Is my bathroom tiling acceptable? Some advice needed please.

[Hezzie]

Good morning folks, I wonder if you can offer me some advice please.

I've employed a bathroom fitter to fit me a new bathroom, he's Hardbackered the floor and around the bath/shower area but has tiled directly onto paint, no roughing up or scoring. Searching on Google and on here the general consensus of opinion is that is not good practice, they are big, heavy tiles. Also he's dot and dabbed the tiles on the wall, there's a 5mm or more gap behind them.

Also I can home to this last night, the tile is sticking out 5mm in front of the door frame, I accept the house is a 1920's house and browning/plaster and the walls aren't level but surely this isn't acceptable, I've never seen it anywhere before.

He's got a couple more days of work here yet.

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[Boggs]

Unfortunately you need to stop the work.
His fixing technique is not to standard, and fixing onto emulsion, especially like that with that size tile is downright dangerous.

Even with the paint removed he is borderline for skimmed walls at 20kg sqm including grout and adhesive.

Really sorry but at least you have caught it now and should be easy to salvage the tiles.

 

[Hezzie]

Thank you Boggs, many thanks and much appreciated.

Unfortunately you need to stop the work.
His fixing technique is not to standard, and fixing onto emulsion, especially like that with that size tile is downright dangerous.


Even with the paint removed he is borderline for skimmed walls at 20kg sqm including grout and adhesive.

Really sorry but at least you have caught it now and should be easy to salvage the tiles.

 

[Bill]

Although fixing to paint is not the done thing and dot as is dabbing with such miserly dots (dot and dabbing does not mean failure, it is just not best practice) - I have a couple of points for you to consider;

Were you aware of the wall condition before you accepted a price for the work?

Were you willing to pay extra to get the substrate in tip-top condition for tiling especially with tiles this size?

 

[J Sid]

PVA 😳😳😳😳😳

 

[Bathfix Bob]

Also what is is doing with that PVA..?

 

[Hezzie]

Although fixing to paint is not the done thing and dot as is dabbing with such miserly dots (dot and dabbing does not mean failure, it is just not best practice) - I have a couple of points for you to consider;

Were you aware of the wall condition before you accepted a price for the work?

Were you willing to pay extra to get the substrate in tip-top condition for tiling especially with tiles this size?

I'm not sure what you mean by wall condition Tom, we've lived here 13 years, they were just painted.

The local plumb centre recommended him, I asked him in to quote, told him I had tanked and Hardiebakered around the bath. There was no mention of any other preparation work being needed. He said he might have to plaster around the bath, that's all, I said that's not a problem.

If he had said he needed to do other work I would have accepted it and paid the extra, we've spent £800 on tiles, the last thing I want is these big heavy tiles falling off the wall.

This is his quote:

Skip	1.00	140.00	140.00
Rip out old bathroom and tiles	1.00	160.00	160.00
Supply and install plastic cladding to ceiling	1.00	195.00	195.00
Supply and install 4x Spotlights	1.00	135.00	135.00
First fix plumbing and drainage	1.00	120.00	120.00
Install bath before tiling	1.00	80.00	80.00
Carry out and plaster work to prepare for tiling (may not be needed cost can be adjusted if not)	1.00	180.00	180.00
Tiling of 23m2	1.00	520.00	520.00
Second fix bathroom (toilet, sink, radiator, shower and screen)	1.00	220.00	220.00

	Subtotal	1,750.00
	Total GBP	1,750.00

[automerge]1571381654[/automerge]


I'll ask him what the Pva was used for gents, maybe for the floor tiles, he's hardiebackered onto wooden floorboards.

Although fixing to paint is not the done thing and dot as is dabbing with such miserly dots (dot and dabbing does not mean failure, it is just not best practice) - I have a couple of points for you to consider;

Were you aware of the wall condition before you accepted a price for the work?

Were you willing to pay extra to get the substrate in tip-top condition for tiling especially with tiles this size?

