Please help, I made a screw up...

[tileboy]

There's a saying something like you have to be cruel to be kind.....:yikes::yikes::yikes: If any of my lads did tiling like that, I would turn them into Eunuchs (a male without any testicles for those who don't know) within minutes.

Tileboy... your'e gonna have to bite the bullet and be prepared to strip tiles off one or more walls..

First, choose a wall which is horizontally and vertically level (with luck there will be one and it will be a long wall) but use a level and NOT a lazer level. Check your levels are actually level. Hold it horizontally against a wall and draw a line, then turn the level round and draw another line. Then repeat vertically to test the vertical bubble. If the lines line up, the level is good, if not throw it away..

Second, select a horizontal grout line low down and draw a horizontal level line across the adjoining walls, again, using a level and NOT a lazer level, then a horizontal level line across the remaining wall but this time draw it from each end so that the last wall will either have one horizontal level line or two.

Third, if the horizontal lines line up, you know you have lost 15mm as you have tiled up. Then it is a process of checking each horizontal grout line to see where you messed up. Once you find that point, you can strip the tiles off as many walls as necessary and rectify your mistake.

Fourth, if they don't line up, you will be able to easily see on which wall or walls where you went wrong right from the start. Once you find that point, you can strip the tiles off that wall or walls and rectify your mistake.

So hopefully, that will sort out the wall tiles....

As to the mosaics, 100% awful...rip them up and lay them in the same direction and line them up with the mosaics going up the wall...

Finally, don't beat yourself up too much about this..everyone makes mistakes, but the successful tilers are those prepared to admit it to their clients, then say how they are going to put it right at no extra cost to the client...In your case. the client, builder, architect, etc will respect you for your honesty and commitment and once put right, will feel confident enough to use you on other jobs..

Daveboy:

Thanks mate....I see what you're getting at but I'm at a total loss for trying to figure out how to fix this. It's simply NOT JUST A CASE OF RIPPING A FEW TILES OFF to straighten it all out. You guys have all confused me WAY more than I was before I posted my thread. I feel ten times worse than I did earlier. My client absolutely loves the shower floor she thinks it looks fab!!! So why are you guys not in agreement? Is my creativity not worth anything to you lot?

I truly feel worse than dog poo right now...cuz I've read everyone's replies which have made me feel stupid plus I have no idea how to fix this and not any of you have managed to answer my question of HOW TO AVOID THIS from happening again.

 

[doug boardley]

I think it must be the architrave (head) that must be out of level, and you've assumed it to be level, tiled round and down and put the cut in without trying to work out why you've had to do this. If this is the case, and assuming all else is level, you should then be able to replace the area directly above the door and to the left of the mosaics, from where it started to go wrong, to the ceiling. I think!!

 

[Colour Republic]

Ok... I haven't had 4 hours to read all the very long posts here, but read most of yours, so sorry if this has already been mentioned

I note where you started and stopped, then picked up again.
I notice the the tile directly above the door is a straight cut, have you put a level against the top of the door liner? Did you assume the door liner was level and square? If you have followed the top of the door liner and it is unlevel you could have droped 15mm here... just a thought

 

[Daveyboy]

Daveboy:

I truly feel worse than dog poo right now...cuz I've read everyone's replies which have made me feel stupid plus I have no idea how to fix this and not any of you have managed to answer my question of HOW TO AVOID THIS from happening again.

Sorry tileboy..have a beer :8:..we've all had bad experiences and we're only trying to help..

Tell us where you located and maybe one of us could call in and give you more hands on guidance/help find where things went wrong/advise how to put it right..keep smiling

 

[Colour Republic]

I think it must be the architrave (head) that must be out of level, and you've assumed it to be level, tiled round and down and put the cut in without trying to work out why you've had to do this. If this is the case, and assuming all else is level, you should then be able to replace the area directly above the door and to the left of the mosaics, from where it started to go wrong, to the ceiling. I think!!

:incazzato:you beat me to it by 60 seconds!!!

 

[kilty55]

i also havent read all the huge posts so forgive me if im repeatin

you say you tiled from the left side of the room to the right and this is why you have lost your level,,generally if im doing a door reveal especially bang in the middle of a large wall i would start of by tiling up either side of the doorand then meeting final tile in middle and adjust accordingly if needs be then i would tile either side to meet up with joining walls,i suspect your door reveal isnt plumb which has made you tile down wards slightly when going over it and tiles dont meet lines on end of the wall. i would remove all tiles from the top section of that wall and re do it using the method i suggest.good luck and hope this helps mate ..if it doesnt then slap me with a rubber fish:drool5:

 

[doug boardley]

:incazzato:you beat me to it by 60 seconds!!!

great minds think alike! ( or fools never differ!!):lol:

 

[stevee]

hiya mate ,if the clients happy with the shower,job done in that area,as said have a beer, and good luck bud ,steve

 

[tommyzooom]

Tileboy dont feel bad, I admire you for admitting your mistake and seeking advice,
Your first mistake was tiling the wall to the left of the door AND over the door, I would not tile over the door until both sides had been tiled as you could adjust the tiles over the door to compensate for any slight misalignment, it has to be here where you have lost your levels. I would take of these tiles above the door and redo.

