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Nick Jones

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It's not just the grouting. It is appalling, but I don't rate the tile either. There are 2 sections of mosaic wall in the shower area. There are lots of "out of register" sections of mosaic. They aren't in line - some are out of alignment horizontally, some vertically. I've spotted several tiles with chips out of them - both wall tiles and floor tiles. I think it needs to be ripped out and re-done. I had drawn up the "design", selected the colour scheme on the Topps Tile visualiser, and this contractor has ruined it. I am bitterly disappointed with what he has done. It is unforgiveable.
 
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Bill

Mosaic sheets, in their construction, are sometimes misaligned when being formed by the manufacturer - are you going to complain to them too?
 
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Nick Jones

They were misaligned because the joints are of different sizes. This contractor said that you don't use spacers when laying mosaic tiles, which is completely the opposite of what the educational videos on You Tube show. So I am not going to complain to the manufacturers because it is not a manufacturing fault but a tile contractors installation fault. Inspection of the photographs would show you the varying joint widths where the mosaic pattern goes out of register and it is because the joint widths were different that the "out of register" occurred. This "out of registration" effect occurs both horizontally and vertically because the contractor didn't lay the mosaic sheets properly. A little time and care on his part would have worked wonders - but he completely miscalculated the time that he was going to need to do the job - and because he had another job scheduled (not a tile job) he rushed it. Also, the fact is that I do not believe he had done any tile for several years because he had been employed in fitting fitted furniture in school, laboratories, etc and so when he came to do my job (both building work and then the tile) he was "rusty" - and that is being extremely kind to him. I was not aware that he was going to do the tile - I thought that he was going to hire a tile professional (just as he hired plumbers and an electrician).
 
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Bill

Paying Topps ÂŁ3000 doesn't mean anything as you probably could have paid a lot less with another tile supplier for the same materials and spend the extra on higher rated professional tiler.

Incidentally, what was your budget for the tile fixing?
 
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WetSaw

"Educational videos on YouTube" don't always educate you in the correct techniques. I very rarely use spacers with mosaic tiles and even when I do it's only to keep the odd tile in place that hasn't been fitted to the backing correctly.
 
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Nick Jones

Paying Topps ÂŁ3000 doesn't mean anything as you probably could have paid a lot less with another tile supplier for the same materials and spend the extra on higher rated professional tiler.

Incidentally, what was your budget for the tile fixing?
I had received a quote from the builder which included the labour element for tile, as I paid for the materials. So I don't know what his figure for tile was. Just like I don't know what he included for a painter, a plasterer and a labourer (for when a couple of walls were removed. Plumber and electricians provided separate quotes to him. I would reckon though, now that he has stated how much he paid to other trades and since I know his normal daily rate, that he had included ÂŁ 2,000 for 1 weeks work in tile.
 
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Nick Jones

Youtube is not the bible of tile.
I don't say it is, however I consider it a reasonable source of information and as it contains a load of experience then I have to give due weight to it. For instance, I could see the consistency of the grout that they used - and I compare it with the consistency of the grout that the contractor used - his grout was too sloppy - and I believe that this has led to a lot of shrinkage on drying and the pitting on the vertical tile trim in the photos.
 

Andy Allen

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Mosaic sheets, in their construction, are sometimes misaligned when being formed by the manufacturer - are you going to complain to them too?
But you would never leave them misaligned, would you Tom ?
Any tiler worth his salt would cut the mesh round the offending piece and re aline it.....a common problem that I've no doubt we have all come across..
 
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Bill

But you would never leave them misaligned, would you Tom ?
Any tiler worth his salt would cut the mesh round the offending piece and re aline it.....a common problem that I've no doubt we have all come across..
What if they are paper faced sheets?
 
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Dumbo

But you would never leave them misaligned, would you Tom ?
Any tiler worth his salt would cut the mesh round the offending piece and re aline it.....a common problem that I've no doubt we have all come across..
At what point do you start taking the hit for straightening out poor quality mosaics or turning around to your customer and telling them you need extra money or walking of the job .
 

Sean Kelly

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Nick, I feel for you.


However, do you have some pics of the overall bathroom? (I’m sure you have!). Close up pics are fine, but we need to see the overall picture.


I think we can all agree that the quality of the finish is unacceptable. All areas of the work need a good washdown to remove excess grout and grout haze. Some areas need re-grouting. Some areas need grouting. All internal joints need siliconing.


You will need a professional tiler to visit, as the problems may not just be on the surface. Do you know how the builder fixed (stuck down) the tiles? There may be hollow voids under the tiles.


You may be lucky and get a good tiler to come in for a day and sort out these issues.


Have you paid this bloke?


p.s. I know what you mean about the mosaics. They ARE misaligned. This IS the fault of the person who stuck them to the wall.
 

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