Tile lippage - too much?

[berty3000]

Hi all,

I'm having my kitchen renovated. The tiles went down today, 300 x 600 ceramic ones. The fitter used wedges and clips, 2mm spacing. The grouting is happening tomorrow.

I've noticed this evening quite a bit of lippage but want to check my concerns are reasonable before broaching the matter in the morning. We are on a fairly tight schedule with kitchen stuff all arriving day after tomorrow.

I've done the so called credit card test, those cards being 0.76mm in thickness. Quite a few of the tiles are at that level above or below the adjoining one, so that the bevelled edge/tile surface is flush with the surface of the credit card. There are a few places where it is a little worse. Maybe more like 1mm difference between tiles. There is at least one I can see in the corner, but don't want to walk over to it, where I can see the difference. What would you tolerate and at what point would you ask for the tiles to be removed and replaced?

Trouble is, there are only a few tiles left and no adhesive, which doesn't help.

Besides the aesthetic flaws, I don't like the idea of the tiles and grout eventually being chipped around the edges. Very annoying, but maybe I'm being picky?

Feedback very welcome! Thanks

 

[Mr Chibs]

Would be better to post a picture.

at 0.76mm I think when the grout goes down you won't notice it... that said, depends on the tiles...
must have been a fun night with your credit card

Can't see you chipping any tiles once they are grouted.

 

[berty3000]

Thanks Chibs.

Some pics...

 

[Mr Chibs]

That looks more than 1mm, I don't think I'd be happy with that.

If you run a spirit level over a blank tile, is the tile flat? wedges look OK at the edges, but not in the middle of the tile.
Tiler should have spotted this.

You could mix a small amount of grout up and see what it's like when you grout a 'problem area', appreciate it might look worse on photos.

 

[johnny2007]

Last tiling job i did, I found that many tiles were not straight, they were bowed.
Started discarding them but there were too many.
Once all down and grouted it looked perfectly flat.
I used the levelling system as well.

 

[berty3000]

Thanks chaps.

There is one in particular that is the problem, the others are probably all ok. I'll let him grout it all up and if it still doesn't look right will have to ask him to replace it. The rest I can probably live with. I think a degree of bowing is present in some cases.

 

[freddiemercurystwin]

If the tiles had a rounded edge it would be less noticeable but not here, perhaps there are just a few that need redoing .....

I wouldnt let them grout, it, get them to sort it beforehand.

 

[opps]

Did you supply the tiles?

Offset tiles need to be perfectly flat.

Image number 1, yeah, it is a big difference in height.

Did they use the special pliers with the wedges, or did they use their fingers to push them in?

 

[berty3000]

Now that the grouting is in, which is almost same colour as the tiles, it all looks fine. Depends how the light falls on it in some ways. The most noticeable one now actually has less of a difference than the thickness of a credit card, just because of where it is in relation to the window when I'm stood in a certain position. In terms of walking over it, there's the odd corner that feels a little higher but overall, it's not as bad as I thought. It's a fairly small room and will be more so when the kitchen units all go in. Not perfect but good enough.

 

[berty3000]

I have noticed a couple of very small chips in the glazed surface at the edge of a couple of tiles. He's said he has some stuff he can put on those. Are you guys aware of such products?

 

[Mr Chibs]

Photos please

 

[berty3000]

Photos please

 

[opps]

You can use Tetrosil Stone Fill. It is available as a clear 2pack filler that you can tint using acrylic artist paints.

 

[berty3000]

Thanks mate