Help!! Pro advice needed - TilersForums.com

[Gavlowe]

Hi everyone,
I really need some pro advice as I have just had a bathroom fitted and the tiling is pretty bad, but the building company I used are saying that this is how it's done.... So anyway the bathroom is about 4mt long and just about 1.5mt wide. Open rain Shower at one end, toilet at the other and sink in the middle. They raised the floor to get an adequate fall on the shower drain. On completion I noticed that the floor is absolutely level from one end to the other..
The tiling was not very neat, with grout everywhere but after I had scrubbed it all it was acceptable... Only problem is when you turn the shower on the water just filled the bathroom and flowed out of the door... We obviously complained and were told it was because our water pressure was too good and therefore too much for the drain.... I suggested that maybe it was to do with the perfectly level floor with no incline towards the drain...
Anyway they agreed to fit a large linear drain and put and incline towards it. The floor has been redone 3 times now and in my opinion is pretty terrible.
We had plank tiles and to get an incline they have cut straight across them disrupting the pattern, I mentioned that it was pretty ugly and maybe they should put a gentle even slope along the whole floor and they said that was crazy and this is how you do bathrooms with plank tiles.
The way they have fitted the drain is pretty damb ugly aswell and not like any tile in linear drain I have ever seen in my life... Its not square and one end is wider than the other, plus the tiled insert they have just used no more nails to attach them and the grout lines don't match up plus the tiles keep falling off... This again is apparently how tile in linear drains are meant to be... I have tried arguing but get nowhere.... Please look at the pictures and I would really appreciate a professional opinion to see if I am crazy or not... I would like to know please how you would slope plank tiles towards a drain in a bathroom of this shape, bearing in mind you have raised the floor and have the opportunity to do whatever you want..... And if any of you have ever seen a tile in linear drain put together like this?
Thank you very much.. In advance.

 

[bsc ceramics]

Sorry to hear of your problems. the tiles should be cut to the shape of the formed tray, the tiles you have used dont really work with this as you have them in half bond and the cut come as they do, but saying that
its not been done to a good standard and to use gripfill is shameful so i would not be happy. Does the bathroom
still flood? If so its not fit for purpose. Did they use a formed tray or just build it up one end? It should have a ratio of 85:1 ie for every 85 mm the incline travels towards the waste outlet the floor level will fall 1mm or a minimum of 15mm and the outlet should have a constant flow rate of 46 litres a minute, these are all recommendations by the way. Does the area have any tanking? So a lot to ask them.

 

[Gavlowe]

Sorry to hear of your problems. the tiles should be cut to the shape of the formed tray, the tiles you have used dont really work with this as you have them in half bond and the cut come as they do, but saying that
its not been done to a good standard and to use gripfill is shameful so i would not be happy. Does the bathroom
still flood? If so its not fit for purpose. Did they use a formed tray or just build it up one end? It should have a ratio of 85:1 ie for every 85 mm the incline travels towards the waste outlet the floor level will fall 1mm or a minimum of 15mm and the outlet should have a constant flow rate of 46 litres a minute, these are all recommendations by the way. Does the area have any tanking? So a lot to ask them.

Hi thanks for the reply.... The water does drain now, its not great but doesn't get to the door, which is at the toilet end. As far as I am aware there is no tray, just a new plywood raised floor which is level, but yes there is a membrane under the tiles... OK so the tiles were a bad choice, I guess they should have warned us especially as they supplied them, I am aware that plank tiles should not be laid 50/50 anyway... Even sais it on the box! Anyway.. Moving forward, is it acceptable to get rid of the ugly cut across the floor and slope the whole floor, it's only a small ensuite I don't think you will notice?? What would you do if you had to use those tiles?
And the actual drain have you ever seen one put together like that... It looks to me as if they have set it too low so the insert isn't flush with the tiles surrounding and then just glued tiles onto it, normally a "tile in" linear drain has a specific stainless tray you tile into and then it all sits flush??
Thanks for your time and advice.
Gavin

 

[Gavlowe]

Hi thanks for the reply.... The water does drain now, its not great but doesn't get to the door, which is at the toilet end. As far as I am aware there is no tray, just a new plywood raised floor which is level, but yes there is a membrane under the tiles... OK so the tiles were a bad choice, I guess they should have warned us especially as they supplied them, I am aware that plank tiles should not be laid 50/50 anyway... Even sais it on the box! Anyway.. Moving forward, is it acceptable to get rid of the ugly cut across the floor and slope the whole floor, it's only a small ensuite I don't think you will notice?? What would you do if you had to use those tiles?
And the actual drain have you ever seen one put together like that... It looks to me as if they have set it too low so the insert isn't flush with the tiles surrounding and then just glued tiles onto it, normally a "tile in" linear drain has a specific stainless tray you tile into and then it all sits flush??
Thanks for your time and advice.
Gavin

The insert in the drain that they have glued the tiles onto, has like a sort of grip tape on it... I wonder if that is actually the top that you step on, surely your not supposed to tile onto it?

 

[JMC tiling]

they should have used a pre-formed tray and cut the tiles to the tray falls. its a shambles by looks of it.

 

[Muff Tiler]

If the tiles were laid the other way then you could slope the tray area and have the rest level without having to cut across the tile, if you finish a full tile on the start of the tray.

 

[Deleted member 53945]

You have a number of issues here, the biggest one is that the trades you have in are cowboys, no matter how many times you get them back the outcome will be the same they simply haven't got the skill/experience/knowledge to get this type of job done so any kind of "acceptable" standard. The shower floor itself should have a preformed slope towards the drain, once the tiler has established where the falls are in the floor he then decides how it will be laid out and cuts are made (enveloping) so the the tile can be fixed to the floor following the slopes in the floor. The floor should never have been raised so that they can then build tiles up in the shower with adhesive, this means you will have hollow voids underneath the tiles in shower area which are weak and will crack over time and will most likely be full of water by now... im assuming now that they have raised the floor you have a big step by the bathroom door as well. also it looks to me like they have stuck the tiles onto the wrong side of the drain insert... they are meant to slot inside it so when the drain insert is fitted in its flush to shower floor tiling.

 

[Deleted member 53945]

You have a number of issues here, the biggest one is that the trades you have in are cowboys, no matter how many times you get them back the outcome will be the same they simply haven't got the skill/experience/knowledge to get this type of job done so any kind of "acceptable" standard. The shower floor itself should have a preformed slope towards the drain, once the tiler has established where the falls are in the floor he then decides how it will be laid out and cuts are made (enveloping) so the the tile can be fixed to the floor following the slopes in the floor. The floor should never have been raised so that they can then build tiles up in the shower with adhesive, this means you will have hollow voids underneath the tiles in shower area which are weak and will crack over time and will most likely be full of water by now... im assuming now that they have raised the floor you have a big step by the bathroom door as well. also it looks to me like they have stuck the tiles onto the wrong side of the drain insert... they are meant to slot inside it so when the drain insert is fitted in its flush to shower floor tiling.

If like you mentioned previously that you have plywood floor in shower area then this would have needed to have a foam shower former with premade slopes fitted on top once primed with flexible tile adhesive, they would have needed to cut out floor to allow for the depth of the tray and the plywood under boarding and the ditra mat the floor outside shower area and this would have eliminated floor being raises for no reason whatsoever. Also tiling in wet areas need minimum of 95% coverage so a solid bed is needed which can't be achieved from building tiles up with adhesive