Help!: tiler has made a complete mess and not answering calls

[garym897]

Hi
I recently had 20sq m of porcelain tiles laid on the hall kitchen and bathroom floors since the second day the grout started to crumble and i noticed that about 14 tiles are moving at the edges which sound hollow underneath. I contacted the tiler who was making excuses that he had to contact his supplier of the adhesive he returned sayin that they had told him to take some of the grout out and fill with what looked like grout ,anyway this still didnt work this was just before xmas2010 i lfte it fir a couple of weeks because of the holiday period , I then contacted him he said he would get back to mer when he contacted his suppliers (again) a week went past still nothing i called him no answer to his mobile i then tried a couple of days later still no answer he txt me the next day saying he would get back to me when he could work something out a week went past nothing i called several times with no answer , after eventually catching him he said that he was in a meeting he would call back ...nothing got a hold of him next day (today ) after several attempts he fobbed me off promising to call back it is now approx 8pm heard nothing can you give me advise on this i do believe he is (when he gets here ) intending to lift these tiles 600x600 try and clean the adhesive offf then re-lay on the same plywood is this possible any feed back would be welcome

[mikethetile]

what thickness ply did he use

and welcome to tf

[Diamond Pool Finishers]

sorry to hear this any pic's

[jay]

as above and as much info on substrate thickness of ply and adhesive used would help thanks

and to the forum

[kilty55]

hi there,what did he prep the floor with and kinda sounds like hes dot and dabbed the tiles if they are hollow sounding.....dont let him use this method agaian

if he does come back i think you will have to alow him to rectify anything thats wrong 1st but i would find out what thickness of ply hes laid and how hes fixed it as this may be wrong also

[Phil Hobson]

As Mike above, what thickness of ply? were they fixed solid bed? btw to TF

[terrygrant]

You need to confirm the specification of whats been done before you continue rectifying things as if the installation is fundamentaly flawwed then theres little sense in "throwing good money after bad" as it were.

[garym897]

Hi everyone thanks for your welcomes and your replies, it was 9mm ply the floor was solid it was screwed firmly i had checked all that before the tiles were laid, by touching the tiles where the grout is crumbling it is obvious that it is the tiles that are not solid the hollow sound is just at the faulty edges im not sure what adhesive he was using as i have thrown the empty tubs away

[kilty55]

hi there,9mm ply is too thinim afraid and hes used tubbed adhesive for the floor??

most tubbed addys are for walsl only although there are a few available in tubs from mapei etc that are ok for floors ,he should be really using a flexible bagged cement based adhesive

ply should be minimum 15mm

[Dan]

It doesn't sound promising if tubs were involved. Tubs suggest the adhesive was a dispersion adhesive (one that's already made) and to fix to wood you need a special flexible adhesive.

What colour was the adhesive? Can you remember that?

[Phil Hobson]

As above, 9mm ply not thick enough. Tubbed adhesive not for floors. Sorry.

[garym897]

the adhesive i am sure was grey

[kilty55]

he may have just been using old tubs to mix in,most tubbed addys are white or creamy please keep us updated when he comes round to fix as the ply needs replaced also

[andy allen]

did you supply the adhesive or did he

[garym897]

he supplied the adhesive at the time when he was tiling it was minus 10 outside but house was reasonable toilet upstairs was spot on all floors on ground is where the problem is. ( wooden floors with the 9mm ply)

[garym897]

no he supplied the adhesive when he layed the tiles it was minus 10 outside. the tiles where the problem is on the ground floor ,wooden floors wth 9mm ply uptairs toilet does not seem to be a problem dont know if this helps

[kilty55]

hi gary,it may not be the overboarding thats at fault here but only time will tell

as you said your bathroom upstair is fine with 9mm but there are issues downstairs,this is actually a good example to people why not to use an inferior product

your upstairs sub floor may be absolutely solid and tyhe 9mm has simply provided a stable substrate to tile to but your downstairs has failed,if its the case the prep of floor is to blame say for example the sub floor downstairs wasnt stable enough then the 9mm wouldnt be strong enough to cope i hope you can see why it should nt be used even if 1 job has lasted

[mikethetile]

who laid the ply

[garythetiler]

who fitted the plywood and was the tiler made aware that the plywood was only 9mm thick

[garym897]

A reputable joiner did this im not adiy fan but i walked the whole lot many times checking the floor this did feel very solid all over it is the hollow sound on parts of the tile which is leading me towards lack of cement any suggestions on this maybe

[kilty55]

yes it sounds like hes dot and dabbed or not managed to get good coverage

plus the ply is too thin

[jay]

could be a number of probs best to see what tiler says and does to fix re grouting is not the fix if at a later date you could post some pics and maybe lift a tile and take pics that would help good luck and let us know how things go

[mikethetile]

im going to be blunt

the tiler should have ensured that the substrate was suitable to be tiled and that correct materials amd methods are used, he didnt have the knowledge to do so and certainly cant resolve it as he hasnt a clue whats wrong

you have a simple choice here , move on and pay another tiler to redo it or sue your previous tiler, suing someone is more complicated since oct 2010 and I reccomend you seek legal advice sooner rather than later

[kilty55]

being blunt is good mike

[garym897]

well thanks to all who have answered its been interesting hearing what pros all think i will keep u posted if and when he gets back to me or if he does not maybe think of legal advice but goin on 2 weeks holiday to forget about this lol thanks again