Bathroom fitting…when to comment?!

[ReganAndCarter]

What's this 'fashion' for tiles with hideous, old fashioned patterns all about? Suddenly they're everywhere. Gauranteed to bring on a migraine.

 

[jeds]

Those tiles don't look exactly the same size to me, but they look close enough to have made a better job than this bloke. On the other hand, if you chose the tiles and he was having difficulty co-ordinating the joints, he should have said so before fitting them to the wall.

 

[Odds]

What's this 'fashion' for tiles with hideous, old fashioned patterns all about? Suddenly they're everywhere. Gauranteed to bring on a migraine.

You mean the Moroccan and Turkish style designs?
I love 'em.
Not so much as a William Morris but still good.
The Victorians knew how to make 'em. Last a lifetime and still there for the great-grandchildren.

 

[Bod ...]

The bloke who did ours earlier this year made a decent fist of tiling and i've no complaints...but his woodwork left a lot to be desired and his plastering wasn't much better than mine. And the silly sod tanked the wall right out to the door, leaving no room to hang it back, so his spatial awareness was also questionable. Too fond of expanding foam, too, and wanted to fill a gap in the wall where the shower screen was to hang.
We had words and it was sorted with a minimum of fuss but most of the time some workers get away with sweeping it under the floorboards.
The blokes who did the room out when it was built did just that - no end of scrap wood and bits of plaster under there, so it can't be said to be a modern trait. It looked like the typical Friday-at-five job under there!

The industry has always had cowboys. That's what you get in an industry when those who really don't know describe it as a semi skilled job. Like MPs and the BBC do

 

[Bod ...]

One job I see the bathroom and it looked great. Obviously done by someone who knew how to tile.
Popped my head into the cupboard and could see that he was definitely a tiler as the plumbing was shocking.

Push fit city​

Had it to many times where a push fit has popped.

If I deem it the best way forward to use push fit for any reason I stick to the same brand and have no fittings behind walls or floors with no access.

 

[Odds]

The industry has always had cowboys. That's what you get in an industry when those who really don't know describe it as a semi skilled job. Like MPs and the BBC do

I wouldn't say the guys who did our bathroom were cowboys, just better at some jobs than others. Plumbing good; hanging a door, not good.
I wouldn't say plastering a wall is a semi-skilled job, either. People think these jobs look easy - until they try.

 

[Bod ...]

I wouldn't say the guys who did our bathroom were cowboys, just better at some jobs than others. Plumbing good; hanging a door, not good.
I wouldn't say plastering a wall is a semi-skilled job, either. People think these jobs look easy - until they try.

Plastering is an art and a good carpenter is priceless.

 

[Giblets46]

If he had the adjusted the gap, then the grout lines would have not matched the perpendicular wall (which they don't anyway).



Agreed, it would have taken him a couple of minutes to mix up some more.



That is subjective- I suspect that he has run the tiles level.

Thanks yeh, the grout lines don’t match already, any wonder one side gets gradually higher than the other?!

 

[Giblets46]

So bit of an update, called him round the other day to discuss, says the tiles were far too different to match up, and he used spacers, having popped him after he had gone one of the nights he was doing it, he seemed to have some of the small white crossed, and others that looked more like bits of card, he admitted he hadn't spotted the massive gap between the ceiling and tiles.

For the cabinets (my personal opinion is he made a school boy error, he fixed the cabinets in place BEFORE the floor was put in, so he had no idea what height they would be at).
* The gap between floor and units is 195mm, the height of the plinth is only 180mm!
* First he claimed first that the floor was wonky, he got a length and pushed one end down to show the other end going up about 1cm (clearly if there is a small bump one end and you follow the line it will exaggerate it) I got the tape measure out and showed that the gap was +/-2mm along its length.
* He then claimed plinth could not go any higher and was designed to have the gap at the top! So I then had to point out his shoddy workmanship, as the unit carcasses are 640mm high, the panel he inserted between the cupboards (which was damaged) he had cut to 647, and the end panel he cut was 655!!
* He then took the panels off to show they didn't make a difference, it clearly did (it also showed the gap was the same along the entire length!), at which point he then told me they were designed to have a gap under to stop water soaking the panels, at which point I literally put my fingers into the gap and asked him if it was really right, so he then claimed they would have a large rubber thing underneath to stop the water.
* He blamed the floor fitter for the damaged door, and charged for radiator valves (he told me he would be fitting TRV, but they are normal straight valves (£25)), I read the delivery invoice and they should have been included with the delivery though.

* He did accept the damaged panel (and suggested he would pay for that), but didn't know how that had happened, when he took the panel off (after the discussion over the plinth gap), it was clear he had just put a screw in too close to the edge, all the others were central. And he had missed the grouting/ caulking round the toilet, on top of part of the skirting board etc.

I was a bit exhausted at discuss the worktop overhang, or the excessive gap on the toilet panel (as he had moved the panel over to cover his atrocious sharks tooth cut on the plinth).

Partner is still not happy (though she conveniently disappeared when he was here!), wants the whole cabinet redone and tiles redone

 

[opps]

If the floor was unlevel, why didn't he charge you to level it. Regardless he should be able to scribe the end panels and plinths to compensate for such eventualities.

He sounds like a BS merchant.

Assuming that he used a cement based tile adhesive, after this long, I don't think you will get those tiles off without breaking the tiles and damaging the plaster/substrate.

 

[diy_fun_uk]

* The gap between floor and units is 195mm, the height of the plinth is only 180mm!
* First he claimed first that the floor was wonky, he got a length and pushed one end down to show the other end going up about 1cm (clearly if there is a small bump one end and you follow the line it will exaggerate it) I got the tape measure out and showed that the gap was +/-2mm along its length.

Even as a diy'er, this alone confirms he's a muppet. Personally, I'd cut your losses and wouldn't get him to do anything remedially. Do it yourself or if not your skillset, seek someone else. Keep this 'bathroom installer' well away.