Tiling, is this "good enough" from a pro?
Discussion
So, after spending month's of weekends redoing my bathroom, I got a tiler in to stick the tiles on the brand new, dead plumb, wedi-boarded walls. I think he has underquoted and therefore rushed some key details. Am I being too fussy?
Pic 1 shows how the level of the mosaic tiles is 2-3mm below the level of the wall tiles. They seem to be fairly "in and out" along the whole length of the wall, but right at the end they sink below the finished tile level leaving a wobbly grout line where it hurts up to the painted wall.
Pic 2 shows the opposite wall, where the mosaic run ends 10mm short of the painted wall, and the three tiles above it are all cut crooked. I presume he plans to fill these gaps with grout.
So, good enough for a pro? He has had 3 days at this 2m X 2m bathroom, 750 quid for labour. Not done yet. It would have taken me three times as long but I would have kept redoing it as required until it looked right! I am worried that now it's set any rectification work may damage my carefully laid (and quite expensive!) watertight boards.
Pic 1 shows how the level of the mosaic tiles is 2-3mm below the level of the wall tiles. They seem to be fairly "in and out" along the whole length of the wall, but right at the end they sink below the finished tile level leaving a wobbly grout line where it hurts up to the painted wall.
Pic 2 shows the opposite wall, where the mosaic run ends 10mm short of the painted wall, and the three tiles above it are all cut crooked. I presume he plans to fill these gaps with grout.
So, good enough for a pro? He has had 3 days at this 2m X 2m bathroom, 750 quid for labour. Not done yet. It would have taken me three times as long but I would have kept redoing it as required until it looked right! I am worried that now it's set any rectification work may damage my carefully laid (and quite expensive!) watertight boards.
I would not put my name to it... He should have used beaver mesh to bring the mosaics out to the level of the wall tiles and those cuts are just dire unless that is into the corner and they will be hidden by the return. Cannot comment on the price without knowing where in the country you are and how many metres of tiling there are in total? I would be asking him to re-do the mosaics properly though.
Sonie said:
The thing that can’t change is the fact he has used 3 mosaic tiles the same next to each other on pic 3 on far left. It looks wrong.
The tile that is 2 above the mosaic looks completely different in style and colour compared to the others too. Might just be the light though. Looks like my level of tiling ! The corner will be hidden by the tiles yet to be laid on the adjacent wall so won't worry about that. The mosaics are thinner than the tiles hence they have sunk a bit. You'll never notice once it's all finished.
Sounds like you took the cheapest quote based on your comment about underquoting, so best not to expect a totally perfect text book finish.
Sounds like you took the cheapest quote based on your comment about underquoting, so best not to expect a totally perfect text book finish.
The problem is that those edges will be seen, there are no tiles going onto the white wall. If he had started from that end and worked backwards then he could have lost any errors with an overlap at the other end.
I wasn't fussed about how much I paid, but this was the only guy I could find that didn't have a 3mth waiting list...starting to see why!
I wasn't fussed about how much I paid, but this was the only guy I could find that didn't have a 3mth waiting list...starting to see why!
p4cks said:
I'm not sure that you start at the edges when you're tiling
It depends on how square the walls are and how the room works out. It is not an exact science. Normally you would work out from the centre but windows, doors, niches and fittings might make that impossible. I could plan a room to be tiled in which you would have to break every rule in the book to make it work. ie. look right preferably without any small cuts.3 month waiting list is good, All the decent tilers around here are booked up for at least six months. Apart from me, My business plan is to not get booked up beyond 6 weeks which means I am the only available good tiler in the area and can pick and choose which jobs I want to do and charge a premium accordingly.
aww999 said:
The problem is that those edges will be seen, there are no tiles going onto the white wall. If he had started from that end and worked backwards then he could have lost any errors with an overlap at the other end.
I wasn't fussed about how much I paid, but this was the only guy I could find that didn't have a 3mth waiting list...starting to see why!
If it makes you feel any better, it's miles better than any of the tiling my in laws have had done over the last few years. I reckon by the time you've found any tiler, let alone a good one, you'd have spent less time faffing about if you'd just bought the tiles and done it yourself round here. I wasn't fussed about how much I paid, but this was the only guy I could find that didn't have a 3mth waiting list...starting to see why!
