Unhappy with work.... how to re do....

[Shell-e]

Hi All,

I started writing out this post and just deleted most of it, for me to explain the background would take too long.

Basically a tiler has done a job I am not happy with. He has been paid as I just want him out my house, he came to sort some problems but just created more. He is a friend of the family and caused a lot of problems in the family.

Anyway I want to re grout the floor. What grout should I use?

Is water resistant grout the same as waterproof grout only he has used water resistant grout in the bathroom but its already cracking and one of the tiles came loose, he re grouted it but missed cracked areas and did such a crap job I dont want to call him again.

The options I have are a. Do it myself or b. Pay for someone to come and do it. Now I have just spent a lot on it in the first place so I want to try myself before getting someone else in but how hard will this be?

I need to know what grout (I know he used powerded grout from Wicks in beige for the walls) can I just use this for the floor? Its water resistant and so I hope it will be ok.... anyway he grouted the floor tiles dark grey and it looks crap - he said because beige on the floor would get too dirty but with grey on the floor it already looks dirty!

Anyway there is also gaps between the floor and wall tiles.... should I just put grout (when doing floor) in these gaps or some kind of coloured sealent?

His work is just very very poor like the sealent around the bath is on the wall tiles etc its a joke.

Anyway I am sure I cant do any worse myself but I dont know what equipment I would need to get the grout out with either?

Any help appreciated!

 

[Diyisfun]

To regrout you will need to scrape the old grout out, so the new can key in properly, you can buy tools for this. its a boring job but will need doing.

 

[Tom JE]

As said above - you'll need to remove the old grout and start again. You can by a tool for removing grout in DIY stores. But, you said that one of the tiles has come loose - this suggests that there may be movement in the floor. Did he tile straight onto floorboards or not use a sufficient base?

 

[joe-90]

In my opinion you can't turn a bad job into a good job. I'd start again if it were me.

BTW, how much did you pay him? And what trouble did he cause the family (just being nosey).

 

[m4rkh]

If all the grout is cracking - then I am afraid that it is very likely that there is a problem with either the surface he tiled to having movement or he has used the wrong adhesive for the floor. The fact a tile has come loose shows this.

I would also recommend a grey grout for a floor though the tiler could have recommended a grout sealer but the grout would still get dirty.

Use sealant in corners. If you are unsteady, use masking tape and peel off immediately before it dries.

Few questions to enable us to help on this one but joe-90 is probably right.

1. What surface did he tile to??
2. Did he overboard with ply/similar?? if so, how thick??
3. Did he suply adhesive - was it in a bag or was it ready mixed in a tub??

As for grouting now without taking the floor up, I would go with nothing less than an epoxy based grout. Very flexible and will cope with more movement than your average polymer modified grout.

Good luck

 

[Durgo]

This is an all to common story and I agree with joe90. Ive been to look at quite a few jobs where this has happened. This couple were in the same situation and wanted me to fix the awful bodge a family friend had done. The more I looked, the more mistakes and blatant negligence I found. I actualy declined to quote to fix the existing installation (if you could call it that) and offered to price up ripping it out and redoing at my most competative rate - inlight of the circumstances. Never heard from her though

 

[m4rkh]

This is an all to common story and I agree with joe90. Ive been to look at quite a few jobs where this has happened. This couple were in the same situation and wanted me to fix the awful bodge a family friend had done. The more I looked, the more mistakes and blatant negligence I found. I actualy declined to quote to fix the existing installation (if you could call it that) and offered to price up ripping it out and redoing at my most competative rate - inlight of the circumstances. Never heard from her though

I agree also but it might be salvageable - if the correct adhesive was used and there is no movement in the tiles - and the problem is restricted to the grout (which I very much doubt) then the original poster may get away with a re-grout with epoxy.

 

[jefoss]

sorry to say this but i personally try not to "fix" bodges, so i go for the safer in the long run option, if in doubt rip it out. if your unwilling or unable to afford a tiler to come in to do that option, you could set it up yourself to do it from scratch.

there is plenty of advice on here (mostly good) and you never know you might enjoy it!

 

[gcol]

You need to ensure that your floor was suitable to tile onto in the first place. If floorboards, we should be looking at over boarding with 12mm WBP ply and screwing down at 200mm intervals.
If improper preparation, then you're wasting your time - you need to start from scratch. Details of preparation are in the tiling sticky at the top of the tiling forum.
If your floor is improperly prepared then forget using epoxy grout as suggested previously.

 

[m4rkh]

I agree that it is likely that the floor was prepared incorrectly as you will see from the fist sentence in my first post on this topic.

However, if it was prepared correctly, and the original author has not replied yet re the surface tiled to, and used the correct adesive, then the problem is with the grout. He may have used a rigid grout with a 2 part flex adhesive. So there is movement in the adhesive, yet none in the grout - result - grout cracks.

Also, you do not necessarily need to overboard floorboards - depending on which adhesive you use. Some 2 part rubber and latex adhesives will go straight to T&G, and so long as you use a complementary grout - you should have no problems.

As for Jefoss' comment re "if in doubt, rip it out", this is not really applicable in all cases. One example is what if the tiler fixed all tiles perfectly, used the appropriate grout, left movement joints, cleaned off etc. Then he used silicone/sealant and made a right mess of it so it looked ghastly, would you way rip off all the tiles cos the silicone is bad? No, you would say replace the silicone. We can't say that just because the grout is cracking on this job, that all the tiles need to come up (though I agree it is v.likely that they will have to), a more investigative approach is required to see how the tiles were fixed. If they were fixed incorrectly, then I agree, they need taking up.

Sorry to rant - don't want to cause tension - this forum is about advice and opinions, and this is mine.

 

[jefoss]

Sorry to rant - don't want to cause tension - this forum is about advice and opinions, and this is mine.

thats a fair enough statement m4rkh, i was just giving advice without obviously seeing the job, but if its bad on top who says its going to be perfect underneath? hence the if in doubt....

 

[m4rkh]

Sorry to rant - don't want to cause tension - this forum is about advice and opinions, and this is mine.

thats a fair enough statement m4rkh, i was just giving advice without obviously seeing the job, but if its bad on top who says its going to be perfect underneath? hence the if in doubt....

Thats cool Jefoss - I like this forum - some good plumbing and electrical articles.

 

[gcol]

Thats cool Jefoss - I like this forum - some good plumbing and electrical articles.

But the tiling sucks huh?

 

[m4rkh]

Thats cool Jefoss - I like this forum - some good plumbing and electrical articles.

But the tiling sucks huh?

Some really good advice on here - tiling and all....