One other thing, are you sure the tiles were from the same batch, Different batches made on different machines have been known to be different by a mm or two?

Good luck by the way

 

[Spud]

Hey? Not to be funny mate but you think the shower floor looks awful? Oh come on dude...Where's your creativity? What would you have done? Just tile straight mosaic? The entrance of the shower once the glass is in now has an invitation to enter. I think it looks fantastic. Anyway....You're a trained eye my friend, it's obvious you will notice it. Anyone else won't. You have years of experience I'm assuming so give the untrained eye the benefit of the doubt. The architect was there yesterday and she didn't notice anything!!! I'm not one to pull the wool over people's eyes....I just honestly don't see a way out of this other than redoing the whole bloody room. Think about it carefully, it's not possible to just do that piece over. I'd have to lift the entire left hand side of the room 15mm which I can't do...I'm not going to redo the whole left hand side of the room, logistically it's not possible.

Am I wrong here guys? am I wrong in my thinking that it's not just as simple as redoing that one section.....cuz from my point of view it's WAY more complicated than that!!!

hello tile boy i hope i can offer you some good advice ,if you wish to learn any thing from this job you need to forget about how long you have spent or how much money you will or will not make on this bathroom , the standard of what you have done is un acceptible whether the architect or customer notices or not, you have to strip off what you have done and start again buy yourself some red wedge pegs as aswell as using your cross spacers, your levels need to be a good brand such as stabila or stanley fat max or fisco pro or use a pendulum laser level ,the vertical strip on the right hand side of the door is out of plumb and the tiles to the left of this are dropping on the right hand side by at least 2 mm per tile out of level doing anything else other than starting again will be a bodge and you will compromise your reputation and the shower floor does look awful please dont takeoffence this is meant as constructive criticism

 

[wayne]

take the tiles off from the slither upwards and the ones above the door. tile straight up the right hand side and it should be level then fill in above the door.

 

[hillhead]

hello tile boy i hope i can offer you some good advice ,if you wish to learn any thing from this job you need to forget about how long you have spent or how much money you will or will not make on this bathroom , the standard of what you have done is un acceptible whether the architect or customer notices or not, you have to strip off what you have done and start again buy yourself some red wedge pegs as aswell as using your cross spacers, your levels need to be a good brand such as stabila or stanley fat max or fisco pro or use a pendulum laser level ,the vertical strip on the right hand side of the door is out of plumb and the tiles to the left of this are dropping on the right hand side by at least 2 mm per tile out of level doing anything else other than starting again will be a bodge and you will compromise your reputation and the shower floor does look awful please dont takeoffence this is meant as constructive criticism

Well said Gary,
damn good levels are a necessity,

 

[Fekin]

Sorry, but I have not read everything yet, just upto this second page, but if this was me, and I had lost my level somewhere in a room to be as much out as this, then Im sorry but I would feel that I have absolutly no option but to own up to my mistake and rip off and start again.

If you don't come clean with the mess up, and they do notice the glaring level difference, then I wouldn't bank on either being paid, or not doing the other bathroom in that house, or both.

When you lose a line as bad as this mate, this is what seperates the cowboys from the rest, grit your teeth, come clean and do the right thing and rip off what needs ripping off and do a propper job.

Good luck

ps.

I do agree with Ramic that the shower floor looks badly set out wise, but if no ones complained then fair do's.

 

[Deleted member 9966]

Although I have poor eye sight, I can see that the tile with the arrow marked on it in Picture B is thinner than all the rest. That's where you've lost your level, in my opinion. Have you checked the measurements of each tile in that area?

 

[Gazzer]

Although I have poor eye sight, I can see that the tile with the arrow marked on it in Picture B is thinner than all the rest. That's where you've lost your level, in my opinion. Have you checked the measurements of each tile in that area?