There's a lot to be said for getting the job done by someone that actually cares about what it looks like rather than how quickly they can get paid.
Vanden Saab said:
It depends on how square the walls are and how the room works out. It is not an exact science. Normally you would work out from the centre but windows, doors, niches and fittings might make that impossible. I could plan a room to be tiled in which you would have to break every rule in the book to make it work. ie. look right preferably without any small cuts.
3 month waiting list is good, All the decent tilers around here are booked up for at least six months. Apart from me, My business plan is to not get booked up beyond 6 weeks which means I am the only available good tiler in the area and can pick and choose which jobs I want to do and charge a premium accordingly.
Superb!3 month waiting list is good, All the decent tilers around here are booked up for at least six months. Apart from me, My business plan is to not get booked up beyond 6 weeks which means I am the only available good tiler in the area and can pick and choose which jobs I want to do and charge a premium accordingly.
aww999 said:
The problem is that those edges will be seen, there are no tiles going onto the white wall. If he had started from that end and worked backwards then he could have lost any errors with an overlap at the other end.
I wasn't fussed about how much I paid, but this was the only guy I could find that didn't have a 3mth waiting list...starting to see why!
Oh well, it won't look aweful once the grout is on. If I wander round and inspect my work close up I can find the faults, but when I'm in the shower or bathroom, neither I, nor anyone else notices.I wasn't fussed about how much I paid, but this was the only guy I could find that didn't have a 3mth waiting list...starting to see why!
(it is odd how he has such poor edges on the cut ends. Is he using a tile saw? or snapping them? or an angle grinder?). It almost looks like he's compensatiing for a leaning wall, but then the tiles below the mosaic are square.
OP I have made the same mistake as you, I had 4 bathrooms to be done, I had one tiler booked in 2 months in advance for 2 of them but the other two I wanted done sooner, Managed to get another two tilers. 1 could start in 2 weeks! brilliant!
Yours is not too great but its not the worst. 1 of mine is shocking (but managed to salvage it myself), the other one is good but the two I had done from the long waiting list person are pin perfect.
I had a look at both of your images and there are some concerns, in your first image where you have the recessed mosaics I would hazzard it will not be worth correcting and doesnt look "bad". your second image I would personally recommend that the top tile is redone, there is a flick off the corner of the tile and that alone will mean that the silicone bead line will be thicker than it needs to be to cover that.
Again in the second image the mosaic has quite a large gap to get to the wall. Personally I would cut down 3 mosaics and take them right to the end of the wall. that way your silicone bead line can be as thin as possible. That corner should not be grouted anyway as silicone should be there. good luck!
As an example my tiler took 6-7 days to do our bathroom - similar size to yours 2mx2m but he is very very fussy about his own work, personally I think he takes too long, should be 5 days but I can't complain if he wants to do a good job! He once spent 1 hour on one tile because it was a hair out from the tile it was running off. Eventually I had to tell him to leave it!!
Ps all my walls were bent and had curves and all sorts but before my "excellent" tiler started, he checked all this and had drawn out were the tiles would be, how big the cuts would be at the top etc etc
Yours is not too great but its not the worst. 1 of mine is shocking (but managed to salvage it myself), the other one is good but the two I had done from the long waiting list person are pin perfect.
I had a look at both of your images and there are some concerns, in your first image where you have the recessed mosaics I would hazzard it will not be worth correcting and doesnt look "bad". your second image I would personally recommend that the top tile is redone, there is a flick off the corner of the tile and that alone will mean that the silicone bead line will be thicker than it needs to be to cover that.
Again in the second image the mosaic has quite a large gap to get to the wall. Personally I would cut down 3 mosaics and take them right to the end of the wall. that way your silicone bead line can be as thin as possible. That corner should not be grouted anyway as silicone should be there. good luck!
As an example my tiler took 6-7 days to do our bathroom - similar size to yours 2mx2m but he is very very fussy about his own work, personally I think he takes too long, should be 5 days but I can't complain if he wants to do a good job! He once spent 1 hour on one tile because it was a hair out from the tile it was running off. Eventually I had to tell him to leave it!!
Ps all my walls were bent and had curves and all sorts but before my "excellent" tiler started, he checked all this and had drawn out were the tiles would be, how big the cuts would be at the top etc etc
Edited by Chamon_Lee on Thursday 18th April 16:11
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