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.

 

[JMC tiling]

£1800 is too cheap to fit a bathroom, what would you charge JMC?
When he broke it all down I thought it was reasonable, not cheap.

On another note, I sent him an email detailing all the work needed to rectify so he sent back the Electrician (we do have a Part P cert for his work, including the fan), I was at work, my wife has a few days holiday booked so dealt with him. He went up the ladder and put a 'vent' in, she said he didn't go in the loft or even enter the house, so got my ladders off the van and went in the loft, this is what I've found.
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Fo

He said isolation valves would reduce the water pressure, to be fair it's a 1920`s house and one supply is shared by 4 houses and can drop quite low on the rare'ish occasions we all use the supply at once. Is this a reasonable statement?
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The guy said he has spent £700 on materials and hasn't earned a lot for the hours he's put in, to be fair, he has grafted but the outcome isn't ideal. Should I offer some more money to get it sorted, I want a 'win/win' situation not a lose/win or lose/lose.

I don't think he's going to get through to the soffit, would a roof tile vent be a better option?

What are your thoughts on the above please.

Not meant to discuss pricing on here but believe me that's way to cheap. Not saying it's acceptable because of that price but alarm bells should have rung when you got that Quote.

 

[Dan]

He needed more adhesive and a tiny bit more time. It wouldn't have been much more than whatever price or was to do it right.

He wouldn't have earned much still at those rates but it would have been right.

 

[Hezzie]

Afternoon all.

Well, this is the result of the finished tiles, I didn't feel like I had a choice but to let him finish as he had done 80% of the tiling by the time I figured out what he was doing was wrong and he had ripped out the sink as soon as he started, so we had been washing out of a bucket for 5 days and the temporary toilet he put in wasn't even fixed to the floor.

I told him I was concerned they were going to fall off so he removed 1 tile to show me how well it was fixed to the wall but chipped the one underneath, he said he would remove them all, then I could have the wall plastered and he would come back and put them back on.

The tiles cost me £800 and I didn't want him smashing them all off the wall, I don't know what the chances are of him getting them off the wall and removing the cement at the back without damaging them.

The reason I wanted the bathroom renewing is we are planning on selling soon but I don't want to sell the house and a tile to fall off and injure someone later on.

Ideally I'd like to get the tiling inspected but the tile association want a ridiculous £852 + Vat + travel expenses.

I've put a post on 'my builder' and been honest as to why the work needs doing so hoping to get it sorted out, I will ask the bathroom fitter to pay for it and take him to court if necessary, I don't know if he has the skills to do the job professionally.

The edges of the tiles have cracked by the shower and on the floor as predicted due to no expansion gap and now I've lived with it for a while think his setting out is poor on the wall where the clock is.

To ensure I get it done correctly now, what should be the sequence of events, tiles removed, walls plastered and then tiles fixed back on a full bed of cement?

Incidentally, when I had the ceilings plastered the plasterers used pva on the ceiling before plastering, should they do this.

Many thanks in advance,

Wayne.

 

[Dumbo]

If you think you are just going to get someone else to redo it and charge the original tiler for this I think you will get yourself into trouble ,
I think you best speak to a solicitor who deals in area of law

 

[Hezzie]

If you think you are just going to get someone else to redo it and charge the original tiler for this I think you will get yourself into trouble ,
I think you best speak to a solicitor who deals in area of law

Sorry JCT, I mis-spoke as politicians say.

What I should have said is, I will get some quotes to do the work, then ask him to rectify it, if he won't or can't then I will ask him to refund some money, the tiles alone were £800.

I have spoken to both the Citizens advice bureau and a legal person through my house insurance, they have said to get 3 quotes to rectify the work, then if it comes to it write a 'letter before action' giving him 14 days to resolve the problem or pay back some money.

I don't want to take a tradesman to court but nor do I want to sell the house to some unsuspecting individual and have someone get injured by a tile that hasn't been secured correctly. He is expected to carry out the work with reasonable care and skill and I think that it's clear he hasn't done that.

I don't have another £2000 to just throw away just to write it off, it took me years to save up the money to have the kitchen and bathroom refurbished, I wasn't asking him for a cheap price, I thought his quote was 'reasonable' not cheap, not expensive.

 

[dean.diy]

plasterers use pva to hold back the suction. Older houses usually have thirsty lathe and plaster backgrounds lurking somewhere.

 

[Hezzie]

Hi everyone,

Well it looks like the whole lot is better to come off and start again.

I phoned the tile company I bought the tiles from and they told me the weight of the tiles are 20kg per square metre (450mm x 900mm), considering the walls are plaster on brick, which I believe support 20kg per square meter, then with the weight of the adhesive this will not support the tiles that are currently one the wall.

What would you advise I do please, pick a different tile, remove the paint and have them fixed with a full bed of cement or just have them all removed and paint the walls, just keeping the tiles on the 2 walls around the bath for the shower.

How can I find a tiler that knows what they are doing? The owners of the tile shop don't have a clue, he just said that a plastered wall can support 32 kg and it's ok to put the heavy tiles directly to the painted plaster as long as I do a 'tape test'.

Thanks in advance for any replies.