Wall and Floor Tiling Advice for Kate the Mate

[Kate the mate]

Kate

just had a thought

depending on how well today goes, can you refer him to this site for membership, its better we re educate him than he runs around oxfordshire lashing up peoples wetrooms

Interestingly I have two friends in the area, both looking for tilers, one for a wetroom, who were waiting on the results of mine before going ahead.

 

[Alan.P]

My mistake, I thought the second picture showed the start of the shower, I'll take a look again, given his performance so far, I wouldn't let him loose to do anything else, Mike or Scotley seem to be in your area ??????

 

[Kate the mate]

I agree, Alan. I have lost all confidence that we can achieve a good result. Better to stop now than carry on and make things worse. Is it easy to get those tiles off without damaging the walls? I'm wondering if I can do it myself. Get the tiles off that is, not tile the walls!!

 

[Bathfix Bob]

Don't forget to update us Kate on what his explanation is for his substandard work, I'll be following this thread with interest on my Blackberry today.

 

[Alan.P]

If you have a flat trowel you can try and get it under the top tile and lever it off the wall, try and get under as far as you can, you might have to twist it side to side to try and dig under, no harm intrying, one or two tile may break though due to the nature of the stone, or maybe a bolster chisel and a hammer, gently though, let us know what goes on.

 

[Kate the mate]

Don't worry, I'll keep you informed. Husband hung around but he has just had to leave for work so I'm doing the deed by myself. I was hoping they would be here early but no such luck.

 

[Kate the mate]

I've just found a big empty tub of Bostic ready made adhesive in the rubbish bin too. Not sure if that's been used on the walls.

 

[Alan.P]

If they have used that your in luck, the tiles should pop off easier, and the adhesive should clean off the tile easier, try it now, the longer you wait the harder it will be, no matter what they have used.

 

[Gazzer]

That tub may have been used to mix adhesive in though. i would guess that if the lid is with the bucket it has been used.

 

[Alan.P]

That tub may have been used to mix adhesive in though. i would guess that if the lid is with the bucket it has been used.

Good point, how many mixing buckets do you throw away though lol, unless it's holed, speculation on all parts, are they there yet Kate / Have you tried removing a tile and asking what was used ?

 

[Gazzer]

Good point, how many mixing buckets do you throw away though lol, unless it's holed, speculation on all parts, are they there yet Kate / Have you tried removing a tile and asking what was used ?

Well I dont throw any buckets away unless holed or broken but these people may be lazy......yes they are lazy.

 

[Gazzer]

looks like he's not trowelled onto the walls either, tut tut! It's a sub standard job Kate, don't pay until it's done right.

Come on Doug put your specs on....clearly troweled ... :lol:

 

[Alan.P]

Well no word but Kate is showing as still viewing this thread, so either she is talking to the 'fixer' or they are reading this, ....................

 

[Gazzer]

Ok if they are reading this then ..........rrr:rrr:rrr:rrr:rrr:rrr:rrr:rrr:

 

[Kate the mate]

It's done. Phew. It took quite a long time for him to go. I first of all told him I didn't want him to continue with the job today, that I had a number of issues that I needed to address. I pointed out all the areas that I thought were wrong, he challenged most of it, didn't give a proper explanation as to why the walls hadn't been properly marked out. I said I had been most concerned when he left 'a young carpenter' to do the work when I was expecting a professional tiler.

He agreed and apologised for that. He asked why I hadn't complained yesterday. I said because he wasn't here yesterday. He said he thought I was happy with what they had done. I said it was more worrying that he was happy with what he had done. I pointed out all the uneven grout lines, where some where thick and some were thin and he said it was more to do with the tiles than the tiler. I told him I wasn't stupid and that I can tile a wall, it just so happens that I didn't want to tile this bathroom as I wanted it to look fantastic and what I had got was a worse than DIY job. He disagreed that it was that bad but agreed there was room for improvement.

There were long silences where he just stared at the tiles. Then he asked for an opportunity to put it right. I said no, I had no confidence that he could put it right and I just wanted to get the tiles off the wall and start again. He asked more than once if he could do the job again but I said I no, at the moment I wasn't going to agree to that. I suggested he just took his tools and go but it took ages for him to do that. He just stood his ground.

I said to the young lad, 'do you think this is a bad job?' He said 'I'm not experienced enough to say' to which I replied 'why was he left in charge of the job then?'

He started to get a bit cross towards the end and said I would be bad mouthing him around the effing town, and I said I wouldn't. I just wanted to bring it to a closure. He said he hated to think of leaving a customer dissatisfied and, again, asked if he could put it right, but I said I would need to discuss with husband as at the moment I was in no mood to carry on.

So, at the moment the loo, basin and shower are not installed and the tiling is dodgy. Should I take the tiles off myself now do you think? Without the thought of you backing me I'm sure I wouldn't have managed this, especially on my own, so thanks everyone.