Flat not always possible?

[cornish_crofter]

Talking to a friend the other day who is a plasterer by trade. His girlfriend's mother has had her kitchen floor tiled by someone she knows.

The floor started out level at the threashold and level in one or two other areas, namely where her Aga sits. The person doing the tiling in his haste to get it all level managed to create a step at the kitchen door to get the floor level, and create a problem elsewhere in the process.

This is in a period property. My area is teaming with them.

About 18 months ago I was on a job at another 19th century property where the customer wanted her bathroom fitted and tiled. The back wall was out of level and also in quite a bad state. I actually hacked off the area to be tiled and re rendered it. I managed to get it pretty level but the one problem I had was the bathroom window. If I had rendered the wall dead flat the mortar would have come across the window glass by about half an inch. The inside of the frame was actually flush with the wall. There was a gentle curve in the wall that just couldn't be taken out without interfering with an airing cupuard door at the other end or hacking off actual stonework or indeed interfering with other important features.

I am finding a number of examples in older properties where it's just not achievable to make sure walls are dead straight before tiling without completely messing up the geometary of the room (for example a right angle for the bath to sit up against).

I find myself thinking that maybe such walls are not good for tiling the whole length, or that other solutions could exist. For example, one customer opted for T and G panelling, which actually looked very good.

Otherwise all I can do is get the best straight line for the area to be tiled, and use small tiles to keep lippage to a minimum.

Is it just me that has these problems or is there some secret that you're all keeping from me

[Rob Z]

Hi CC,

No, you're not the only one that's fighting with this problem every week....Most of the houses we work in are old (old by our standards but not by European standards ). I think the best you can do is to try and explain to the customer what the options are and how it will look when you're finished, and to start to develop tricks to hide transitions and other problem areas.

[whitebeam]

No secret Hugo, some of these older places were'nt built for complete tiling just painting with a lime wash..

I've plastered many an older property and had to cheat trying to straighten the wall, not for tiling, just to paint on.

[Scott]

Even worse when they want it brickbond

[devonmark]

we should tell the customers of these feature packed period houses that if they require perfect tiling on a flat straight wall to move into a new featureless house with square rooms....

[cornish_crofter]

So, if a customer wants their 'period' wall tiled, just explain that it may look odd if the wall isn't straight.

I have been doing my NUT trying to reconcile this problem!

Essentially there are three main scenarios then.

1) Wall/floor is flat

2) Wal/floorl could be flat with right prep - right prep will give you 1) above

3) Wall/floor is never going to be flat in a million years. Speak to customer about options.

Ahhh! Now I see.

[whitebeam]

Yep........

[Bri]

You could always try the hard sell on mosaics, they'll follow all the lumps and bumps no probs!!

[whitebeam]

Joints all over the place

[garythetiler]

go for a rustic hand made tile it will suit the type of house and looks good if its slightly irregular

[doug boardley]

use B&Q tiles, with all the size differences you can put the bigger ones on the humps and the smaller ones in the dips

[hillhead]

Even stick slate on,lol.
Various thickness' would work well on some new builds lately too.

[Rob Z]

One witticism that I coined some years ago was to say to the customer "I could tile a basket ball if the tiles are small enough". They pause for a minute to think, but then they laugh and say "I see what you mean". That one comment has done more to break the logjam over the years when more intelligent and patient explanations of why what they want WON'T WORK in their house.

To them, it's charming, historic, authentic, and antique. For the tile setter, it's one big PITA in an old house.

[Alberta Stone]

Common problem I see.
Working with existing is almost always a challenge with some nice little curves thrown at you just to make you sweat.
What ever happened to easy jobs?
I don't mind working hard, but sometimes it is a bit much on some projects.
I wrestle with it more than I would like to think about.
I have had to pull drywall off of walls and redo the studs sometimes even having to plane them down to get rid of a nasty hump, or build them up to eliminate a hollow, same with floors where i have had to strip them down to joists and plane them or even replace them.
I have had to redo the mainbeams in one house once with steel I-beams (long story), so what can you do.

If they have the budget then you can remake pretty much anything and get it to perfection, but if they want to cut corners then what?
Either go with cheaper materials and do the prep right or go with the posh stuff and sacrifice on the prep work.
options, options.
At the end of the day one can advise the client, but they make the decision.
I have refused to do a few jobs because the client was to thick to comprehend what was needed and demanded it be done in an inferior manner.

[devonmark]

One witticism that I coined some years ago was to say to the customer "I could tile a basket ball if the tiles are small enough". They pause for a minute to think, but then they laugh and say "I see what you mean". That one comment has done more to break the logjam over the years when more intelligent and patient explanations of why what they want WON'T WORK in their house.

To them, it's charming, historic, authentic, and antique. For the tile setter, it's one big PITA in an old house.

would it still bounce ????

[mikethetile]

people pay extra to live in charming wibbly wobbly houses, they are not bothered about a billiard table flat floor, discuss the problem with them, help them choose a suitable tile and leave the decision with them