Slap me!!!

[wivers]

Guess what idiot started to dry lay the floor, with cuts , before checking all the boxes of tiles were the same, only to get half way through and notice the shades were different. On checking the boxes i realised that the customer had got 3 boxes of sandstone shade 21 and 1 box of sandstone shade 22. DOH!!!!! I had to wait for the customer to come home tell them the news and wait for them to go to good old B&Q to collect another box. As it happens all the boxes were on the same pallet which is totally stupid if u ask me. Anyone else ever done this, and please take it in turns to slap my stupid thick head with whatever you have to hand!!!!!!!

Lol - You wally!!

But to be fair, as well as yourself checking them, the tile retailer should put a notice or even the store assistant should be telling you that the tile batch may have changed in the recent weeks, so check before you buy.

You shouldn't take all of the blame for this mate

[M D HUGHES]

Thwak!!!
Did they charge for the new tiles, good customer care wouldn't have as I think its up to the retailer to warn of batch changes. I bet thiers loads of floors gone down without people noticing this.
What would you have done if you'd stuck them down. Charge for pulling them up and get the client to take it up with the retailer,or swallowed the loss?

[Leatherface]

I never dry lay floors, wastes too much time

[wivers]

To be honest there's no way i would have stuck them down before i realised the difference. It was easy to see once i took a step back. They got the new box for free , as you said it's down to the retailer to state the difference in batches. Doesn't stop me feeling a dick though but hey ho u live and learn.... i hope.

[wivers]

And if i had stuck them down i think i'd have ripped them up and replaced them. It isn't the customers fault to be honest, and if i'm trueful i should know better and should have checked before i started. MUPPET!!!!!!!!! please feel free to all slap me again just for good messure.

[Dan]

How come you dry lay first? Never understood that.

[Dan]

After I read the above it seemed it could be read by you lot in the wrong way. I'm not saying it's wrong!

I've never dry laid floor tiles before fixing them, I was shown to staff out and know what your cuts will be like, then tile in runs, up the longer lengths of the floor sticking to your string lined/pencilled lines.

I just can't imagine doing it without adhesive, then pulling them up and doing them all again, surely the tolerance of the tiles can effect the outcome, if you've dry laid a row of tiles, then you pick them up, and your pile turns 90 degree, they could be a mm out each, one a 3 meter wide floor with a 30c tile, that's a cm out?! Or you're spacers are falling ll over the place as your grout lines are wider than them?

maybe I'm barking totally up the wrong tree, can somebody put me right? lol for want of a better phrase.

[M D HUGHES]

I can understand dry laying a smallish room with the full tiles to get an idea but the cuts will (in my short experience) never come together like they do when you doing it for real.

[Leatherface]

Originally Posted by Dan

How come you dry lay first? Never understood that.

Truly bizzare method.
Same as people who tile bathrooms and stick a tile on the wall, mark it with a pencil then keep moving it and marking to try and set out.

How would you go on if you had 170 sq metres of floor to do over 9 rooms ?
That would take a bit of dry laying ?

[Dan]

There has to be different ways, as I understand that people just pick things up quicker and can be better at arriving at the same goal by carrying out a task using a different method. Plus how would a customer choose between us all if every job was the same, etc etc. But I just can't get my head around dry laying, never have been able to. I do hope that in the training centre's, they're not dodging laying floor tiles by teaching a 'dry-lay' method.

Hope we haven't put wivers on the spot like, Sorry wivers, this ain't about your setting out lol. Let somebody else explain the advantages of dry laying mate.

[Leatherface]

Hi

I also am not trying to put Wivers on the spot -
I do not mean this in his case, but in SOME cases it is a "lack" of training or "training received"

There is one course that I know about - I have been and chatted to the guys face to face.
They were not aware of a datum line. Neither did they use a tile staff - they simply offered the tile to the wall and did pencil marks. They had people on the course who paid money to learn this ???????????

I will not say who - do not feel that it is my place here to do so.
However, after our conversation they said that they would incorporate this method into their training.

I am not trying to say that any methods are "wrong" - however, some are more efficient & accurate than others.