Important Changes to Tiling Standards

[Gazzer]

But it isnt BS, 3mm min for floors and it seems evident that the joints do not line up anyway.
No amount of grout will compensate if the tiles don't actually line up.

Ask your tiler for this BS of his in writing ?

 

[nybor62]

form the pics it looks awfull , how long has the floor been down

 

[John Benton]

Sir Ramic that is just one randomly selected of lots of pictures, others are much worse. Afew weeks ago I posted on here about the sunken grout lines in this kitchen and some of you made some good suggestions. I only told you half the story, but basically we have almost 70m2 like this, and some of the tiles are so uneven that you have to lift the chair over them rather than pulling out from the table. When the floor is washed water sits in the grout line because the grout is so low. The tiler said the problem could be rectified by replacing some tiles and re-doing the grout. We bought an Exact tool following advise from some of you guys and 30 new tiles (all at our expense). The result of the 'remedial' is truely horrific, basically the replaced tiles are even higher than the originals, the grout line was far to wide for the tool to have any effect and 18 good tiles have been horribly chipped by the 'remedial' process. We are now being quoted this BS standard of a grout line of 6mm - 10mm whereas everyone else seems to say that a 3mm line is more in keeping with this type of tile. I should add that this tiler has done several jobs for us before without a problem, so we just didn't see this coming. So far the cost of the 'remedial' has cost us about £500 and we are worse off. The tiles now have to come up and it is going to cost about £5000 to put it all right and all the tiler wants to do is quote British Standard!

Tell him to read the BS section about minimum lippage, if he keeps quoting BS for grout joints. That looks horrendous, if you have to physically lift a chair over the lip of the tile it is completely unacceptable.

 

[Jackie0802]

The floor has been down since the end of May. We have beed backward and forward trying to reach a resolution since then with the tiler returning in the middle of September to try to make it good. It is now far worse due to the fact that some of the replaced tiles are even more uneven than before and lots of them have been chipped trying to get the uneven tiles or grout out. Because it is such a large area, when you stand back it doesn't look too bad from a distance. But as you go into the room it goes from ok, to poor, to grim to hideious. Even with outdoor shoes on you can feel the dip in the grout lines under foot, in a couple of areas you can easily trip over the raised tiles and the washing machine has wood under one corner to keep it level because the tiles are just totally collapsed in one corner. I think we have come to the conclusion that the whole lot has to come up, all that remains is haggling over who is going to pay for it.

 

[White Room]

It should'nt have to be you......more pics would be appreciated though to get the bigger picture.

 

[Jackie0802]

I do have lots more pictures which I will post up tomorrow. Having said that I have just been reading the thread on the Topps slate tiles, and I thought I had problems!:yikes:

 

[The D]

BSI 7.1.9.2
Across joints
There should be no appreciable difference in level across joints
(commonly called “lipping”) and the maximum deviation between
tile surfaces either side of a joint, including movement joints, should
be as follows.
a) Joints less than 6 mm wide, 1 mm.
b) Joints 6 mm or more wide, 2 mm.

 

[Jackie0802]

Here are a couple more pictures of different areas. Would like opinions on depth of grout too, this problem wasn't immediately that obvious, bearing in mind that this is a new house build and therefore a bit of a building site still when the floor was laid. The problem soon became apparent when the floor was washed for the first time and we realised the mop didn't reach the grout, and putting more water on meant it collected and sat in the grout line

 

[Jackie0802]

i

 

[Jackie0802]

I should add that this floor is 67m2 and we have paid REMOVED for the tiler, including adhesives and grouts, so this was not done on the cheap.

 

[Gazzer]

You do take good close up photos , but I would like to see an overall photo of the floor . Grout will always have a slight dip, but I do feel that this is excessive. As stated before I would be concerned about the joints not lining up...were there any tile size issues ?
Also in one of the photos it looks as if the tile on the left is higher than the tile on the right.

 

[Jackie0802]

Yes the tile on the left is much higher, and this was a new floor so there are no issues with levels. If there was an issue with tile sizes it has never been mentioned at any time, and since the tiler has given multiple reasons for the condition of the floor I think this would have been first on the list. I realise now that I need to get some overall shots of the floor, I thought I had some but the three or four I thought I had turned out to have a dirty great doberman hogging the camera! (not so hot on the long shots then?)

 

[Houston]

personally tiles with rectified edges need a 2-3mm maximum joint. The flatness of the substrate is essential when using rectified edges on floor and walls to achieve that look of being one.

 

[John Benton]

You say you have a doberman Jackie........not that I'm insinuating he should be kept on a lead or anything...

 

[glasgow_tiler]

dosnt look to good from the close up pics, shame you already paid the person, i wonder if the floor is miles off square aswell that wouldnt help the size of the joints either, im amazad at how many bad jobs there is out there in the world of tiling