Stan Rogers
TF
I'm a chippy, I fit a lot of kitchens and some bathrooms, inevitably I have done quite a bit of tiling, which I have learnt from older tradesman I have worked with in my early years in the trade. I've never had a complaint about my tiling, I don't class myself as a tiler, I can accurately cut a tile, I can space them, I can get them level, I know you must get a bond with the adhesive, etc. I know that what you're tiling onto can often be the most problematic part of tiling and I'm certainly not an expert in that, which I'm very honest about.
A couple of years ago I was on a job doing general carpentry work, there was a tiler on the job doing the bathrooms, I was lined up to do the wood flooring down stairs, the homeowner/site runner came to us a few days before the flooring was due to get started and said he'd decided to have tiles instead of wood, fair enough, he also said he'd had a price from the tiler but he thought it was too much, he knew I had done tiling, he asked if me and my mate would do it on a day rate, we foolishly agreed, but because it was due to be laid on chipboard I told my customer I knew nothing about that and I doubted you would even be able to tile on chipboard and that he should tell the tile shop the situation and take their advice on it. He came back and said it's fine, we just need to use this particular primer which he got and applied to the floor, he also suggested we used lash clips, I said I've never heard of them but I'll give them a go, I laid a few tiles with a 12mm towel, because of the clips I decided a bigger trowel would be better so I went and bought a 20mm trowel, the evening of that first day the plumber came and connected up the piped underfloor heating, the plumber works on sites with this sort of thing going on all the time so I thought nothing of it (he knows best I thought) the next five days we spent tiling the heating was gradually being turned up (apparently that's what you have to do with new underfloor heating). I should also mention, it was January, freezing cold and the chipboard was brand-new freshly laid within days of tiling. We grouted and then our customer changed his mind on grout colour and put a different grout over the top of our grout himself one weekend. With in a couple of months I think, grout was coming out, some tiles were loose and some cracked. Something I should mention, my customer thought it was faulty adhesive and contacted mapei, who sent a rep, he lifted one tile and told him that the tiler should have applied adhesive to the back of the tile as well as the floor! I put my hands up, I have never heard of that and neither have any of the local tradesmen I have spoken to in my area.
What do u reckon is the most likely cause of the problems?
Many thanks!
A couple of years ago I was on a job doing general carpentry work, there was a tiler on the job doing the bathrooms, I was lined up to do the wood flooring down stairs, the homeowner/site runner came to us a few days before the flooring was due to get started and said he'd decided to have tiles instead of wood, fair enough, he also said he'd had a price from the tiler but he thought it was too much, he knew I had done tiling, he asked if me and my mate would do it on a day rate, we foolishly agreed, but because it was due to be laid on chipboard I told my customer I knew nothing about that and I doubted you would even be able to tile on chipboard and that he should tell the tile shop the situation and take their advice on it. He came back and said it's fine, we just need to use this particular primer which he got and applied to the floor, he also suggested we used lash clips, I said I've never heard of them but I'll give them a go, I laid a few tiles with a 12mm towel, because of the clips I decided a bigger trowel would be better so I went and bought a 20mm trowel, the evening of that first day the plumber came and connected up the piped underfloor heating, the plumber works on sites with this sort of thing going on all the time so I thought nothing of it (he knows best I thought) the next five days we spent tiling the heating was gradually being turned up (apparently that's what you have to do with new underfloor heating). I should also mention, it was January, freezing cold and the chipboard was brand-new freshly laid within days of tiling. We grouted and then our customer changed his mind on grout colour and put a different grout over the top of our grout himself one weekend. With in a couple of months I think, grout was coming out, some tiles were loose and some cracked. Something I should mention, my customer thought it was faulty adhesive and contacted mapei, who sent a rep, he lifted one tile and told him that the tiler should have applied adhesive to the back of the tile as well as the floor! I put my hands up, I have never heard of that and neither have any of the local tradesmen I have spoken to in my area.
What do u reckon is the most likely cause of the problems?
Many thanks!