Are you saying it is acceptable to do this Tom I'm confused, if it's ok, I'll let him carry on but Bogg say's it's unacceptable and to ask him to stop work.

He says Pva is used to prep the walls.

 

[Tony_C]

Completely unacceptable.

That L shape cut with the little blobs is what would be above your head if you or anyone was sat in that bath. Looks like he already placed it on the wall and it was hardly even contacting .

I'd be wary of that plastering charge also, why would be be wanting a flat flush finish when he is isn't troweling the wall.

Unsure what Tom's point is that he is maybe thinking of but i'm sure he will have one, the fact he charged you for plastering to me says he was happy with the condition of the walls apart from that area so he has accepted they were good enough to be tiled. He can't now come back and justify spotting them on

 

[Tony_C]

He says Pva is used to prep the walls.

Yeah that's not good. It's the wrong primer to use. He should be using a suitable tiling primer. Using PVA just jeopardises the fixing even more

 

[J Sid]

PVA is a no

 

[Bill]

What I am saying is that dot and dabbing will not necessarily result in failure - it all depends on other factors.

You say you have tanked but that doesn't look apparent in the photos.

The PVA is a no no with cement based adhesives.

The paint should have been removed by either hacking it off or take the plaster/plasterboard off the walls back to brick /stud walls. Replastered or reboarded.

The tiler is not up to date with best practices for tiling even though his work looks neat.

His setting out is poor in the case of leaving such a small cut above the window but this may have been unavoidable due to tile size room size ratio. (if you need to change the layout of the wall tiling to avoid small cuts - this can sometimes require many more tiles due to waste)

The tile next to the architrave is not an issue as all that requires is the arc taking off and a fillet adding to the door casing and the arc replaced thus leaving the arc the correct depth off the tile - this is a common problem with all retro fit bathrooms.

Personally, you need to make sure he is aware of the limitations of his fixing methods and give him the chance to rectify it but also contact the plumbing centre and recommend to them the correct fixing procedures to as they may not know either.

Hope that helps.

 

[Hezzie]

What I am saying is that dot and dabbing will not necessarily result in failure - it all depends on other factors.

You say you have tanked but that doesn't look apparent in the photos.

The PVA is a no no with cement based adhesives.

The paint should have been removed by either hacking it off or take the plaster/plasterboard off the walls back to brick /stud walls. Replastered or reboarded.

The tiler is not up to date with best practices for tiling even though his work looks neat.

His setting out is poor in the case of leaving such a small cut above the window but this may have been unavoidable due to tile size room size ratio. (if you need to change the layout of the wall tiling to avoid small cuts - this can sometimes require many more tiles due to waste)

The tile next to the architrave is not an issue as all that requires is the arc taking off and a fillet adding to the door casing and the arc replaced thus leaving the arc the correct depth off the tile - this is a common problem with all retro fit bathrooms.

Personally, you need to make sure he is aware of the limitations of his fixing methods and give him the chance to rectify it but also contact the plumbing centre and recommend to them the correct fixing procedures to as they may not know either.

Hope that helps.

It was tanked Tom, the fitter removed it all with the old tiles, now it's just hardieboard.

 

[Dumbo]

Hardie isn't waterproof . It's water tolerant .
It's a good background but it isn't waterproof .

 

[Hezzie]

Hardie isn't waterproof . It's water tolerant .
It's a good background but it isn't waterproof .

I didn't know that, thanks.

 

[Dan]

Oh no. This isn't good.

Also no internal corner expansion gap. This isn't a tiler who's done this. He needs some training or something. Certainly needs to stop saying he can tile.

Dot and dab = no
Tiling to PVA = no
Tiling to Emulsion = no
No internal corner expansion gap = no

Those are big no's. They're not just for looks. The tiles can pop off the wall with any one of those, you've got a hat trick plus one.

Then the edging needed sorting but that's just cosmetic.

He needed more adhesive, and to use it properly. And then to score the walls. And use an Acrylic Primer and not PVA. PVA is good for children making things but other than that it shouldn't be used. It's used in some plastering techniques but I don't think much else.