Right or wrong ?

[mrct]

I've recently tiled a cloak room. The giant toilet flush and toilet were centre to the room as you look at it. The window has been built off centre and is above the flush and toilet ( which is centre)
in your experience what would you centre.

I centred the flush and the loo.

 

[One Day]

Looks fine to me. I'd have done the same.

 

[cam_low]

when the loo goes in if it was tiled the other way it would look even more out of sync with everything.

 

[Concrete guy]

I just spent about a minute looking at that image wondering why the ceiling was tiled:8:

 

[mrct]

Customer wants the window to be centre and I've explained everything else will run out. Ie flush and loo The window isn't built central and is about 10/15 mil out of square. Dispute been running for five weeks, she won't pay.

 

[White Room]

She's being bloody minded, must be something in the water at the moment.

 

[Chalker]

Looks right to me, your eye would be drawn to the wc and would look wrong if you hadn't.
you could have centred a full tile to the wc, this would have got rid of the two cuts to the
left of the window, but may have worked bad on other walls.
either way, she should pay.
Send letter of intent to say you are taking her to court now, and if she doesn't pay take her to court .
habe used these in the past, they take a small cut , but will get your money.http://www.thomashiggins.com/
act quick and read phil's thread on poor customer!

 

[White Room]

Looks right to me, your eye would be drawn to the wc and would look wrong if you hadn't.
you could have centred a full tile to the wc, this would have got rid of the two cuts to the
left of the window, but may have worked bad on other walls.
either way, she should pay.
Send letter of intent to say you are taking her to court now, and if she doesn't pay take her to court .
habe used these in the past, they take a small cut , but will get your money.http://www.thomashiggins.com/
act quick and read phil's thread on poor customer!

Thats in the Arms Paul....

 

[Chalker]

[/B]Thats in the Arms Paul....

Oops!

 

[Spud]

Looks good to me , did she give you set out drawings or tell you how she wanted the tiles laid out before you started the work ?

 

[mrct]

No drawings. Just said she had a thing for the tiles being centre so with a big silver flush and a loo in the centre of the room I've been taught that's what you centre not a crooked window, reckon if I had the centred the window I'd be getting complaints that the flush and toilet are not centre , it's one of those customers.

Ive ve started court proceedings but thought if I get tilers reactions on here esp as I don't know any if you then it gives me some clout as I really don't think I'm wrong.

 

[One Day]

She hasn't a leg to stand on. You as the professional made a professional judgement.
Take it all the way to small claims and enjoy winning + costs.
Don't get stressed, just stay calm, professional and play the game she wants you to play.

DO NOT re-do it.

moneyclaim.gov.uk

 

[Andy Allen]

I would offer to re/do it first how she wants it. At a cost of cause. maybe offer a small discount. At the end of the day there's no right or wrong way to do the job. But if she wanted it doing a specific way then you should of been informed of that before starting.

 

[m3fitter]

centre the w.c / flush deffo, didn't a full tile to the middle work with cuts either side ? then it would not have mattered, as the window cuts would be not divided

 

[peterwhayward]

The way you have done it is probably the way most of us would have. Its centre to the flush, its centre to the loo and its probably centre to the light(s). that's 3 things centred. if you had centred the window(1) none of the others would have been, which by the sound of it would have given her more to complain about. stick to your guns it looks great.

 

[Dougs Third Go]

The way you have done it is probably the way most of us would have. Its centre to the flush, its centre to the loo and its probably centre to the light(s). that's 3 things centred. if you had centred the window(1) none of the others would have been, which by the sound of it would have given her more to complain about. stick to your guns it looks great.

totally agree. It looks fine, if she wanted it different then that would be her personal choice and she should have informed you beforehand, you made a judgement call, the correct one in my opinion,.

 

[One Day]

I'll bet she's a nightmare at the hairdresser's!!!

 

[Colour Republic]

Sorry mrct, going to go against the grain here.

If you centred a tile in the middle of the wall instead of the grout joint, then the cuts either side of the window would have been full and not split. (This looks possible because your current cuts either side of the WC look less than half a tile width) It would have looked better that way (IMO) and also would have been quicker and easier to tile (despite having to plunge cut the flush plate)

Another option and as a half measure you could have tiled the bottom like you have and then still done full cuts either side of the window. (not something I would do but acceptable I suppose) Although not technically correct, visually it would still look better than it does now, where your eyes are not drawn to the off center window.

Sometimes I think tilers are too hung up on centering windows or walls because that is how they've been taught to set out a room, but by default dismiss the overall visual appearence. Setting out tiles shouldn't be about 'rules' as it is still a decorative surface. Follow the rules, but if they don't work, adapt them.

All that said I don't think they should withold payment, at least not all of it. It looks to be a very tidy job you've done there. Personally I don't think either you or the customer is in the wrong, just a difference of opinion in how it should look. I suppose the fair outcome is for both of you to meet in the middle. Say it costs £300 to redo how the customer wants it, then pay half each.

JMO of course :lol:

 

[m3fitter]

that's what I said Colour replublic. centre the tile to the centre of the wall... the wall looks like 1200-1300mm, 600 tile with 300-350 cuts, then the window sides would not have had double cut ?

 

[Colour Republic]

Whoops, so you did!!!


but to be fair I said it better :lol:

 

[m3fitter]

hahha ok, i'll go a step further ! in my opinion, its set out wrong, as double cuts either side of window, to me, its obvious, less work and neater.. am I missing something ?? yes an anglegrinder of a flush cut, but that's common these days with Porcelanosa ( large format ) I can't see why you'd set it out full tile to the centre ?? explain someone pls

 

[m3fitter]

Whoops, so you did!!!


but to be fair I said it better :lol:

Yes you did !, but you're a .... see you next tueday ;-)

 

[Colour Republic]

Yes you did !, but you're a .... see you next tueday ;-)

I doubt it, I'm on holiday!

 

[m3fitter]

I doubt it, I'm on holiday!

so am I !! you must be going to the mountains in Bulgaria like me ! :hurray:

 

[Time's Ran Out]

I think you've set it out wrong ( ie it's not the way I would have done it).
I'd have put the full tile in the middle of the flush plate with a large cut to right and left, this would have meant a full piece of tile up both sides of the window ( as opposed to 2 unequal cuts).
My other point of note is you've used the boxing height as the horizontal datum line which has meant a cut to the floor which IMHO is too small!
I think the customer has a valid point and it's now a case of opinions.