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Discuss Self level compound poor job? in the UK Tiling Forum | Tiling Advice area at TilersForums. USA and UK Tiling Forum

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VT23

Hi my tiler screeded my bathroom floor 4 days ago and it hasnt fully cured in places. There also a white powdery residue on top.

In some places where its thinnest it has set. In other places not so well - you can walk on it but i tried scraping some of the white residue and slithers of screed would come off with it.

The temperature in the bathroom has been about 17- 18 degrees. There's no heating in there yet.

He used Nicobond Fibre Flex.

Do you think the mix was too wet?
 
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Spare Tool

Sounds like too much water in the mix, if it's not dry after four days there's something very wrong, no fixing it now, all up and start again I'm afraid...
 
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Flintstone

Poor air flow, too much moisture or poured exceeding the thickness that leveller is rated to or a combination of those. Any photos ?
 
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VT23

Hi LocalTiler,

You might remember my post regarding my woes with Warmup DCM PRO. Well Warmup recommended that i SLC over the thermal insulation baords before relaying the matting.

So i got a tiler rnd to do it. See below for images. the first 2 where taken 10 minutes after the pour. The last one was taken a few minutes ago. I was surprised at how much surface water there was! 1-2mm sitting on top. The tiler didnt open the window so i had to wait 3 days for it to dry up enough to walk on before i could reach it. The door was left open.

The lumps in the photos are unmixed compound. My tiler said to chisel them off when dry. Surely this isn't right!? You may notice i started doing this in the last photo. Some of the marks are scrapes (top left). I did this yesterday (3 days after application) and had to be careful not to scrape off chunks of compound.

Im panicking at the thought of having to redo this!

IMG_5344_zpscrihc2e5.jpg

IMG_5345_zpszid2zs26.jpg

IMG_5410_zpshml2kowi.jpg
 
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Dumbo

I think I would hook it up now . It will be easier than when it is dry . The longer you leave the harder it will be
 
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Time's Ran Out

If your ‘tiler’ tipped it, then he should sort it ( lumps and all) before you put your boards down. Any tiler worth his salt would prepare the whole job!
 
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VT23

The edging strips where done by me! All he had to do was pour the stuff down!


The tiler messaged me last night and said he might scrape up any wet areas and redo it. I said I need to think about the best way forward. Surely the whole lot has to come up?


If we have to lift it all how are we going to avoid damaging the insulation boards? These are 6mm foam with a cement face.


Ps does anyone have any idea what the white residue is?
 
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Spare Tool

Its laitance from too much water in the mix, not a chance of getting the leveler up without damaging the boards, had to take a bit up I'd done last week and it ripped the top coating off the boards.. There's a slight chance it could be salvaged.. If you use a steel ruler or similar flat edge scrapper and scrape off the loose powder and any flaky bits then soak it through with primer and give it another skim over with leveler (mixed properly this time) it might end up stable enough for you to fit the matting before tiling..
 
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Waluigi

You paid for a professional to do a job which he didn’t manage to do. It’s now going to cost you money to put it right.

Personally I’d not pay him a penny and get someone in who knows who he is doing.

Even if this Tiler says he will sort it out, alarm bells are already ringing as to why he didn’t mechanically mix it or use the correct quantity of water. If he can’t get something as simple as that right then that would be it for me. Goodbye ‘tiler’ it’s time to get a pro in.
 
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VT23

So the tiler came round last night to see floor. To be fair on him he held his hands up and admitted he’d screwed up.

I told him the SLC must all come up. He wasn’t on-board with this solution. He was concerned that he would damage the insulation boards and he has a point. I took a video of myself scraping up the softest area of the floor (see below). It crumbled quite easily but so did the cement face of the insulation board.


534E031B-CEFD-44A6-9331-A61A9D8F96D3_zpsm5mnmrrq.jpeg


He suggested grinding away the white residue and scraping off as much of the SLC before we hit the insulation or the solid areas of SLC. Then prime and re-apply SLC with correct mix.

