nightmare day - TilersForums.co.uk | Tile Forums

connors12345 · 09-02-2008

good evening folks. feeling really down in the dumps this evening, started a job at 10 this morn. en suite and finishing off a bit in a kitchen. cust wnted shower in en suite doing first then rest of room so they could use shower and when room finished finish kitchen. easier said than done....... went to start and all adh still on wall, walls filled with browning. large areas.. (not just the odd bit). wanted border putting in specific place... when setting out discovered this couldnt be done because one of the pipes was coming through the wall in the shower where the ( heavily profiled) border was. this had a circular plate that needed fitting flush to a tile. so i thought i would carry on with the kitchen until his wife got home to discuss with her... when wife arrived about 5 hours later, she said i should be doing the bathroom first. went up with her to discuss her options. i had already worked out the settilng out roughly. which took a while/ then she said she wanted me to start in the shower so she could get that finished first as she would be without a shower. tried setting out from there but spent about 3 hours and was still none the wiser, had real difficulty getting head together and lost the plot totally. the shower room screen was getting replaced and the old one was taken out. i couldnt even think about putting the border in because with it being profiled the shower screen needed to be fitted first.. customer came up to see how i was getting on. obviously concerned by my progression. still without so much as a tile on the wall. luckily the customer works with my wife and understands my refusal to do the job. paid me £50 plus 20 for adh.. ps another thing i bought 3 tubs of white star. even if i wanted to i couldnt have used this. as i would have had to pack out and had to use powdered. i have no experience of packing out yet. sorry for the long post..... my head is up my ass at the min. my missus thinks i should have been able to do this after a 4 week course. yeah right. what are your suggestions any tips appreciated... feeling demoralised at the minute....(understatement of the year). feel like spewing it all and selling tools... not going to really just need help... could do with watching a pro at work for some help and advice..... any offers/////////??????????. thanks ian

**whitebeam** · 09-02-2008

Hi conners, First thing, the state of the walls, who patched them. Did you not see the wall's before you started. Why did'nt you do a quick gauge of the border around the room while the customer was there. Never had anyone want the shower finished before the rest of the bathroom. Yes, you was right about the plate it would have looked stupid. Did they have a bath in the room, just questions so I know how to answer

connors12345 · 09-02-2008

hello whitebeam. customers wife was not in when planning border.
the customer had patched the walls
there is no bath in the room. as you enter the room it is a reverse L shape . shower on the left. toilet straight ahead, sink and window on the left..
i started setting out from the right next to the door centering the window and working around the room, which i thought was right. but the customer cocked it all up wanting to start in the shower (to the left) maybe i should have stamped my authority and told her the way it was BEING DONE.... just need more experience really. tiling courses are no substitute for college....think i need to go the full hog and go there... what are your opinions ??????PS tiles where on the wall. so didnt know the state of walls

connors12345 · 09-02-2008

will look at posts in morning. going to bed. knackered.. good night. thanks for your help

**whitebeam** · 10-02-2008

Your border is the main point where the customer is concerned, often I will arrange for the customer to be there when setting out the there border because every tile will be affected by that, many a time I have told the customers this is where your border can go if you want it higher/lower it would look crap, They usually agree. Once I have set where the border I will be do a datum around the room from the the border either top/bottom ( i have to be quick on the typing because if I take to long with a reply I get sometimes get logged out it's a virgin media thing)

**Fekin** · 10-02-2008

First thing first.

I never say I will be able to start tiling straight away if the customers taking the tiles off before I get there and I will have no idea what the hell the walls are going to be like, so I would always say "right I'll be there first thing and have a look at the wall condition thenbtake it from there", or pop round the night before if their close enough.
For borders, if a customer says I want a border here I'll say "well I will fully mark out the room first see how everything will fall then take it from there".

Is the shower area having different types of tile to the rest of the room ?

If they wanted you to start from the shower then just mark out from there and see how the tiles fall upto the first wall, as most jobs, your always going to end up with a cut at one end or the other, so it doesnt really matter which wall you start from as once you get to the end of that wall, a new one starts, you just need to know where all the grout lines are going to fall, and the only way of knowing is to fully mark out the whole room first, which is always the first thing that you should be doing.

faithhealer · 10-02-2008

Hi Connors, hope you feel better about it this morning, You won't get stung like that again. With a bit more experience you will suss a wall out better and if the walls have old tiles on when you quote, always state, (verbally and in your written quote) how good the walls have to be. In my quotes I always state I will repair MINOR damage,(ie good enough to tile over) but extra for removal of tiles ,adhesive and /or plasterer.
my first job was my worst, came home with my confidence in shreads but never looked back since, good luck mate.

Rosco0110 · 10-02-2008

Hi connors,

I started out 8 months ago, and thins haebeen goin well.
Had this one job though, kitchen, utility, and 5 bathroom floors. All the upstairs floors i layed 12mmply, which brought the heights up and caused the doors to need trimmed. Which i said to the customer i would do to save some cash, BIG MISTAKE.Trimed two of the doors and caused a couple of small chips in the doors, which the customers pain in the arse wife said ruined the job, even though you had to get down on your knees to see them. So i had to replace 2 doors to get my £1500. Thing is the doors were £150 each DOH! And i picked them up and dropped them at his house, and helped him carry them into house.
I asked for the 2 doors for myself once the new ones were put on, as they were still in good nick. I was going to put them in my house. Guess what, no doors for me. Guy bumped me out of doors. Either sold the new ones or gave them to one of his mates. Point is connor you live and learn, i have not looked back since, you are always learning new things and ways to deal with problems. I never trim doors or kick plates now, i learned the hard way.

Rosco0110 · 10-02-2008

PS

Now use 6mm hardi. So doors are now not an issue.

Woo Hoo