Porcelain tiling

[jaycee1]

I am having no end of problems with my floor large light grey matt porcelein tiles.. Patchy grouting being one of them. I believe my tiler used Dunlop grey. It looks white in some places grey in others quite a mess. He tells me it is because he didnt clean it fully when he left the job which could explain why I havnt been able to get my tiles clean either (I needed more tiles so he has to come back to fully complete things, also had some tiles crack as well as grout lines crack !) He came yesterday and applied some sort of cleaner on a few of the tiles, to get rid of the cement I think he said, but then applied a sealer which left a sheen I didnt want and really darkened the grout lines when I had specifically asked for a light grey to blend with the tiles. Few questions. Is Dunlop grout really bad and should the tiler remove as much excess cement dust as possible when he leaves the job. Slightly off topic but should the tiles sound hollow in places when tapped?

[pt44]

Post probably needs moving to the correct section by admin

Regards your problems jaycee1 - my sympathies go out to you. You seem to be in the classic situation of having had bad work done by a tradesman, then having the difficult choice of having the poor workmanship corrected by the poor craftsman that did the initial work (which he may never be able to achieve to a satisfactory standard - hence why he didn't do it that way in the 1st place) or you cut your losses and get someone better in to re-do the job. A great shame, but sometimes I think if the workmanship is that poor, then the person probably can't do good work full stop. So trying to get him to repair it is going to go nowhere. I do hope you haven't paid him yet?

Sounds like your job has every bad thing possible happening to it. Really poor workmanship. I'm sure others here can advise you better as to what you should do and comment on the dunlop grey.

Paul

[jaycee1]

Thankyou Paul. I did go digress somewhat, there is so much going wrong here it is easy to be side tracked. You are right it is a bit nerve wracking to allow the person who botched it to make amends I might have no choice. I must say it is heartening to read this site and know that there are many of you out there who obviously care about your work and the profession as a whole.

[Dave]

Post probably needs moving to the correct section by admin

sorted.. cheers paul....

[GazTech]

The grout problem initially could have been efflourescence (soluable salts) making the grout patchy, this can be sorted with certain products....Gaz

[Bolter]

Few questions.

and should the tiler remove as much excess cement dust as possible when he leaves the job.

Definitely yes. 100%. If left, it can harden on the tiles, making it

a) very difficult to remove
b) look crap

Slightly off topic but should the tiles sound hollow in places when tapped?

No. This is down to not enough adhesive under that tile. Likely hood is this tile/s will fail at some point.

Have you paid this guy?

Post up some pictures if you can

[jaycee1]

Thanks guys. I have tried to take some piccies but it doesnt show up the colour discrepancy very well, it looks worse in some lights. Ill see if I can get it right. I did post in a separate section about my floor screed cracking and tiles above those cracks cracking. The hollow sounding tiles are in a different area altogether. I dont think enough screed was put down but I am beginning to think too little adhesive was applied . The little knowledge I have gleaned since all this happened makes me feel the tiler has a lot to answer for. Unfortunately he has been paid and it wasnt cheap.

[andy-p]

find a professional tile fixer to have a look, if he condemns it , phone the tiler who fixed it and tell him you are taking him to trading standards, and you wont stop until you get your money back, dont let him get away with it..

[Taz8130]

find a professional tile fixer to have a look, if he condemns it , phone the tiler who fixed it and tell him you are taking him to trading standards, and you wont stop until you get your money back, dont let him get away with it..

Would it be worth one of the guys off the forum, who are local, to nip around to take a look and possibly offer an opinion ?