My issue is I have no confidence in this guy doing this. I could ask for my £80 back and let him walk away but then I feel he walks away lightly leaving me with the mess to clear up.

I asked him if he had liability insurance; he said yes but doesn’t want to go down that route. To fix this mess properly the SLC, insulation and possible timber floor must all come up! Including the 1700 stone shower tray! This would have to be an insurance job.
 
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Dumbo

I don't see why timber floor should come up or shower tray . Also it that is the case it doesn't have to be insurance if the guy will pay .
 
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Waluigi

A guy turns up to a job to level a floor. No mixer and no measuring bucket.

This man is in no way a professional. I would just tell him you’d like it put back to the way it was before he got there as he wasn’t capable of doing the job properly.

I bet you would’ve preferred it if he was honest with you to begin with.

That’s the trouble nowadays- anyone can go to B&Q, buy a trowel and call themselves a Tiler. Then learn the job at the customer expense. It’s a complete farce.
 
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Dumbo

A guy turns up to a job to level a floor. No mixer and no measuring bucket.

This man is in no way a professional. I would just tell him you’d like it put back to the way it was before he got there as he wasn’t capable of doing the job properly.

I bet you would’ve preferred it if he was honest with you to begin with.

That’s the trouble nowadays- anyone can go to B&Q, buy a trowel and call themselves a Tiler. Then learn the job at the customer expense. It’s a complete farce.
Its true . But how many tilers here would take an nvq to prove they can tile to a certain standard. I don't want to get into how good or not the nvq system is but most will say I don't need it I've got plenty of work. So if a customer dis ask you do you have a formal qualification you say no so if the customer has just moved into an area the only thing they can go on is a possibly a stolen portfolio and some trumped up recommendations . Even if you go into a tile shop to get a card its not that good topps will give out anybody's card who tells them they are a tiler .
 
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Waluigi

I don’t know the answer to it but certainly having to do a short business course and at least being qualified in your trade or some kind of assessment to prove competency could easily be introduced.

Even if it is done for all new business’

As it stands- anyone can start a business in the vast majority of trades in the UK with absolutely no requirement to know anything at all. To me that is disgraceful.

Any Tiler here could walk into Screwfix, buy some pipe cutters, call themselves a Plumber. Or a set of chisels etc etc. You get the idea. It’s crazy.
 
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Time's Ran Out

The issue here is not tiling but self levelling.
For all we know the compound may have been out of date, who supplied it and where has it been stored?
And who would want to be a plumber!!
 
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VT23

The tiler I used was recommended by the tile shop where I got the tiles from. He might be great at tiling (who knows) but he sucked at SLC!


Heres where I am with this. The SLC needs scraping up. However it cant be scraped right the way down to the insulation board for risk of damaging the boards. Having tested this i think we can scrape off close to the board. The SLC is approx 6mm in deepest part, the lower bit close to board seems firmer then the top, which is reassuring.


We will then prime and re-pour SLC to correct mix. In fact this time we will use a 2 part latex SLC because it comes with premeasured bottle. The floor will likely be bumpy and rough as a result so Im looking an experienced guy to do this.


Heres the next problem. Whoever I ring and ask “do you have experience with SLC” the reply is always; “ yeah ive done a bit here and there” or “I’ll do it but im not that great at it”. One guy said to me “if you expect a perfectly flat finish , you better find someone else”.


What the hell??! Is this job harder than Im led to believe?


Is there anyone on this forum that lives in Hertfordshire that could help me out??
 

macten

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LOL - at least the guys you rang were honest with you
 

Boggs

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It really is not difficult.

Have you tried a flooring company? they do this all the time.
 
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VT23

I have called a few flooring specialists. No joy! If i describe the job as is they literally hang up!... at this rate i'll be hiring myself to do it! how hard can it be LOL!
 
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Waluigi

Do it yourself.

Just learn the process. Let’s be honest, it can’t be any worse than the last effort ;)
 

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