Seeking advice on an ongoing job (bevelled metro tiles)

[andy-p]

I can hand on heart say in over 30 years of tiling the amount of customers who have asked for mitres on ceramics I could count on one hand . In saying that who remembers when tiles used to come with " jolies" ?

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Ok - what 'tiler' would leave a job looking like that?

 

[andy-p]

John, you remind me of some of the old school tilers I worked with , dry sense of humour and great tradesmen , I learned a lot from these guys while having fun times at work, sorry this is a bit off topic...

 

[Andy Allen]

Now I may be old fashioned or just old, but if a jobs worth doing then it should be done correctly.
I would price to mitre because that's the way to do it, so I would either not get the job because I was more expensive or the customer will know to ask the other tilers if they intend to mitre.

I wouldn't say 'it's the way to do it'
It may be ONE way to do it.
I've tiled hundreds of metro kitchens using trim and have had zero complaints all have paid in full.....many recommending me for more metro kitchens........even though I hate doing them !!
Done correctly it gives a more than acceptable finish.

Sorry to be blunt John but you may live in a different world to some tilers who can't afford to just price themselves out of a job.

 

[Time's Ran Out]

@andy-p and @Andy Allen
I can see you are both trying to win me over to the plastic side!
Well it won't work. 😉
Being nice doesn't pay the bills but I'd rather spend more time doing the mitres at my own expense then using trim for an acceptable finish.
There is nothing acceptable in this OP's original picture, from the rounded trim corners, the colour of the trim, to the setting out of the tiles - it's a poor DIY job that a tradesman has charged for. It's work like this that diminishes the standing of our trade, surely if there is a better way of doing a job that's the way to do it.

 

[Andy Allen]

And when was the last time you did a metro kitchen splash Back John ?

 

[Marc]

Hello,

We’re on the home straight of our new kitchen being fitted, and the fitter has been working on the tiles.

He originally said that he’d mitre the tiles (here’s what we’ve got) to provide a clean finish, which sounded great. However, when he tried to mitre them he couldn’t get a good enough finish on the edge.

His next idea was to use a 9mm trim, and file off and grout the corners (i.e. where separate pieces of trim met). That sounded awful to me, but he said it would look good. In short, it didn’t (and he agreed).

His next idea was to use corner pieces (like this, but plastic) to finish off the corners, which I agreed to. However, he then decided to switch to a 9.5mm trim (without first telling me) because he felt the 9mm trim was too small, and took delivery of and fitted l-shaped corner pieces (rather than the style I agreed to). I've attached the end result.

I’m really unhappy with the finish. I think the trim looks too fat and takes over the tiles, and the corner pieces look really budget. Ideally I would’ve loved to have seen a mitred finish (as we were originally promised), but if not that, a much ‘cleaner’ finish with the trim.

My question is this: can we rescue this? Could the tiles be mitred (and our chap just doesn’t have the knowhow to do the job right), or if not, is there another approach (with or without trim) that would look better than what we’ve got?

I’d appreciate your thoughts!

View attachment 92408

Hi there,
Personally I would have used a 8mm square edge chrome or brushed aluminium trim and mitred the trim. White plastic trim can make it look cheap.
Also the broken bond should have followed around the pillar to continue the flow and effect.
The tiles could have been mitred at external angles but this would have taken time and a quality wet cutter would have needed to be used to prevent any chipping on glaze.

 

[andy-p]

I never use plastic trims only quality square edged metal trims like genisis , when I subbed for porcelanosa they supplied trims made of brass and chromed, which were nearly £50 a pop I believe , ouch...

 

[Time's Ran Out]

And when was the last time you did a metro kitchen splash Back John ?

I haven't but my son did this in 2015.

 

[NZ_Tiler]

Hello,

We’re on the home straight of our new kitchen being fitted, and the fitter has been working on the tiles.

He originally said that he’d mitre the tiles (here’s what we’ve got) to provide a clean finish, which sounded great. However, when he tried to mitre them he couldn’t get a good enough finish on the edge.

His next idea was to use a 9mm trim, and file off and grout the corners (i.e. where separate pieces of trim met). That sounded awful to me, but he said it would look good. In short, it didn’t (and he agreed).

His next idea was to use corner pieces (like this, but plastic) to finish off the corners, which I agreed to. However, he then decided to switch to a 9.5mm trim (without first telling me) because he felt the 9mm trim was too small, and took delivery of and fitted l-shaped corner pieces (rather than the style I agreed to). I've attached the end result.

I’m really unhappy with the finish. I think the trim looks too fat and takes over the tiles, and the corner pieces look really budget. Ideally I would’ve loved to have seen a mitred finish (as we were originally promised), but if not that, a much ‘cleaner’ finish with the trim.

My question is this: can we rescue this? Could the tiles be mitred (and our chap just doesn’t have the knowhow to do the job right), or if not, is there another approach (with or without trim) that would look better than what we’ve got?

I’d appreciate your thoughts!

View attachment 92408

He decided to change trim by .5 of a mm and he needed to run it by you? Are you serious?