Whatever it takes for preparation

[Old Mod]

I had a fella the other day call me up and was as pleased as punch about telling me about his newly skimmed moisture resistant PB!
"Oh yes" I replied, with that unnoticeable tone of cynicism in my voice. (Who me?)
And what material would you like affixed to your newly plastered moisture resistant PB? I asked, with eyes half closed waiting for the punch line!
"Oh 15mm marble!" He said all pleased with himself at his choice of select material.
Can't remember how long the laughter lasted, but it must have felt like an eternity on the other end of the phone.
Once I was in a position to breathe again, I calmly explained the pitfalls of applying lead weights to wallpaper, and without hesitation he said "ok, I'll rip it out, what should I replace it with, Ply?"
And on it goes, the plight of a tiler.

Whilst I admit this was written with a little artistic licence for the purpose of a little levity, I can PROMISE you, the specifics are true!
So help us God!

 

[macten]

I always take it back to blockwork, stud and reboard myself. Spent 7 miserable years trying to polish turds - will never go back to working like that

 

[Old Mod]

I always take it back to blockwork, stud and reboard myself. Spent 7 miserable years trying to polish turds - will never go back to working like that

Oh hello Nick! Uk mate?

 

[Bathfix Bob]

Plenty of £50 a day muppets who will dot & dab that marble up and be home in time for a bowl of Golonka.

 

[Old Mod]

Plenty of £50 a day muppets who will dot & dab that marble up and be home in time for a bowl of Golonka.

Thing is I'm more like ya £50 a tile guy, so it won't be me! Haha

 

[Blunt Tool]

You see that's the thing, I did a big bathroom last week, but only had to tile, ok I did lay the heated wire and slc but then it was tiling again, and yes I struggled to cut the tiles but it was a quick turnover as didn't have to do any prep work on walls as all done for me. I made good money and if I could do that all the time then I don't mind pricing jobs per m2. Its when the job takes twice as long and you don't get twice the money!

 

[Flintstone]

I am never out of pocket on a job as it's clear what I am doing and I know what's involved. The problem is with wall prep, honestly I think people don't beleive you or think it's ok to tile on painted skim because some other tiler didn't mention anything, just score it up mate it's fine.

 

[Qwerty]

I do all my own prep, charge a healthy amount for it and earn very good money. No waiting around, no guess work, no disappointments and a good earner too.

 

[Blunt Tool]

I do all my own prep, charge a healthy amount for it and earn very good money. No waiting around, no guess work, no disappointments and a good earner too.

You see that's the problem, sometimes the prep is as long as the tiling but customer not going to pay double quote for tiling. So you do the prep for a reduced rate or you get plasterboard or plaster skimmed walls!

 

[Andy Allen]

Imo the building trades gone to ***** .
30 years ago you could get excellent trades men that could plaster a wall or screed a floor spot on.
Now it's full of chancers after a fast buck with no care what so ever about the crap there turning out !!

 

[Ttt1601]

Imo the building trades gone to ***** .
30 years ago you could get excellent trades men that could plaster a wall or screed a floor spot on.
Now it's full of chancers after a fast buck with no care what so ever about the crap there turning out !!

So very true Andy, I don't do much site work now as I can't stand the hassle, but every once in a while when something seems like a good earner I will, but I'm on a small hotel job atm, some of the walls the plasterers have had 3 goes at and they still aren't right, the guys who did the stud put a 20mm bow in a 1.8 m wall, the plumber set his shower valve too far out then the borders just screwed back around it and caused a massive bow , the same thing with a soil pipe. And the lobby floor just got over boarded with ply (200 year old house with oak joists) and the state of that was unbelievable!! Never done a latex pour like it in my life! I found 2 walls that are actually straight and Plumb across 9 bathrooms it's appalling. And all you get from the site manager is can you just get over it, as long as it looks right it's fine. Will be the last of the site work again for a good while

 

[macten]

Oh hello Nick! Uk mate?

Busy boy but all good mate!

 

[Old Mod]

Busy boy but all good mate!

Kool!

 

[Blunt Tool]

Builder says don't worry I'll do all the prep work!!

 

[Kyle Knowles]

Been on here a few months now and have noticed some tilers don't do their own preparations, especially walls? I do whatever it needs, even if it means installing extra dwangs to suit Wedi boards, installing Wedi boards, taping, tanking etc same as floors. I'm interested, the tilers who leave it to someone else, I see your point as it's a quicker turnover of job and you can concentrate on just tiling but how do you know it's been done to what you recommend?

The more people u involve the more room there is for disappointment so I do as much as I can my self I'm eve getting into laying sand and cement screed