Is it shoddy workmanship?

[Charlotte Rimmer]

Hello, we had a new bathroom fitted in sept 2015, (paid around 7k) and around 4 months ago we noticed a problem with the tiling in two places;


1) coming away from the wall and bowing
2) cracks in shower area which is a wet room which gets about 40 mins of use per day.
(Photos to follow)
We had just had our first baby when we discovered this, so we are only just getting around to trying to sort it. Our bathroom fitter was a local guy and is ignoring our messages.

1) Could anyone establish if this is shoddy workmanship or do these things just happen?

2) should we get a new trades person to repair or is there anything we can do our selves?

 

[Time's Ran Out]

Shoddy!
Dangerous!
All will have to come off before any injury is sustained.
You should contact your Citizens Advice or solicitor to sanction action if he doesn’t reply to your written requests.

 

[One Day]

Definitely about to peel off the wall.
That's about as shoddy as shoddy can be!

 

[John Benton]

Awful, do you live in a ground floor flat?

 

[Old Mod]

Yep. Agreed!
Tiles have definitely blown and are only held on by grout joints now.
Definitely stop using it immediately.

 

[WetSaw]

If it's your only bathroom it's possibly going to be a difficult situation. Clearly it's in a dangerous condition and shouldn't be used. The person who did it has to be given the chance to rectify his work ( not that you'd want him to but that's the correct procedure). If he's not responding then you will have to start legal proceedings that may take a while to be resolved, obviously not ideal if you don't have another bathroom to use. I can only suggest you take plenty of photos from all angles and also during any remedial work should you start that before any legal case is resolved.
Good luck.

 

[Dumbo]

Every time I think I got a shoe in for jotm somebody comes on here asking if it' any good and you all say no . Oh well best move town and change my trading name. Again

 

[Charlotte Rimmer]

Thank you so much for all your replies.

Finally after I threatned with legal proceedings he has said the following;

“first of all. cracks on interior part of shower suggest something is happening with wall behind. second pictures on the other side showing tiles not holding the wall totally. They need to come down all of them. and check what is happening with the wall maybe water come up to the wall and cause damage. In shower are we made wet room and we put special membrane all around it on the other side we didn't put any membrane so the water could cause the damage. The tiles know need to be take down. They will collapse soon . It's been 3 years since I done that bathroom. The walls might be problematic as I have to repaint the walls. I think I done everything as it should be. This is my first complain on bathroom and we done a loads of them. nobody having a problem even with bathrooms finished 6-7 years ago. It's looks like problem with wall as no other cracks visible and we done good work over there as I always do. This could be repairable but I didn't give warranty for 20 years. That could be possible if price for bathroom would be double to what I charged you. Please let me know what is your expectation from me as this is not clear for me yet. Thank you‘

It seems like problem with the wall as this is only happening on this particular dividing wall from both sides and nowhere else which is sugestie walls problem not mine bad work. hard to quess without seeing what is happening behind tiles. but those loose tiles definitely need to come down as the will collapse soon anyway”

Background info;
We live in a semi-basement flat, after 3 months all of the paint started peeling off the walls (about 1/3 of bathroom is painted, rest tiled) and he came back and repainted with a different brand of paint, which held for about 6 months or so. We now have lived with it peeling in areas. Presume that is due to all of the hot showers and steam as the shower section is open - it’s just a wet room.

Any thoughts on what he said would be welcome.

I have to say that he doesn’t seem like a cowboy, I though he seemed rather trustworthy, but he is rather charming which may have clouded my judgement.

(Incidentally the cracked tiles are on a different wall, not the same diving wall got that wrong. )

 

[Time's Ran Out]

It’s all down to fixer error! The small cut at the base sums up his setting out and tiles that are bowed like yours havent been fixed to the substrate correctly. No excuse - it all has to come off and be redone.

 

[WetSaw]

It may well be down to damp problems with the wall if you have problems with paint as well but until it's stripped back you won't know. Do you have any pictures of the whole room?

 

[Old Mod]

Yes as Paul above has highlighted.

You say that your property is a semi basement apartment.
The wet room, is this in the basement?
During renovations were general damp proofing/tanking measures taken?

 

[Charlotte Rimmer]

Thanks everyone.

Yes it’s in the semi basement, I know they put some kind of membrane up. The bathroom we had before was there for years and we didn’t have an issue with the tiles...

 

[Charlotte Rimmer]

Here are some more photos. Before we had the bathroom done, the area by the plant had the same issue. Generally we don’t have any issues with damp in the flat.

 

[WetSaw]

It does look like a damp problem to me. If that wasn't dealt with correctly then the damp behind the tiles will rise. Also normal tiling tanking products won't stop rising damp and can hold the damp in the substrate causing it to fail taking the tiles with it, which is possibly the case here.

 

[Dumbo]

I think your basement should of been treated for damp with a cavity drain membrane system .

 

[Charlotte Rimmer]

It does look like a damp problem to me. If that wasn't dealt with correctly then the damp behind the tiles will rise. Also normal tiling tanking products won't stop rising damp and can hold the damp in the substrate causing it to fail taking the tiles with it, which is possibly the case here.

Thanks for the input. I do wonder why the tiles we had before on this wall were good for 15 + Years?

If damp is the case, is it still the tilers fault? Or not really?

 

[Old Mod]

It will be difficult to prove an exact cause without removal of the effected area, and even then it can be difficult.
You will certainly have a good chance of determining the cause once tiles are removed.

 

[WetSaw]

Thanks for the input. I do wonder why the tiles we had before on this wall were good for 15 + Years?

If damp is the case, is it still the tilers fault? Or not really?

There was probably no tanking before so the damp had somewhere to go. Of course this is all speculation until you strip off the wall and see what is there.

 

[minimontolit]

Realise an old post but a surveyor would be my port of call.