Victorian Pathway Problem

[One Day]

B&q buckets, b&q plastic trowel. Those alone say he's not a professional. At least he got decent adhesive though.

 

[One Day]

Chris, it's as if you're making excuses on his behalf! It's a terrible mess and there's no excuse if he's being paid for it.

 

[White Room]

What has the design of the house got to do with the path not being flat?
Flat doesn't necessarily mean level, it just means flat!
And what's an even floor got to do with it not being straight?
Whether it's perfectly perpendicular to the property is one thing, but that has nothing to do with it being flat or level.
U'd want a slight fall for drainage, but it can still be flat and straight.
The top half of the image below is an extension, joining the garage to the main house.
But it's not in line with the main building, it's twisted. I separated the two with that oblong detail in the middle, so that it all appears in line.
But both halves are still straight, just not with each other
View attachment 81565
View attachment 81566

That's classy and clever

 

[Chris101]

Its a costly nightmare that I do not want to wake up from...

What choices am I left with now?
I have paid him half (£700) in the first week of the job as per his invoice.

If I cut my losses and get a new tiler, I potentially will have to purchase new tiles and then pay an experienced tiler to recctify and then relay...

 

[White Room]

Surely from the start alarm bells must have been ringing, will you be happy with what you have ?

 

[Chris101]

They did go off but as he was through a recommendation from the local area facebook page, he had a very professional looking website with plenty of informarion and when he came to give us a quote he was the one who went through the whole process in detail.
Due to this and our lack of knowledge in this area and our busy working schedules, we just blindly trusted him....

 

[White Room]

I'm not sure if it can be done but maybe it can be ground down and made smooth to remove any lipping.

Perhaps another line of enquiry.

 

[Flintstone]

It looks terrible to me, total lack of propper prep, poor set out prep and general lack of ability. I know it's a real pain but I would sack him off and get some one propper in to get it all up and re start a fresh and do a propper job, or forever walk down that wonky path every morning.

 

[Flintstone]

As for people walking on, that's rubbish, that's him trying to find an excuse for it looking like it does. I would have tied up the gate so no one could have walked on it.

 

[ExplodingPudding]

They did go off but as he was through a recommendation from the local area facebook page, he had a very professional looking website with plenty of informarion and when he came to give us a quote he was the one who went through the whole process in detail.
Due to this and our lack of knowledge in this area and our busy working schedules, we just blindly trusted him....

Don't ever trust Facebook recommendations. The chances are he's a popular down the local pub who can spit the s**t but can't fit for s*** as an old man somewhere says. Always go through a previous portfolio or speak to a local tiling shop who deal with traders (Not b&q, wickes and homebase etc) to pick up some business cards.

 

[Russel]

O my god,,this is what the base prep needs to look like before dry laying/ tiling commences.
The tiler may be trying his best, but you have spent allot of money on those tiles..These jobs should not be taken lightly.

 

[GAZ5518]

Once again.. Preparation is key.. Path should have been pulled off first...
May be able to take up the lippy ones and rectify....to make it look better.
Victorian/ Edwardian pathways are always tricky and really should be left to those who can.
Tell your Tiler your not happy and make him rectify.

 

[Chris101]

So just to give you all an update -
I emailed the tiler on Friday night to state how unhappy we were with his time keeping till date (considering his website states how punctual he is and how 'he takes the stress away from his clients') and how we had researched into the method of how to actually lay the pathway correctly and found that we had some fundamental issues (or to that affect).
We ended the email with the option of re-lifting the tiles and relaying it correctly or if he was unable to or could not do this, to lift up the tiles and return them to us by the 27th May 2016.

The tiler was suppose to turn up yesterday at 10am (as agreed prior to the email was sent) which he didn't...
While we were thinking this is going to be a long road we received a phone call from the tiler stating that he was very sorry and he has messed up, not communicated as he should have and that in trying to build the base of the path up with adhesive has caused all the issues.

After discussing a few options (one of relaying the path which he didn't sound confident of doing again) we decided it was best of he provided a full refund on the half we had already paid him and to refund the cost of the tiles that he has put down (he will not pay for those we still have in stock) while lifting them all up to be reused, so the base was ready to tile on again...

The conversation was left at - when he turns up to lift the tiles (which is currently now) we will discuss and come to a final agreement.

I have spoken to a few victorian tiling specialists since then and it seem they may need to add heigh to the concrete base/screed and they generally supply their own tiles...

How should I go about finishing this off in the best possible manner with the current tiler?
Should I get him to sign a document that I also sign which states how we have decided to conclude this whole saga?

Should the tiler provide a full refund on all the tiles (he can keep them all) as a form of compensation so I can go out and choose a tiler that may provide his own tiles?

Any suggests on how to conclude this would be really appreciated.

Thanks to all that have provided info till dat!

 

[Russel]

No tiler can fork out hundreds of pounds on tiles like these and I am sure you dont want to have to force him to do it if he cant or wont. You are more likely to get something if you go halvies on the tiles..

I am certain he was just "giving it a go", came unstuck..and should be willing to do what he can to make amends.
If not hes a doosh!

 

[Chris101]

Looks like we have come to an agreement which he has signed against -

1. Fully Refund our half payment we made to him
2. Refund 70% costs of the tiles
3. Remove adhesive off the base, if required (Tiler thinks next person will be able to screed ontop of it...)

He has agreed to do the above within the next 5 working days.

Seems like a result but I will only believe it when I see it.

Attached are the pictures of the base as it is now and what is was like prior to when the tiler had touched it...