Tile Installation and lippage review

[OhmsLaw]

Hi

I am after some advice and opinion if the quality of our recently installed tiles is of an acceptable standard for a professional tiler who claims 10 years experience.

Obviously I am not happy about the quality of the job and when bringing the tiler back to report and review he issues the things he had to say was the following:

General lippage on the walls was "unfortunate" and he is not prepared to reinstall tiles that have the problem. I estimate that 15-20% of the tiles on the wall have the issue. Is this within an acceptable professional standard?

He thinks that there has been some slumping on some tiles on the shower former ~3mm lippage and he wont fix it as he may damage the former.

He says that you can not get mosaic tiles level so they lay how they lay, there is nothing he can do. Before they were installed the wall was a bare plaster wall with some bits of plaster missing due to removal of previous tiles. He applied some kind of filling compound to fill the gaps. On seeing this I questioned if it would make the walls flat as I was worried that if he didn't board the wall or if the wall wasn't flat it would affect the lay of the tiles. He assured me is what he was doing was fine. During review he states there was nothing wrong with what he has done. I believe that the wall was obviously not flat and is the cause the issues. The pictures don't do it much justice. The bottom is approx 3mm protruding, bowing is approx ~2mm and the top is recessed by ~4mm so it is very obvious to the eye.

I then asked him if he had tanked the area that he filled. He replied that he didn't but the amount of tanking he has applied is good enough. The pic shows the extent of the tanking. The back wall length is 1890mm. Is the tanking shown enough for the wetroom shower? Is it in accordance with current British Standards?

The entrance to the bathroom now has a lip approx 8-12mm. He has told me the job was to install the UFH mat and floor tiles and it is not his problem that they are higher than the threshold. At no point during the installation did he mention that the floor would be higher than the threshold, (I wasn't expecting it to be as the uninstalled installation was UFH and stone tiles so I don't know why there is such a difference). He will not provide a resolution to remove the trip hazard and said that it is my problem.

Lastly the Silicon installation was shocking with lumps and bumps in various places. He has gone over the top of the poor parts to make it good as a resolution.

Bearing in mind I have reported these issues to him, he has seen them and is refusing to rectify them but yet still demanding to be paid in full. What are my options to get these issues resolved. I have yet to pay him anything beyond an initial deposit.

Thanks in advance

Garry

 

[Trigger]

Not a great job, I would be dissapointed if I had to pay for that and he should be disappointed that that is the best he can do after having 10years on the job.

Mosaic backing sheets would of helped with the slumping of the mosaics. There may be reasons for certain issues such as uneven walls and floors, but these should of been discussed and rectified prior to tiling.

 

[OhmsLaw]

Not a great job, I would be dissapointed if I had to pay for that and he should be disappointed that that is the best he can do after having 10years on the job.

Mosaic backing sheets would of helped with the slumping of the mosaics. There may be reasons for certain issues such as uneven walls and floors, but these should of been discussed and rectified prior to tiling.

thanks for the response. I saw that he did have mosaic backing sheets, but don’t know if he has used them.

 

[Elektor]

Getting mosaics to be flat over a large area is a really difficult job. We purchase 1.5/2mm ply and stick the mosaics on the board. We then stick the board to the wall. Grout as normal. Flat mosaics are the result. We’ve spent years getting it right so I have sympathy for mosaic tiling.
Regarding lippage ask them to use a tile levelling system if they have issues tiling.
Both parties need to understand their expectations. There should be no mismatch of expectations. Tilers should explain potential issue points- hight at thresholds for example- before they occur and jointly decide on solutions.
End result-everybody happy.