We recently had an en suite fitted by a local company that appears to be generally reputable. We've had a few issues with the work, one of which was that we noticed a hairline crack in one of the newly placed floor tiles.
The company sent someone out to replace the tile and although I didn't watch what they were doing, I can say it was loud and some kind of saw was being used, causing vibration throughout the house.
A month or so later and that same tile had begun to rock on one corner. We called them and they sent a different guy out who having gone through the same removal process advised that the previous fix had failed to use primer on the plywood substrate and as such the tile had become loose. I took a photo post removal and in addition to the tile, a square hole had been cut in the plywood layer between the tile and existing floorboards.
Roll on another few weeks and the entire floor is becoming unstable with tiles rocking all over and cracks in the grout.
The company sent someone back last week and their response is that there must be movement in our house and therefore they cannot use floor tiles and we would instead need to use some form of click-laminate. This won't match the walls (as we specifically chose the same tile) and both the materials and labour would I believe be considerably cheaper with this option.
My initial reaction and that of those I've consulted who are much more savvy on this kind of thing is that they are taking the pi$$. All houses have some level of movement and this is why a layer is used between the existing floorboards and the tile. From what I can see, they used fairly thin plywood (rather than backboard) which when combined with removing two tiles and cutting through the plywood (removing the integrity of this layer) has resulted in the issue with the other tiles, rather than there being an issue with house movement.
What do the experts think?
We have tiles in the family bathroom that have been down for years and never had a problem, though they were installed using concrete backed backboard as far as I recall. They tried to blame some building work that happened 4 years before their work, but that did not affect the structure of the house in this area and even if it had, my understanding is that the point of the ply is to reduce impact of any house movement, and the double tile removal, including the hole in the ply is more likely to be the cause of the issue.
Any thoughts or advice gratefully received.
The company sent someone out to replace the tile and although I didn't watch what they were doing, I can say it was loud and some kind of saw was being used, causing vibration throughout the house.
A month or so later and that same tile had begun to rock on one corner. We called them and they sent a different guy out who having gone through the same removal process advised that the previous fix had failed to use primer on the plywood substrate and as such the tile had become loose. I took a photo post removal and in addition to the tile, a square hole had been cut in the plywood layer between the tile and existing floorboards.
Roll on another few weeks and the entire floor is becoming unstable with tiles rocking all over and cracks in the grout.
The company sent someone back last week and their response is that there must be movement in our house and therefore they cannot use floor tiles and we would instead need to use some form of click-laminate. This won't match the walls (as we specifically chose the same tile) and both the materials and labour would I believe be considerably cheaper with this option.
My initial reaction and that of those I've consulted who are much more savvy on this kind of thing is that they are taking the pi$$. All houses have some level of movement and this is why a layer is used between the existing floorboards and the tile. From what I can see, they used fairly thin plywood (rather than backboard) which when combined with removing two tiles and cutting through the plywood (removing the integrity of this layer) has resulted in the issue with the other tiles, rather than there being an issue with house movement.
What do the experts think?
We have tiles in the family bathroom that have been down for years and never had a problem, though they were installed using concrete backed backboard as far as I recall. They tried to blame some building work that happened 4 years before their work, but that did not affect the structure of the house in this area and even if it had, my understanding is that the point of the ply is to reduce impact of any house movement, and the double tile removal, including the hole in the ply is more likely to be the cause of the issue.
Any thoughts or advice gratefully received.
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