some written correspondence about needing sealed or not.
We all know the answer to this but unless it states on the box then the actual supplier is your best bet.