New house tiling advice please.

[rdmbfossa]

Hi, I'm getting a new house built at the moment and need to get the bathroom, toilet and en-suites floors tiled. The house builder is quoting £46 per metre to fit the tiles which is probably not too bad considering the cost of sub-floor, flexible adhesives, etc. The flooring is 22mm chipboard, I noticed that their fitting price includes 9mm plywood, I thought that 15mm was the minimum or better still the no more ply type boards? My wife is keen on the black quartz type of tiles but the distributor our builder has put us to are charging £125+VAT, I have seen on the internet similar (OK probably not the same quality) for around £40+VAT. I have done a bit of floor tiling before with ply and flexible adhesive and had no problems and have pretty much all the tools for the job, I'm just wondering if this is a job I should attempt myself or if its best left to the experts? I'm just a bit concerned that they are using quite thin ply and it makes you wonder how good the end job will be.

Any advice appreciated. Thanks.

 

[peteablard]

Is the builder doing it himself or is he getting a tiler to do it? I'd be very cautious about letting a builder do it, personally I'd get some quotes from professional tilers. Also how solid is the chipboard, is there any deflection?

 

[Gazzer]

15mm ply is BS. The use of 6mm tile backer boards is fine as long as the chipboard floor is solid with no bounce, preferably screwed solidly to the joists and not of a floating floor type.

As to whether you are capable of doing the work , that is up to you.

The tiles you are looking at do vary in price but also in quality....you do get what you pay for mostly but be aware of traders selling cheap tiles at high prices.

 

[rdmbfossa]

Thanks for the replies so far, the builder is a local company but does fairly large developments, I'm not sure if they employ a proper tiler or subcontract or if its a "handy man", the 9mm ply made me think that it might not be a pro tiler. I haven't been in the house much as its still being built at the moment but the floor would be laid at standard spacing's, 600mm? I did not feel any movement when I was walking on it but didn't take a lot of notice. The tiles i was looking at were from a Travis Perkins related company (not sure if you are allowed to use company names on here) so I would like to think they would have been a decent enough quality, I have ordered a sample but it has not arrived yet.

 

[OOC]

I was in a somewhat similar position a while back (bought a shell new build) and got in contact with a tiler on here (make sure they are trusted). I ended up with a fab tiler who showed me lot of samples and sourced great tiles within my budget. He put in the order for everything I needed including stuff I would have forgotten) and made sure I got a great discount. It's just the bathroom/ensuites left to do this week and they are looking far better than I ever dreamed! I'm sure your builder is great but a pro tiler knows where to source things (and where to avoid) and can often have great design ideas too. They may also work out cheaper!

 

[Del W]

If you feel your builder does not know about tiling,please dont use him.Answers to any questions you have are here.

 

[widler]

Thanks for the replies so far, the builder is a local company but does fairly large developments, I'm not sure if they employ a proper tiler or subcontract or if its a "handy man", the 9mm ply made me think that it might not be a pro tiler. I haven't been in the house much as its still being built at the moment but the floor would be laid at standard spacing's, 600mm? I did not feel any movement when I was walking on it but didn't take a lot of notice. The tiles i was looking at were from a Travis Perkins related company (not sure if you are allowed to use company names on here) so I would like to think they would have been a decent enough quality, I have ordered a sample but it has not arrived yet.

if the floors laid at 600 centres make sure there are plenty of ties in to stop twisting and and counter nogged at the size of you floorboards ie,if they are 1200 x 1800 boards you need a counter noggin at 1800 so the board has no bounce on the joint,this also has to be done on the ceiling side as well to hold plasterboards

 

[rdmbfossa]

OK thanks to everyone again, I will get back into the house and try to check the floor stability and the flooring centres, I think they use 8' (2440mm) X 4' (1220mm) 22mm sheets for the flooring. If anyone knows any good tilers in the Aberdeenshire area please let me know. I think I would be happy to lay ceramic floor tiles but am not to sure about these quartz or porcelain ones, although my wife prefers the smaller 300 square tiles which should be easier to lay than the large format once.

 

[rdmbfossa]

A further question, could someone please let me know what the pros/cons are with granite and quartz tiles for ease of laying, maintenance, durability, etc. Thanks.