Lol, you havent read the whole thread have you :lol::lol::lol:

 

[Fekin]

Ok guys....seems I have to run through this so you guys see what I see:

We DO see what you see mate, defo no argument there

3. How can I redo it? THINK CAREFULLY guys...If I remove the tiles above the cut
piece there's going to be 15mm gap SOMEWHERE else, you see? Even if I replace
the cut piece with a non cut piece, it's still going to lift the tiles above it by 15mm
which means on the left side of the door the tiles will ALL have to lift by 15mm?
Please tell me you're getting what I'm saying here?

Yes we are getting what you are saying.

I've lost 15mm somewhere and the only way to fix it would be to straighten the now skewed room which means redoing the entire bloody room.

Yep

Now, is anyone in agreement with me here. To be honest all I'm getting is everything I've already considered, I'd appreciate some positive feedback not doom and gloom. I know I've screwed up, but it feels as if one of two of you are giving me hell for it which I really don't think is necessary I feel bad enough as it is...be nice lads!!!

The problem is that no one really worth their reputation is ever going to say "yeah, I'd leave it and hope no one sees it"

Only way really is to re-do the room, otherwise your only chancing the client to not pay for the work and trash your rep.

 

[Fekin]

Although I have poor eye sight, I can see that the tile with the arrow marked on it in Picture B is thinner than all the rest. That's where you've lost your level, in my opinion. Have you checked the measurements of each tile in that area?

:dizzy2:


:iamwithstupid:

 

[Deleted member 9966]

Lol, you havent read the whole thread have you :lol::lol::lol:

Of course not :lol:

:dizzy2:


:iamwithstupid:

And I don't read... much

 

[Daz]

Gary hit the nail on the head IMO - "the standard of what you have done is un acceptible".

You need to make good by following Daves' advice....take off the tiles on the RHS of the mosaic, draw a straight line and make good - that'll get you out of this hole and should make things look right.

For reference, I always tile above the door last as this is where you can lose small discrepencies, although 15mm is quite a lot, so don't know what went wrong without seeing the whole room.

Good luck with resolving matters.

 

[Colour Republic]

If you lost the level where I mentioned earlier, you would only have to remove 8 tiles to get it level again

 

[sWe]

Different sized tiles as far as I can see.

Edit: I stuck a ruler to my screen and the problem is definitely different sized tiles.

 

[Fekin]

Fair enough, if the client likes the floor then good job

 

[pete f]

Tb i would seriously think about re doing it again the builders will see it and the architect will too when they have a good look at it its your reputation on the line here its best to put it right now before grouting stabila do a good level

 

[Colour Republic]

Ok, the more I look at it the more I think you have followed the door liner, an easy way to check this is to do the following:

Take a level and see were I have maked the dark blue line is level,

I think it will be:smilewinkgrin:

Next see if the grout lines in both the green boxes are the same top to bottom, in the picture it looks if they are smaller at the bottom then at the top, a sort of wedge shape. But pictures can be decieving so i may be wrong. TAKE NOTE: THESE HAVE TO BE THE SAME, if it is 3mm at the top and 2mm at the bottom, don't think 'oh it's only 1mm difference, that will be fine' these are quite long tiles and if you don't get the grout lines the same it can drop by as much as 6mm from one end of the tile to the other.

lastly if both of the above are true then take off the tiles i have marked in yellow and tile again, you may have to take off a few more to the left of the door, but if the tiles are level on the blue line then no tiles below this mark need to come off

Also, why have you not tiled to the ceiling? are you planning on putting a mosaic border at the top? If so, then you will have more problems if the ceiling is out of level. It would have been better to put a border 1 tile down from the top

 

[doug boardley]

View attachment 3287

Ok, the more I look at it the more I think you have followed the door liner, an easy way to check this is to do the following:

Take a level and see were I have maked the dark blue line is level,

I think it will be:smilewinkgrin:

Next see if the grout lines in both the green boxes are the same top to bottom, in the picture it looks if they are smaller at the bottom then at the top, a sort of wedge shape. But pictures can be decieving so i may be wrong. TAKE NOTE: THESE HAVE TO BE THE SAME, if it is 3mm at the top and 2mm at the bottom, don't think 'oh it's only 1mm difference, that will be fine' these are quite long tiles and if you don't get the grout lines the same it can drop by as much as 6mm from one end of the tile to the other.

lastly if both of the above are true then take off the tiles i have marked in yellow and tile again, you may have to take off a few more to the left of the door, but if the tiles are level on the blue line then no tiles below this mark need to come off

Also, why have you not tiled to the ceiling? are you planning on putting a mosaic border at the top? If so, then you will have more problems if the ceiling is out of level. It would have been better to put a border 1 tile down from the top

I believe a cornice/coving is going on, even so I think I'd have still yaken it to the top