L
Lawrence147
Hi All
This was my first job and I feel like I've been 10 rounds with Tyson.
I started 2 weeks last Wednesday on a 15 year old house doing the main bathroom walls and floor and ensuite floor. The cust wanted porcelain 30 x 30 in the ensuite, 60 x 30 travertine on the Main Bathroom walls and 30 x 30 ceramic in the MB floor, which he bought with my trade discount.
I prepped the ensuite floor first down to level plywood then tried to fix tiles under the skirting (which didn't work) Problems started when the customer spotted a couple of these tiles were not level and I pulled them up and levelled them. The previous tiles were fixed under the toilet and (as I didn't know how to dismantle this) I slid tiles under, which looked cr*p!
Also, as I followed the old tiles (same size) I didn't mark out and ended up with small strips by the door (Luckily, there's a wooden step that allowed me to line up and grout easily. All this took me until last weekend (27th Sept).
Then I started the walls in the MB. Tiles came away easily and looked to be held on by tubbed addy. Stupidly, I tried to fix tiles on the old addy. (I now know how to prep walls properly with help from reading the previous posts from you guys) This made my job so much harder as tiles went up uneven - I tried to straighten them up but missed the odd one or two, which the customer picked up.:mad2:
When I got to the wall with the toilet and pedestal, I initially tried to slide tiles in behind, but they looked rubbish and threw the spacings out, so I have dismantled both, making the wall a lot easier to tile. (I understand that I need new washer sets for the fitments and will get them)
While I have been doing this, the customer has continued to respace tiles I have fixed and put wedges in where spacers should be, sometimes in fromt of me. I haven't reacted against this as he said I may get referrals from him (not now!
) and in some cases, he has been right in what he has done. I just haven't spotted it or not dealt with it in time.
Finally the MB floor - took my battens from the walls just above the floor and took the tiles off. The old addy looked to be some old rapidset that was a b*tch to get off. My wife (Yes she helped and even enjoyed it - part time apprentice
) and I spent all day Saturday firstly trying to take ply off the floorboards and when that was too slow, hacked the addy off the old ply. After priming, started laying at 7pm Sat and got 6 tiles down so I knew where my wall cuts would be.
This morning, cust starts moaning at me that his friends laughing at him as I've taken so long and they have had solo tiler doing the job in 2 - 3 days.
:furious3::furious3:
So finished the floor today (levelled and spaced correctly) and trimmed the door to allow clearance.
Sorry, I know I've written 'War & Peace' but I just feel angry, frustrated that I have seriously undercharged on the job as a whole, shattered, etc...
Please can anyone give me any tips, advice or help as I DID NOT come into Tiling to be a cowboy and I know I have a lot to learn from this trade.
Thanks a lot
Lawrence.
BTW here are some pics of the work in progress - I get pics of the MB grouted and silliconed tomorrow.
This was my first job and I feel like I've been 10 rounds with Tyson.
I started 2 weeks last Wednesday on a 15 year old house doing the main bathroom walls and floor and ensuite floor. The cust wanted porcelain 30 x 30 in the ensuite, 60 x 30 travertine on the Main Bathroom walls and 30 x 30 ceramic in the MB floor, which he bought with my trade discount.
I prepped the ensuite floor first down to level plywood then tried to fix tiles under the skirting (which didn't work) Problems started when the customer spotted a couple of these tiles were not level and I pulled them up and levelled them. The previous tiles were fixed under the toilet and (as I didn't know how to dismantle this) I slid tiles under, which looked cr*p!
Then I started the walls in the MB. Tiles came away easily and looked to be held on by tubbed addy. Stupidly, I tried to fix tiles on the old addy. (I now know how to prep walls properly with help from reading the previous posts from you guys) This made my job so much harder as tiles went up uneven - I tried to straighten them up but missed the odd one or two, which the customer picked up.:mad2:
When I got to the wall with the toilet and pedestal, I initially tried to slide tiles in behind, but they looked rubbish and threw the spacings out, so I have dismantled both, making the wall a lot easier to tile. (I understand that I need new washer sets for the fitments and will get them)
While I have been doing this, the customer has continued to respace tiles I have fixed and put wedges in where spacers should be, sometimes in fromt of me. I haven't reacted against this as he said I may get referrals from him (not now!
Finally the MB floor - took my battens from the walls just above the floor and took the tiles off. The old addy looked to be some old rapidset that was a b*tch to get off. My wife (Yes she helped and even enjoyed it - part time apprentice
This morning, cust starts moaning at me that his friends laughing at him as I've taken so long and they have had solo tiler doing the job in 2 - 3 days.
:furious3::furious3:
So finished the floor today (levelled and spaced correctly) and trimmed the door to allow clearance.
Sorry, I know I've written 'War & Peace' but I just feel angry, frustrated that I have seriously undercharged on the job as a whole, shattered, etc...
Please can anyone give me any tips, advice or help as I DID NOT come into Tiling to be a cowboy and I know I have a lot to learn from this trade.
Thanks a lot
Lawrence.
BTW here are some pics of the work in progress - I get pics of the MB grouted and silliconed tomorrow.